Be Careful, Extreme Diets Without Eating Carbohydrates Can Be Dangerous For Your Intestine!

A low carbohydrate diet is a diet trend which now become very popular to do. Because, this diet is known to have many benefits, one of the benefits is losing your weight. On the other hand, a study shows the impact of a low carbohydrate diet that is detrimental to intestinal health if it is done too extreme. So, you must be wise when running this diet program.

The relation between carbohydrate diet and intestinal health

Low-carbohydrate diets have many benefits, but too low carbohydrate turns out to be detrimental to your body according to research conducted by a lecturer, Richard Agans from Wright State University Dayton in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology in 2018.

Richard Agans and his team aimed to see what happens to the condition of the intestine when a person changes his diet from a balanced diet, to a low-carbohydrate diet.

In this study Agans made a replica of human intestines using various tools with the latest technology to carry out their research, as well as using feces from donors to carry out this research.

The study by Agans and the team found that when someone on a balanced diet switches to a high-fat and carbohydrate diet, the number of bacteria in their intestines decreases.

The reduced amount of bacteria needed by the intestine will gradually reduce the production of short chain fatty acids and antioxidants in the intestine. In fact, these two substances are very necessary to maintain your  intestinal health.

Lack of carbohydrates can increases the risk of colon cancer

human intestine

Short chain fatty acids and antioxidants in the intestine are very important chemical substances to fight DNA damage and aging due to free radicals in intestinal cells. When these two compounds are reduced, the chances of inflammation and the risk of colon cancer will also increase.

So, according to researchers, the impact of an extreme low-carbohydrate diet is actually dangerous, and it is not healthy.

Too little carbohydrate will reduce the production of short-chain fatty acids and antioxidants in the intestine which are quite dangerous in the future.

However, this research still needs to be reevaluated. Because, it is unclear with how much should the ratio of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats which are safe to maintain intestinal health.

Carbohydrates increase important chemical compounds in the intestine

If someone consumes enough carbohydrates, you not only get energy but your intestines are also healthier.

When carbohydrates enter the intestine, intestinal bacteria will metabolize carbohydrates directly and release short chain fatty acids. Likewise with antioxidants.

However, when there are very few carbohydrates, there is nothing that stimulates the intestinal bacteria to release important chemical compounds for the intestine.

A low carbohydrate diet is okay, but ...

Sometimes people forget or are too eager to follow a dietary trend to cut down on their carbohydrate food sources, without thinking about the impact of an extreme low-carbo diet. In fact, carbohydrates still have a function that is very important than fat and protein.

Carbohydrates are the main energy source for the body. In one gram of carbohydrates, it produces as much as 4 calories of energy. Energy from carbohydrates can be used directly or can become energy savings if later needed. The central nervous system and brain also naturally depend on energy from carbohydrates.

In addition, carbohydrates also help to maintain the amount of protein or muscle mass in your body. When the amount of carbohydrates in the body is insufficient, the body automatically takes protein as a source of energy so that it can reduce body muscle mass.

Carbohydrates also has a function to control body weight. Especially complex carbohydrates that will provide this benefit. So, you should not carelessly diet because the effect can actually be dangerous for you.

Share :