Move over Mediterranean food. Experts say this East African diet could be key to better health
The new study, which included 77 men and was published in the journal Nature Medicine, focused on the diet of the Chagga people, who live in northern Tanzania in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro.
It's rich in plants and fibres, featuring lots of whole grains, beans, and green vegetables.
Related
Want to live better in old age? Scientists advise following these eating habits
For two weeks, men living in rural areas who usually followed the traditional diet switched to a Western-style diet full of processed foods and salt, such as sausages, white bread, and fried chicken.
Meanwhile, town-dwelling men whose diets were more Western either switched to traditional foods for two weeks or added Mbege, a fermented banana drink with an alcohol content of 1 to 3 per cent, to their diets for a week.
The researchers then measured inflammation-related biomarkers in the men's blood, as well as changes to their gut microbiomes.
Switching from a traditional to a Western diet led to more inflammation, they found – but replacing a Western diet with traditional foods or drinking Mbege helped bring down inflammation, which is tied to health issues like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and autoimmune diseases.
Some of these changes were still apparent a month after the experiment, the study found.
The results suggest that preserving traditional diets in sub-Saharan Africa – and adopting a similar diet for those further afield – could help reduce people's risk factors for chronic conditions linked to inflammation.
Related
Lower risk of diabetes to bone fractures: What are the benefits and drawbacks of being vegetarian?
"What people eat has a large impact on the immune and metabolic system," Dr Quirijn de Mast, the study's senior author and an associate professor at Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, told Euronews Health.
"It was quite unexpected that many of these effects really persisted," he added.
The researchers said that the benefits of the Chagga people's diet are likely due to how the key foods interact with each other, rather than any single superfood – similar to the Mediterranean diet, which emphasises fruits, vegetables, olive oil, and moderate amounts of fish and dairy.
"It's probably not one thing," de Mast said. "I think it's the entire diet".
Meanwhile, the fermentation process appears to enrich banana drink Mbege with microbes and chemical compounds that are good for the gut – but the researchers warned that the health benefits of the drink should be weighed against the alcohol content and possible contamination.
For people looking to incorporate the benefits of Mbege, de Mast recommends eating more fermented foods in general.
Related
Butter linked to higher death risk while plant-based oils may boost health
Notably, the findings might not hold for diets across the East African region. There are more than 100 tribes in Tanzania, the study said, each with their own eating habits.
The researchers called for more studies on how various traditional diets across Africa affect people's health – especially because international nutrition guidelines don't always consider regional differences in food, culture, and genetics.
Timing is key. The rapid urbanisation of sub-Saharan Africa has come with dietary changes and less physical activity, and the region is now grappling with rising rates of obesity and related health problems.
"These heritage diets and their diversity really deserve more attention before they disappear, because I think we can really learn a lot," de Mast said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
10 hours ago
- Business Insider
A protein researcher shares his easy go-to breakfast for strong muscles and good health
If nutrition expert Stuart Phillips could pinpoint just one time in your day when you could amp up the protein, he suspects it might be at the breakfast table. As one of the world's leading experts on protein and a nutrition scientist who's been studying this macronutrient for decades, he says the protein craze has gone a little overboard lately, with products like protein water and protein ice cream becoming trendy. "Protein's appearing in places where I don't think it has any business," Phillips, a professor of human physiology and nutrition science at McMaster University, recently told the Zoe nutrition podcast. "Nobody's truly — in our societies — deficient in protein." Instead, he says, some people might be "just a little bit under what I think is the recommended intake" of protein — a problem that can be easily solved without adding any new pricey supplements or ultra-processed products to your day. His own protein-rich go-to breakfast is cheap, sustaining, and flexible. Greek yogurt has more protein and fewer carbs than regular yogurt Phillips is part of a growing chorus of researchers and nutrition buffs who acknowledge that our current recommended dietary allowances of protein are a little bit low for most people. "A meal where people — I don't say under-consume protein — but that tends to be carbohydrate-heavy is breakfast," he said. For decades, our morning meals have been too often steered by ultraprocessed carbs like cereals, pancake mix, muffins, and