🌾 Oats can help with fat loss as much as obesity drugs

We know that fibre is important and beneficial, but the problem is that there are so many different types of fibre.

A new study wanted to explore what fibre is be most beneficial for weight loss and improvements in blood sugar management.

Beta-glucans (a type of fermentable fibre) was found to be the most successful at this.

Mice on a fattening diet with beta glucans gained less weight and had less fat, when compared to mice fed a high fat diet and either pectins, wheat dextrins, starch, cellulose, or all plant-based fibres.

The mice on beta-glucan also showed improved insulin sensitivity and beneficial blood-sugar levels throughout the 18 week experiment.

Fermentation of beta glucans in the gut releases short-chain fatty acid (SCFA), particularly butyrate which plays such an important role in communicating to the brain the feeling of 'fullness'.

Popular obesity drugs, like Ozempic, synthetically create this gut-brain scenario, though in a more potent way.

Oat and barley are particularly high in beta-glucans, though rice, mushrooms and seaweed also have some of it.

🥊 Punchline

Oat may trigger the same beneficial metabolic functions that popular obesity drugs like Ozempic do, without the price tag or side-effects.

🥘 How different diets affect gut health - finally revealed!

Gut health is very important for our overall health, however little is known how different diets affect gut composition and function.

Until now!

A new study compared how different diets affect gut bacteria compositon.

• The Mediterranean diet is associated with production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and anti-inflammatory molecules.

• A high-fibre diet is associated with greater SCFA production and decreased gut transit time for stools.

• A plant-based diet is associated with polyphenols and SCFA release in the gut during fibre fermentation.

• A high-protein diet is associated with higher production of branched-chain fatty acids (BCFAs), phytochemicals and short amino acids.

• A ketogenic diet is linked to decreased in certain bacteria species as the bosy switches to ketone production.

• A Western diet is associated with increased risk of metabolic disorders and chronic inflammation of the gut.

🥊 Punchline

The optimal diet for you will depend on your goals and lifestyle, but it’s clear how a Western diet is not kind to your gut health.

🍄 Can psychedelic mushrooms extract help with depression?

Psychedelic mushrooms have got plenty of attention lately because of their potential in helping with depression, anxiety and other psychiatric disorders.

A new study compared psychedelic mushrooms extract with the pure active component responsible for the psychedelic effects- called psilocybin.

After 11 days in mice, mushrooms extract showed a stronger effect on brain proteins that help neurons grow and connect; a crucial step for communication between brain regions.

Mushrooms extracts also caused different metabolic changes in the brain, suggesting it might work better or differently than psilocybin.

It’s likely that whole mushroom extracts contain other bioactive compounds (like tryptamines and beta-carbolines) that might enhance psilocybin’s effects.

This is often the case when comparing whole foods versus chemically made molecules.

🥊 Punchline

Science is changing and what was once an illicit or frowned-upon method of easing depression may soon become part of mainstream treatments. The results on animal studies are promising, but we are still a long way to go.