A study from Stanford Medicine might finally convince us to fill our plates with beans, nuts, cruciferous veggies, avocados and other fibre-rich foods. The research, published in Nature Metabolism, identified the direct epigenetic effects of two common byproducts of fibre digestion and found that some of the alterations in gene expression had anti-cancer actions.
“We found a direct link between eating fibre and modulation of gene function that has anti-cancer effects, and we think this is likely a global mechanism because the short-chain fatty acids that result from fibre digestion can travel all over the body,” said Michael Snyder, PhD, Stanford W. Ascherman, MD, FACS Professor in Genetics. “It is generally the case that people’s diet is very fibre poor, and that means their microbiome is not being fed properly and cannot make as many short-chain fatty acids as it should. This is not doing our health any favours.”
“By identifying the gene targets of these important molecules we can understand how fibre exerts its beneficial effects and what goes wrong during cancer,” Snyder added.