toast. "Carbohydrates and fats, they're fuel," he says, but "protein is the structural component of everything." For him, the easiest way to make breakfast a more protein-rich meal is to begin with a bed of yogurt, instead of bread. "My superfood at breakfast is Greek-style yogurt," he said. It's a little higher in protein than regular yogurt, and pairs easily with other healthy, nutrient-rich breakfast staples. "Throw some nuts, throw some seeds, throw some fruit in there — it's probably my go-to breakfast just about every day." If you have a cup of whole, plain Greek yogurt (20g) for breakfast, topped with a quarter cup of mixed nuts (5.5g), a teaspoon of chia seeds (1g), and half a cup of mixed berries (0.5g), that's already about 27 grams of protein. No matter who you are or what your muscle-building goals may be, you're well on your way to meeting your daily requirements that way. How much protein do you really need? A quick and dirty formula Nutrition experts don't quite agree on how much protein is too much, but Phillips says that many people have been overdoing it lately, overreacting to the idea that our recommended guidelines lowball us. "The pendulum becomes 'well we need to get protein because we're not getting enough' but that's not the message," he said. "Actually, a lot of people are getting more than enough." His current recommendation? Consume about 1 gram of protein per kilogram of your body weight each day. If you know your weight in pounds, divide that number by 2.2 to find your rough protein target, in grams. For example, someone who weighs 150 lbs should consume around 68 grams of protein. Older people should strive to get a bit more, maybe around 1.2 grams per kilo of body weight, Phillips said. Lots of influencers and wellness gurus are recommending way more than that. Dr. Peter Attia, a popular longevity physician, recommends more than double what Phillips does, at about 2.2 grams per kilo. We've been through this charade with other macronutrients before. First, carbs were touted as the health foods of the 1980s and 90s, then fat had its heyday in the 2000s. Now, it's protein's turn to be the rockstar macronutrient. Don't get caught up in this hype cycle. Researchers generally agree that anything more than 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram each day is overkill. "I do think that the benefits of protein probably stop a lot sooner than a lot of people are making out," Phillips said.
Medscape
15 hours ago
- Medscape
Can Parent-Administered Low-Dose Peanut OIT Treat Allergy?
TOPLINE: A low-dose peanut oral immunotherapy (OIT) protocol using parent-measured dosing can desensitize children aged 1-4 years with peanut allergy. The approach appears to be acceptably safe and may yield greater improvements in quality of life than peanut avoidance, researchers reported. METHODOLOGY: Investigators conducted a randomized trial that included 54 children with confirmed or highly probable peanut allergy at a tertiary pediatric hospital in Western Australia to compare peanut OIT with peanut avoidance. Participants in the peanut OIT group received 1-360 mg of peanut protein in the form of defatted peanut flour sold as powdered peanut butter. At 12 months, researchers assessed how many participants in the OIT and avoidance groups could tolerate > 600 mg peanut protein during an oral food challenge, the study's primary outcome. Children's quality of life and parental burden were also assessed using questionnaires at weeks 12 and 24 and at the end of the study. TAKEAWAY: Overall, 74% of participants in the peanut OIT group vs 11% in the avoidance group achieved the primary outcome (odds ratio, 22.9; P < .001). On the quality-of-life questionnaires, the peanut OIT group had significantly lower scores (indicating better quality of life) across domains like emotional impact, food-related anxiety, and social and dietary limitations. A total of 79 treatment-related adverse events were reported for 21 participants in the peanut OIT group, with a median of two events per participant. Three of the adverse events that occurred at home were treated with adrenaline. Most treatment-related adverse events were grade 1 or 2, 11% were grade 3, and one was grade 4. IN PRACTICE: 'A pragmatic protocol for pOIT [peanut OIT] relying on parent-measured doses of a commercially available food product is feasible, acceptable to parents, and results in similarly low rates of adverse events as other reported trials of pOIT in this age group,' the authors of the study wrote. SOURCE: Michael O'Sullivan, MBBS, with the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, was the corresponding author of the study, which was published online on August 4 in Clinical & Experimental Allergy. LIMITATIONS: This study had an open-label design and no placebo control. In other contexts, families may be less willing or able to adhere to an OIT regimen, the researchers noted. DISCLOSURES: This study was supported by the Department of Health, Government of Western Australia. O'Sullivan is a board director and the current president of the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy. This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
Boston Globe
a day ago
- Boston Globe
Are samosas unhealthy? Some Indians find official advice hard to swallow.
