Akkermansia spores for colon health & butyrate; Pantry & Menu planning handouts
GLP-1 Agonist medications - more info; and Microbiome information plus some free handouts.
Freebie graphics from a dietitian service focused on providing menu planning support to busy dietitians - in my Dropbox. The food focus is on colorful phytonutrient rich produce - increasing the ‘rainbow’ in your diet. Produce rich diet plans would likely not also include which might be a source of oxalate, sulfur, salicylates, or other food sensitivity issues. The guidance is for general health with a goal of increasing cancer fighting, health promoting colorful produce.
This four page tool is a self assessment or for a clinician to see whether colorful produce is already part of a person’s daily routine: The Better Nutrition Eat a Rainbow Evaluation, (Dropbox). Basic guidance as to the health benefits of the colorful plant pigments is included about the different color groups of produce and at the end there is more information about benefits of including more colorful produce in your diet.
This is a five page handout with one week of menu ideas (no recipes) and portions for eating more colorful produce in your daily diet. At a glance - I would be starving on those portion sizes but it gives you an idea of things to consider including in your own meals. The Better Nutrition Rainbow Menu, (Dropbox).
I quite like this guide - it gives a lot of food ideas to consider working into your own routine, and describes how a well-stocked pantry can make your life easier. How to Build Your Better Nutrition Pantry, (Dropbox).
TheBetterNutritionProgram.com site offers some free recipes and has a blog. (thebetternutritionprogram.com/recipes)
‘What are GLP-1 Medications?’ and what about Ozempic? has been a theme of recent blogposts on the site. Weight loss fads come and go and this is the latest one. A guide offered by the site goes into detail about the MANY potential negative side effects - that cautious use can work - BUT - nutrient support can also help promote normal GLP-1 function. Excerpt from The Better Nutrition GLP-1 Hormone Guide:
“CAN YOU SUPPORT GLP-1 & GIP HORMONE PRODUCTION NATURALLY? YES, AND IT’S IMPORTANT.
Understanding where these hormones are formed is our biggest hint to optimizing their production. GLP1 and GIP are produced in your gut. Specifically, it’s the L- and K-cells in the lining (mucosal layer) of the intestines in your digestive tract. This mucosal layer plays several roles including to protect the body against fluids, pathogens and particles that could injure it, to secrete enzymes and hormones, and to absorb nutrients. Thus, it is critical that this layer gets the nutrients it needs, avoids insult and injury and gets repaired when those occur. To protect your L- and K-cells, and their production of GLP-1 and GIP, proper nutrient support includes addressing any “leakiness,” and avoiding irritants.
Supportive nutrients include glutamine, a variety of fibers including prebiotics, essential fatty acids, and polyphenols. Also important is getting the right strains of probiotics, including akkermansia muciniphila, a novel probiotic which uniquely consumes mucin in the mucosal layer of the intestines to produce small chain fatty acids that feed other bacteria who produce butyrate that promotes GLP-1 secretion.
Irritants include environmental toxins, prescribed medications, over-the-counter medications, stress, treatments (radiation, chemotherapy etc.).
Additional adverse impacts include surgeries (resection, repair), disease (Ulcerative colitis, Crohn's, diverticulosis) and conditions that damage the mucosal layer” - The Better Nutrition GLP-1 Hormone Guide, (Dropbox).
Promoting a healthy colon microbiome with adequate zinc and resistant starch in the diet has been a focus of my writing.
The Akkermansia species have been associated with centenarians - people who live to be over 100 years old. Pendulum has a colon probiotic product that provides Akkermansia and Microbiome Labs does also. Colon species are anaerobic and not available in fermented probiotic foods like yogurt with active cultures. Those contain oxygen using species that grow in the small intestine rather than in the oxygen free environment of our colon.
If interested in probiotic products for colon support, the MegaSporeBiotic product mentioned in this brief guide sounds helpful to me and it contains an Akkermansia species. As a spore product it doesn’t have to be refrigerated. It has a vegetable cellulose capsule. *I am going to try this product and will report back later about it.
Their clinical trials suggest a three month rehabilitation period can reset the gut species, and then take a break for a while, maybe repeat once a year but it also depends on if you changed your diet to include more fiber and resistant starches (*and zinc! They don’t mention zinc.). The gut restoration protocol is based on use of three products, one with the spores and two that add resistant starches/fibers and bovine immunoglobulins. I am not sure of the reasoning for the immunoglobulins - more for me to learn. In the meantime I will stick with pomegranate and other starches as their fiber product has citrus bioflavonoids which might be a histamine food for me.
If cost is a factor - buying oranges and eating the inner pith would be a lot cheaper and be the diet change that is needed to make the gut reset work long term instead of only when using the special prebiotic fiber supplement (available as a powder drink mix or as 6 capsules/day).
“Total Gut Restoration 2.0” is their three product-three month protocol.
5 Reasons to Reset with Total Gut Restoration2.0 (Dropbox)
I have tried a Pendulum product called Akkermansia Probiotic for Gut Health, with Live Akkermansia muciniphilia. It seems helpful but I forget to take it because I keep it in the fridge. Maybe it doesn’t need to be there(?)
See this post: Akkermansia - colon anaerobe and butyrate producer - promoted by polyphenols; Colitis Protocol. Chocolate, red wine, and pomegranate, oh yum! (Substack).
The Akkermansia containing supplements are new products on the market - previous technology was not able to provide ‘live’ anaerobic species. The Medispore product contains a bacterial form that is more like an eggshell that contains the live bacteria. The spore exterior protects the bacterial species while it is in the oxygen rich small intestine or highly acidic stomach environment.
Our gut microbiome needs to be fed well in order for the beneficial species to survive. Pomegranate peel seems to promote the helpful species and act as an antibiotic or antimicrobial against negative species of gut bacteria, yeast or virus. Our colon species need plenty of zinc to survive, and also a lack of Ultra Processed Foods/weird modern ingredients, and plenty of fiber and resistant starch rich produce or other starches.
Information about bacterial spores:
From the MegaSporeBiotic product page:
“MegaSporeBiotic is a probiotic blend of 5 Bacillus spores that have been shown to maintain healthy gut barrier and immune function. The bi-phasic life cycle of the Bacillus spores allows them to remain dormant in harsh environments until they reach more favorable environments like the human gastrointestinal tract.
Once inside the large intestine, these dormant spores can change into their active, vegetative forms and begin colonizing in the gut. This unique probiotic blend aims to RECONDITION the gut instead of reseeding with probiotic strains that cannot survive digestion or colonize the gut. MegaSporeBiotic has quickly become a household favorite among health practitioners and consumers alike.” (microbiomelabs.com/products/megasporebiotic)
Disclaimer: This information is being provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of Fair Use and is not intended to provide individual health care guidance.