On more of a deep dive....
Looks like
Akkermansia muciniphila is ubiquitous in humans (and other mammals) with a good amount of strain diversity between individuals. Levels of the bug vary enormously in a diet dependent way. As in, those eating low-fiber, low carb diets have a 100+ fold lower incidence of
A. muciniphila (missed in early assays of lower sensitivity). Since it appears having healthy gut epithelium (and thus a healthy gut-blood barrier) requires cross-feeding between the bug and your epithelial cells, folks with those low-fiber/low-carb diets have 'leaky gut' and associated systemic inflammation markers. That also shade into things like arthritis, and MS. And of course, Crohns, IBS, etc.
Cross-feeding: the epithelial cells lining your gut EAT SCFAs, and excrete mucin protein (mucus) as a physical barrier.
A. muciniphila binds and eats mucin (slowly) and excrete SCFAs that feed your cells AND other bacteria in their community, which convert these to still more molecules symbiotically. The presence of
A. muciniphila upregulates mucus production significantly.
A. muciniphila is the foundation.
The solution is simple: fiber. Specifically, the kinds of fiber that your microbiome can digest, like fructans (poly-frucose) like inulin (in chicory root) and 'resistant starch' (RS) which is starch (poly-glucose) that is not digested by our GI due to its physical density and/or branching molecular structure. Resistant starch is found in everything, but is esp high in beans, green bananas, cashews, and potatoes (that have been chilled after cooking). Just feeding inulin OR RS to folks in modest amounts is enough to bloom their
A. muciniphila to healthy levels. This bloom coincides with all the magic ... high SCFAs (maybe serotonin and dopamine too?), reduced inflammation, reduced insulin tolerance, reduced bloodstream entero-toxins (from gut leakage), reduced IBS flares, you name it.
My youngest always had GI issues, and started eating green bananas regularly years ago... and has had few complaints since. LOL.
So, I didn't get my beans in for a few days... and got gassy. Maybe my happy bugs were mad bc they didn't get their resistant starch. Solution: eat my beans. The
A. muciniphila probiotics I bought are probably useless... too small a dose, and I probably already have the bugs. I will take them anyway.
Having done a deep dive on WFPB diets for the last several months, I think this single aspect (
A. muciniphila) could be at the root of much of the benefits of the diet for inflammation and mood, including perhaps
@Poindexter 's effects. The same bugs have their tentacles in lipid metabolism as well, so could also contribute to cardiovascular benes (which are mostly from reduction is saturated fats and dietary cholesterol).