You know it’s healthy, delicious and simple to make. But now you have the most important reason for eating this breakfast backed up by a new study from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen in Nürnberg, Germany.
It will directly protect your bones and joints from detraining if you suffer arthritis.
Like that wasn’t enough, it also produces cells that directly fight autoimmune diseases like arthritis.
In the experiment on mice, published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers discovered that the gut bacteria’s response to a high-fiber diet slows down bone and joint degradation.
This is how it works:
1. When your intestinal bacteria break down fiber, short-chain fatty acids are created as a byproduct of the fermentation process.
2. When you eat a lot of fiber, it changes your intestinal bacteria in a way that even more short-chain fatty acids are produced than usual.
3. The more short-chain fatty acids of propionate and butyrate that you have in your bones, bone marrow, and joints, the fewer bone degrading cells you have, and the slower your bones degrade.
4. In addition to preventing bone degradation, these short-chain fatty acids also increase your regulatory T cells (called Tregs) that, in turn, modulate your over-active immune system so that it leaves your joints alone. Tregs are your body’s best defense against autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
Scientists reached this conclusion via three separate, but related, studies:
1. They gave the mice the short-chain fatty acids propionate and butyrate in their drinking water.
2. They transplanted bacteria from the genus Prevotella, previously found to be anti-arthritic, to the intestines of arthritic mice.
3. They gave the mice a high-fiber diet.
All three of these experiments supported the four findings above.
The scientists did not propose a specific diet, but suggested that muesli for breakfast is a good start followed by fruit and vegetables throughout the day.