Give your kids sprouts for a healthy gut
Give your kids plenty of broccoli sprouts-they'll thank you later, or at least their guts will. Eating sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables may reduce the risk of IBD (inflammatory bowel disease), colitis and Crohn's disease.
Broccoli sprouts contain sulforaphane, an anti-inflammatory metabolite that protects against the worst symptoms of gut disorders, such as weight loss and diarrhea. While broccoli is the best source among the cruciferous veggies, sprouts have up to 25 times the amount in mature broccoli.
The younger you start eating sulforaphane-containing veggies, the greater the protective effect, say researchers from the University of Maine. But it could be an effective addition for IBD sufferers of any age, they say.
Their findings have been restricted to mice studies, so similar results may not be replicated in people.
mSystems, 2023; doi: 10.1128/msystems.01189-23
How breastfeeding makes your baby smart
Breastfeeding helps a baby develop a healthy gut— and that improves brain development, too. A breastfed baby could even score higher on tests by the time they reach childhood, according to researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Mothers who can't breastfeed all the time can still help their baby if they occasionally breastfeed while formula feeding. “Your baby can still get significant benefits if you breastfeed as much as you can,” said Tanya Alderete, one of the researchers. But some formulas contain contaminants that interfere with healthy neurodevelopment, the researchers say.
They assessed the benefits of breastfeeding over formula feeding by checking the babies' poo for metabolites—small molecules found in the gut that are a byproduct of bacteria metabolizing food.
By testing fecal samples from 112 infants at one month old and again at six months old, they were able to assess the amount of breastmilk the babies were consuming from the types of metabolites that were present.
In tests carried out two years later, the children who had more metabolites from breastmilk in their stool samples fared better on cognitive tests than those who had
