STANDARD AMERICAN DIET INCREASES THE RISK FOR C. DIFF
GASTROENTEROLOGY NERD ALERT:
STANDARD AMERICAN DIET INCREASES THE RISK FOR C. DIFF
Odds are that you know someone who has been devastated by a Clostridioides Difficile (a.k.a. “C. diff”) infection. This opportunistic and sometimes life-threatening bacteria loves to cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, and fever in immunocompromised and hospitalized patients, but over the last several years has gained footholds in the healthy community population.
“Emerging data suggest that low fiber intake is associated with increased colonization of pathogenic Clostridioides difficile in mice. Additionally, saturated fat intake increases excretion of taurine-conjugated primary bile acids, which are known germination factors for C. diff, but these bile acids can be converted by a healthy microbiota to secondary bile acids that can kill this pathogen.
The investigators studied the impact of diet on susceptibility to C. diff infection, which affects an estimated 500,000 Americans a year. The researchers found that in mice with antibiotic-induced microbiota disturbance, a high-fat, low-fiber Western diet created a pro-C. diff environment in the gut.
“The most striking thing we saw was that mice on a Western diet had a six to eight times increase in mortality rate,” Hazleton told the Reading Room.
“The ecologic and metabolic differences between chow-fed and Western diet-fed mice suggest that the double-insult of Western diet and antibiotic treatment leads to a pro-C. difficile bile acid composition and drives increased disease severity,” Hazleton and co-authors wrote. They concluded that nutritional intervention with a low-fat, high-fiber diet has potential for reducing or preventing C. diff infection in high-risk populations.
“The take-home message for humans is to eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and fewer processed foods,” said Hazleton. His group is now seeking funding support for human dietary studies in vulnerable patients.”
Thankfully this doesn’t come up often, but the complex role that the gut microbiome (the trillions of microorganisms that reside in our gut and play a role in metabolism, mood, gut health, and colon cancer risk) is sure to impact your wellness in some way.
Please call 224.407.4400 or visit compgihealth.com to schedule an appointment and we can share all that we currently know about how to best care for YOUR gut microbiome!