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The description of what constitutes a “low inflammation” diet in publications like these often strikes me as very questionable a priori. On what basis would I e
by wyager 5y ago
The description of what constitutes a “low inflammation” diet in publications like these often strikes me as very questionable a priori. On what basis would I expect beans, a food that is nothing remotely like what would have been consumed in my evolutionary environment, to be “anti-inflammatory”? Especially given that beans are understood to cause excess gas production, which does not suggest efficient/clean digestion. I would need pretty strong evidence (stronger than is typical for nutrition/dietary “science” papers) to accept this characterization at face value.
- misja111 5y agoThe research was about the effect of your diet on dementia. When looking from an evolutionary perspective, I don't think that the chance of developing dementia was very important. Most people never reached that age and when they did, they probably couldn't reproduce anymore anyway. So I don't think your argument about beans can be used to invalidate the findings of the research.
- bsmitty5000 5y agoThis is an off-the-cuff response so maybe I'm completely wrong, but I recently started baking sourdough at home with my own starter. The starter is simply flour and water, but after a while of refreshing with new flour and water eventually the ever-present wild yeast and (good) bacteria start to grow really quickly. I usually wrap with saran wrap and when the starter is really active the saran wrap expands a bunch. From what I understand this is the gas from the bacteria eating their way through the flour. Could excess gas in humans be a similar situation? ie lots of gas means our microbiome is busy eating and farting a bunch. Which to me sounds like a good thing. Maybe not so good for those around you.
- afterburner 5y ago> a food that is nothing remotely like what would have been consumed in my evolutionary environment What does that have to do with anything? One would think the only thing to check for when designing an anti-inflammatory diet is inflammation.
- wyager 5y ago> What does that have to do with anything? Because it influences the likelihood that I’m genetically adapted to metabolize a food. People without milk in their evolutionary environment tend to be lactose intolerant, for example.
- AQuantized 5y agoIt's arguably impossible to eat what we would have eaten as cavemen given how essentially every food has been subject to thousands of years of domestication and cultivation, rendering it relatively distinct from its distant wild ancestor. The gas beans give you is likely due to an inappropriately low amount of gut bacteria required for their digestion. It would be a better idea to try to re-cultivate this bacteria than to exclude beans, however.
- baja_blast 5y agoNow I don't know what is anti inflammatory or not, but it's possible that beans could be reduce inflammation due to the starches that feed beneficial bacteria. The bacteria in our bodies plays a vital role in signaling the body, some bacteria increase inflammation while others reduce it. I often wonder if environmental pollutants like mircoplastics or some unknown chemical in our environment has lead to the reduction in diversity of gut bacteria making autoimmune disorders skyrocket.
- UncleOxidant 5y agoThere's a lot of evidence to suggest that people who eat more legumes live longer: https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/food/pulse-crops/research/legumes-are-the-most-important-dietary-predictor-of-longevity https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/food/pulse-crops/research/legumes-ar...
- goda90 5y agoA number of wild legume species have edible parts. It's probably safe to say that some had been foraged by hominids prior to agriculture. Cultivation often improved the way foods affect the body by reducing anti-nutrients and toxins in a plant.