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Rachel T (UK) on 11/03/2021

I have a few questions that Art may be able to answer. Is it true that if we take supplements that these cause imbalance in the gut bacteria? Would this cancel out the benefits of eating fibre, pistachios, fasting etc?
REPLY   2      

Replied By Art (California) on 11/03/2021

Hi Rachel,

It would help if you can say which vitamins you are referring to, but in my opinion, the exact opposite is closer to accurate. I will give some examples of common vitamins to try and explain what I mean.

Some B vitamins are naturally produced in the gut such as B1, B6 and B12, but in gut dysbiosis, not so much, and this deficiency can contribute to further gut dysbiosis. In the following study it is shown how vitamin B1 plays a critical role in maintaining a healthy gut microbiome and reducing gut inflammation :

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC5613172/

In this next example, you can see how vitamin B2 and vitamin C increased the bacteria Blautia and Roseburria. These two bacteria while in the study did not help much with mucositis caused by methotrexate, are well known as short-chain fatty acid promoting bacteria and this is very beneficial for maintaining gut homeostasis in the bigger health picture!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC7823339/

In this next study we can look at how vitamin D can affect the gut microbiome in a positive way as well as help maintain the epithelial, but also have a positive effect on autoimmune health issues :

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC6985452/

In this study it is shown that vitamin C, D, and B2 have a positive impact on the human microbiome and barrier function as did vitamin E and vitamin A to a lesser extent:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19490976.2021.1875774

So I disagree that vitamins are not beneficial for the gut microbiome and as far as vitamin supplementation in relation to fiber and seeds like pistachios, they should be synergistic together, and here is why. Vitamins increase the more healthful bacteria, but these bacteria need food in order to grow and flourish. Fiber is the food of choice for these health promoting bacteria and pistachios are another source of these health promoting bacteria as well as the fiber to feed them.

I hope this clearly explains my thinking on this subject.

Art

REPLY   6