New research shows that eating a more diverse range of plants - including fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices - on a weekly basis may be associated with better gut and metabolic health, adding to the rapidly growing body of evidence supporting the link between plant diversity and overall wellness.
A team of scientists from ZOE, the gut health science company, and King’s College London, took data from 1,131 participants in its PREDICT 3 study. For each person, detailed information about their diet were collected, along with a completed questionnaire, which captured BMI, age, sex, and ethnicity.
Also, each participant’s gut microbiome was analysed and blood markers, including their HDL (good) cholesterol levels, were taken.
On average, participants consumed 9.6 different plants per day, and 28 per week. These included vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices.
The key findings included:
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Greater plant diversity was associated with, even after adjusting for overall dietary quality in the analysis):
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Lower BMI
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Higher HDL ("good") cholesterol
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Higher ZOE gut microbiome scores, a measure of the mix of good and bad bacteria and other microbes
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People consuming a wider variety of plants also had:
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Better overall diet quality, measured using the Healthy Eating Index
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Higher fibre intake
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Each additional plant consumed per week was associated with approximately 0.1 lower BMI
"These findings suggest that eating a more diverse range of plants may be associated with better gut, metabolic, and overall health, supporting growing scientific interest in the role of plant diversity, not just plant quantity, in a healthy diet," explains Sarah Berry, ZOE's Chief Scientist, and Professor of Nutritional Sciences at King's College London.
"The next time you are doing your weekly shop, try picking a fruit or vegetable that you haven't tried before. Remember that plant diversity includes not just fruits and vegetables, but also whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, and even coffee and dark chocolate," explains Dr Federica Amati, ZOE's Head Nutritionist, and Nutrition Topic Lead at Imperial School of Medicine.