So, when a recent government advisory put samosas — along with other deep-fried Indian snacks and Western foods such as burgers and french fries — on a list of things that should be eaten in moderation because of their high oil and sugar content, there was an unsurprising outcry. Social media erupted with memes, and Indian media chimed in to say the country's most iconic bites were under attack. A love of the samosa is 'ingrained in us,' said Rana Safvi, a cultural historian, who said it served as both street food and comfort food. If the government had targeted only burgers or pizza, people wouldn't have cared, she said. 'Samosa is something that is too close to them.' Advertisement Some news outlets fueled the backlash by likening the directive to health warnings on cigarettes. The actual advisory was considerably milder than that. India's health ministry on June 21 sent out a notice to all government ministries requesting that they put up posters in public spaces, such as office cafeterias and meeting rooms, showing the oil and sugar levels in certain foods. In the sample posters, the much-loved samosa was first on the high-fat list. (Jalebis were lower down on the high-sugar poster.) Advertisement The daily recommended intake of fats is 27 to 30 grams, and one samosa can contain between 17 and 28 grams, according to the posters (types of fat are not specified). Last month, the government moved to clarify its intentions, saying it had not directed vendors to put warning labels on their products, and that it wasn't selectively targeting Indian snacks. It called the advisory a 'behavioral nudge to make people aware of hidden fats and excess sugar' in many types of food. The move was in keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign to encourage active lifestyles, called Fit India. Earlier this year, Modi used his radio program to call on people to reduce the amount of oil they consume. Nearly 1 in 5 adults in India's urban areas are overweight or obese, the 2021 National Family Health Survey found. The percentage of children under 5 years of age who are overweight is also increasing, it found. India, a country of about 1.4 billion people, is expected to have 450 million overweight or obese people by 2050, second only to China, according to a study by The Lancet, a medical journal. The government has identified obesity, which can push up rates of cardiovascular problems, Type 2 diabetes and other diseases, as a major public health challenge. Advertisement Street foods such as jalebis, samosas, and chole bhature — chickpea curry with deep-fried bread — are deep-fried in saturated or partially hydrogenated oils, and often refried in the same oil, which significantly increases trans fatty acid content, said Dr. Anoop Misra, an endocrinologist. If government health programs are executed and regulated well, it could 'lead to a significant reduction in obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease,' he said. Street food lovers are not ignorant of the perils. On a recent afternoon, Sanjay Kumar, 29, stood by Old Famous Jalebi Wala, a shop that has been in business since 1884, in Delhi's bustling Chandni Chowk bazaar. He was eating a jalebi topped with rabri, a condensed milk dish. Kumar said he was overweight but allowed himself the occasional treat. Although jalebis are available everywhere, the freshly made ones at the stall — which is about the length of a bus — are of 'top quality,' he said. 'I know that jalebis increase the weight, but what do I do?' Kumar said. 'Jalebis are so tasty.' Such snacks are necessary because lower-income workers cannot afford to buy food in expensive restaurants, said Rishabh Nath, who runs a food stall founded by his father adjacent to Delhi's high-end Khan Market. It opens at 5 a.m. daily and quickly becomes crowded with workers filling up for the day ahead. Dheeraj Sharma, who works for a driving school, said he had been eating samosas from a stall four times a week for the past decade. He is aware of the dangers of too much fried food, but he said samosas were his snack of choice because they're 'tasty, easy to eat, and cheap to buy.' Advertisement Sharma, 30, said it was a good idea for governments to urge shops to display more information about the foods they sell. But, he added, 'this is the fun of life, so why not enjoy?' This article originally appeared in
