A new survey has – alas! – revealed that just two weeks on the so-called ‘Western Diet’ can drama-tically break down the health of test subjects used to a traditional African diet rich in fruits vegetables, fiber, and fermented foods…
The classic Mediterranean Diet – very similar to the traditional African diets considered
in the Radboud UMC study. Even better if you add a fermented food or two…
We all knew the so-called Western Diet wasn’t particularly healthy. But who would have suspected it could be so much unhealthier than a traditional African diet rich in fresh fruits and veggies, and fibre, and virtually devoid of processed foods?
Surprising results
A team from Radboud University Medical Center (Radboud UMC) and KCMC University in Tanzania has unveiled a new study showing that the Western diet causes inflammation, reduces the immune res-ponse to pathogens, and activates processes associated with lifestyle diseases.
The dramatic results are amplified by the comparative background provided by a traditional African diet which is much simpler, less reliant on animal protein and almost devoid of processed foods.
What they did
Seventy-seven healthy men from Tanzania, both urban and rural residents, participated in the study. Some participants who traditionally ate an African diet switched to a Western diet for two weeks, while others who ate a Western diet adopted a traditional African diet for the same period of time. A third group consumed a fermented banana drink daily. As a control, ten participants maintained their usual diet.
The researchers comprehensively analyzed the function of the immune system, blood inflammation markers, and metabolic processes at baseline, after the two-week intervention, and again four weeks later.
What they found
Participants who switched to a Western diet exhibited an increase in inflammatory proteins in their blood, and activation of biological processes linked to lifestyle diseases. Their immune cells also responded less effectively to pathogens.
Meanwhile, those who switched to a traditional African diet or consumed the fermented drink show-ed a reduction in inflammatory markers.
Some of these effects persisted even four weeks later, indicating that short-term dietary changes can have long-lasting effects.
The takeaway
“Previous research has focused on other traditional diets, such as the Japanese or Mediterranean diet,” says Internist Dr Quirijn de Mast from Radboud UMC. “However, there is just as much to learn from traditional African diets. Especially now, as lifestyles in many African regions are rapidly chang-ing and lifestyle diseases are increasing.
“Africa’s rich diversity in traditional diets offers unique opportunities to gain valuable insights into how food influences health,” Quirijn adds.
The researchers found it remarkable how significant the effects of diet are, even after just two weeks.
My take
“The African diet includes plenty of vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, and fermented foods,” says de Mast. Crucially, that’s right in line with eating recommendations by backers of the eating regimes such as the Mediterranean Diet and the Blue Zones Diet. And where the latter uniformly condemn processed foods, along with excess fat, salt, sugar, de Mast notes that those almost-globally dishonoured foods are simply not found in traditional African diets – an never have been.
If you were unsure about the evils of the Western Diet, and the virtues of simpler nutritional routines relying more on fresh, unprocessed foods and devoid of added salt, sugar and fat before now, the new Radboud UMC study ought to convince you…
~ Maggie J.