Don’t delay your health: Start today

Following on from last week's blog on the magic of the microbiome, Dr Vicky Carre explains why - when it comes to gut health - healthy choices don’t take years to pay off. Sometimes, the benefits start almost immediately.

While reading around this subject of gut health, I came across a fascinating paper published over a decade ago by researchers at Pittsburgh University. The study, titled “Fibre and Cancer Risk in African Americans and Rural Africans,” investigated the impact of diet on bowel cancer risk and the role of the gut microbiome.

People of African descent born and raised in the USA have an incidence of bowel cancer of about 65 in 100,000. In contrast, people living in rural Africa have an incidence of less than 5 in 100,000. (For context, the current UK incidence is around 45 in 100,000.)

In the study, healthy participants from each population underwent colonoscopies to take biopsies—looking at markers of bowel wall health—and provided stool samples to assess the types of microbes making up their gut microbiome.

The rural Africans had strong, healthy bowel linings with no precancerous changes and a gut microbiome full of beneficial bacteria. In contrast, many of the African Americans already had precancerous changes in their bowel lining and a less balanced microbial population, with fewer “good” bugs and reduced diversity.

They then looked at the diets. The American Africans were eating sausage and pancakes for breakfast, hot dogs or spaghetti and meatballs for their lunch, and red meat and potatoes for supper. The rural Africans were having spinach, red pepper and corn fritters for breakfast, kale salad followed by mango for lunch, and potato salad for supper.

Next came a food swap. The African American group began eating the unprocessed, plant-based diet typical of rural Africans, while the rural Africans consumed the ultra-processed, meat-heavy American fare. After just two weeks, the participants repeated their colonoscopies and stool tests.

The results were astounding.

In only two weeks, the risk profiles had reversed. The African Americans now showed markers of good bowel health and a thriving gut microbiome, while the rural Africans exhibited significant deterioration in both bowel lining health and microbial balance.

I share this study not only to highlight the importance of dietary fibre in reducing bowel cancer risk, but also to underscore how quickly the benefits of healthy changes can take effect.

Making lifestyle changes for long-term health can feel hard. You eat the burger that might contribute to bowel cancer, inhale the cigarette that could lead to emphysema, or drink the wine that might raise your risk of dementia—because the "treat" is tangible and immediate, while the disease is uncertain and seems far off.

But it’s worth remembering: the benefits of healthy choices might come much sooner than you think, they're almost certain, and you could start feeling the impact in just weeks.

So don’t wait—start today.