Healthy for ME!

Self-proclaimed diet gurus are fond of preaching abstinence. Cereal products, especially wheats, have been a popular bogeyman in this respect for some time. However, only individuals diagnosed as having celiac disease need avoid them completely.

+Persons who do not have celiac disease but suffer digestion problems as a reaction to conventional wheats, and have therefore been forced to avoid wheat flour products up to now, recently benefited from product innovations spurred on by nutritional medicine, e.g. 2ab wheat. This not only features a particularly low FODMAP content (Fermentable Oligo-, Di- and Monosaccharides And Polyols), which is the decisive factor leading to the good tolerability of 2ab products, but also shows that the “one size fits it all” principle – or more accurately “one product for all” – is no longer up-to-date. Arising from this consideration, medical nutritionists like Prof. Dr. med. Christian Sina in Lübeck develop and research science-driven concepts for personalized nutrition, with very promising results.

Lying behind this is the knowledge that the same foods lead to very different metabolic responses in different individuals, as measured by changes in their blood sugar level. Whereas a single cookie will push one consumer’s blood sugar value up to levels high enough to suspect diabetes, another person’s response stays considerably lower. If both eat one banana, the blood sugar response may be similar or different, even in totally the opposite direction. Put simply: each responds to each foodstuff with an individual change in their levels of blood sugar, and thus in their entire metabolism. Prof. Sina says: “That’s why food traffic lights aimed broad-brush fashion at sugar content are not very sensible. They lull consumers into a false sense of security. In the worst case, entirely the opposite effect is attained.”

How is it possible to determine each person’s nutrition type?

Prof. Sina and his colleagues recently founded the startup company Perfood to answer this question. The Perfood program’s core element, named “MillionFriends”, is a 14-day continuous blood sugar level measurement by a chip applied to the skin. In parallel, food is eaten according to a defined plan, and an app-based dietary reporting system is maintained to clearly record triggers and blood sugar responses. The scientists also determine the intestinal flora and specific metabolic products occurring in the test person’s blood, and these together with the blood sugar data are the basis for a selflearning algorithm that will, in the future, also allow predictive statements about “tops” and “flops” in that person’s own diet.

It is now scientifically proven that the composition of the so-called intestinal microbiome, i.e. our intestinal flora, is not only the factor that decides how food is metabolized by the body. The bacterial flora even have a large influence on the hormone balance and immune system. Prof. Sina says:

“Hormones and metabolic products produced in the intestine are at least as important as insulin in regulating the blood sugar level.” In addition, the test persons describe their lifestyle and eating habits in a questionnaire, because the frequency of food intake and the time of day chosen by the person for this have an effect on their metabolism, just like their sleeping pattern, occupational stress, other ailments, medication etc.

According to Prof. Sina, from the wealth of information collected in this way it is possible to derive individual nutritional recommendations that a person can stick to even on a long-term basis, since they require only an adjustment of the

Against wheat-belly etc.

Cereal products, especially wheat and thus also bread, have been demonized as “fattening foods” right across all the public media for many years, and not a few nutritional advisers recommend a breadfree diet. Nonsense is hard to fight against, above all when it can be sold as lucratively as these guidebooks. Bakeries are also well-advised to pass on the information presented here to their customers. If you want to include this article in your customer newspaper, request the Word document at keil@foodmultimedia.de. We will provide you with the manuscript free of charge, and all we ask is that you please acknowledge the source

Application

Every person has his/her optimum individual metabolic pattern that changes only insignificantly during their lifetime. But there are similarities that enable three basic types to be defined. If consumers know their nutritional types, food suppliers such as bakers can signpost and publicize the suitability of their products for different nutritional types. Anyone who thinks that’s all a future dream is advised to take a look at the list of companies who are members of foodRegio (The North German Food Processing Industry Network). It contains many foodstuff providers, who presumably are there not without hope of applications and benefits. Become a part of the network and let the Lübeck experts classify your product range or individual products into three nutritional types.