{"id":7500,"date":"2021-09-15T22:05:27","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T14:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=7500"},"modified":"2021-09-15T22:05:28","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T14:05:28","slug":"body-clock-off-schedule-prebiotics-may-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/body-clock-off-schedule-prebiotics-may-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Body clock off-schedule? Prebiotics may help"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whether it\u2019s from jetting across time zones, pulling all-nighters at school or working the overnight shift, chronically disrupting our circadian rhythm\u2014or internal biological clocks\u2014can take a measurable toll on everything from sleep, mood and metabolism to risk of certain diseases, mounting research shows.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a new University of Colorado Boulder study<\/a> funded by the U.S. Navy suggests simple dietary compounds known as prebiotics, which serve as food for beneficial gut bacteria, could play an important role in helping us bounce back faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis work suggests that by promoting and stabilizing the good bacteria in the gut and the metabolites they release, we may be able to make our bodies more resilient to circadian disruption,\u201d said senior author Monika Fleshner, a professor of integrative physiology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The animal study, published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity<\/em>, is the latest to suggest that prebiotics\u2014not to be confused with pro<\/em>biotics found in fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut\u2014can influence not only the gut, but also the brain and behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally abundant in many fibrous foods\u2014including leeks, artichokes and onions\u2014and in breast milk, these indigestible carbohydrates pass through the small intestine and linger in the gut, serving as nourishment for the trillions of bacteria residing there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors\u2019 previous studies<\/a> showed that rats raised on prebiotic-infused chow slept better and were more resilient to some of the physical effects of acute stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the new study, part of a multi-university project funded by the Office of Naval Research, the researchers sought to learn if prebiotics could also promote resilience to body-clock disruptions from things like jet lag, irregular work schedules or lack of natural daytime light\u2014a reality many military personnel live with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are traveling all over the world and frequently changing time zones. For submariners, who can be underwater for months, circadian disruption can be a real challenge,\u201d said lead author Robert Thompson, a postdoctoral researcher in the Fleshner lab. \u201cThe goal of this project is to find ways to mitigate those effects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How a healthy gut may prevent jet lag<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The researchers raised rats either on regular food or chow enriched with two prebiotics: galactooligosaccharides and polydextrose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They then manipulated the rats\u2019 light-dark cycle weekly for eight weeks\u2014the equivalent of traveling to a time zone 12 hours ahead every week for two months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rats that ate prebiotics more quickly realigned their sleep-wake cycles and core body temperature (which can also be thrown off when internal clocks are off) and resisted the alterations in gut flora that often come with stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is one of the first studies to connect consuming prebiotics to specific bacterial changes that not only affect sleep but also the body\u2019s response to circadian rhythm disruption,\u201d said Thompson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study also takes a critical step forward in answering the question: How can simply ingesting a starch impact how we sleep and feel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers found that those on the prebiotic diet hosted an abundance of several health-promoting microbes, including Ruminiclostridium 5 <\/em>(shown in other studies to reduce fragmented sleep) and Parabacteroides distasonis.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also had a substantially different \u201cmetabolome,\u201d the collection of metabolic byproducts churned out by bacteria in the gut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Put simply: The animals that ingested the prebiotics hosted more good bacteria, which in turn produced metabolites that protected them from something akin to jet lag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are supplements worthwhile?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Clinical trials are now underway at CU Boulder to determine if prebiotics could have similar effects on humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research could lead to customized prebiotic mixtures designed for individuals whose careers or lifestyles expose them to frequent circadian disruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, could simply loading up on legumes and other foods naturally rich in the compounds help keep your body clock running on time? It\u2019s not impossible but unlikely, they say\u2014noting that the rats were fed what, in human terms, would be excessive amounts of prebiotics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why not just ingest the beneficial bacteria directly, via probiotic-rich foods like yogurt?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That could also help, but prebiotics may have an advantage over probiotics in that they support the friendly bacteria one already has, rather than introducing a new species that may or may not take hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about prebiotic dietary supplements?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you are happy and healthy and in balance, you do not need to go ingest a bunch of stuff with a prebiotic in it,\u201d said Fleshner. \u201cBut if you know you are going to come into a challenge, you could take a look at some of the prebiotics that are available. Just realize that they are not customized yet, so it might work for you but it won\u2019t work for your neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dietary compounds shown to protect against jet lag-type symptoms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2048,2218,490,2300],"class_list":["post-7500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nutrition","tag-good-life","tag-high-life","tag-nutrition-supplements","tag-prebiotics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7502,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7500\/revisions\/7502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}