Is a monotonous diet bad for general health?
The human gut contains many bacteria which together are called the microbiota. Different types of microbiota can have different (positive or negative) metabolic effects. The composition of the microbiota is influenced by factors such as the diet. Therefore, the metabolic effects of different diets may be partly regulated through their effect on the microbiota.
This observational study investigated whether monotonous or diverse diets are associated with different microbiotas, inflammation and muscle mass in older adults (78 ± 8 years).
Monotonous diets were associated with a less diverse microbiota (which is regarded as an unhealthy composition). In addition, monotonous diets were linked with higher inflammation and lower muscle mass.
Therefore, you may want to try to have a diverse selection of foods in your diet. And if you have a strict food plan, make sure it’s not too monotonous.
However, note that this was an observational study. Therefore, it cannot be concluded that monotonous diets cause negative effects for microbiota, inflammation, and muscle mass (correlation is not causation). Still, when older adults move into long-term residential care which provides a relatively monotonous diet, microbiota tends to become less diverse, suggesting a possible causal relationship.
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There is no evidence for low or high microbiota diversity having any proven effect. The research is extremely scarce and lacking.