gut health

The facts on fermented foods – what can they do for you…

January 14, 2019 by 121dietitian

With a rise in popularity for fermented foods in recent years comes a look at their impact on health. Here, Gillian gets clear on what fermented foods are and if they actually have a positive effect on health.

What are they?

Fermented foods/drinks have become very popular over recent years even though they have been consumed worldwide for over 13,000 years! Fermentation is the bacterial (or yeast) conversion of sugar and starch to acids and other by-products, including ethanol. The acidity not only prevents growth of bacteria in food that can spoil food and drink but also creates foods with an interesting sour, tangy flavour.

Fermented local products include yogurt, beer and bread. Across the world fermented products include: Sauerkraut (‘sour cabbage’) from Germany, kimchi from Korea, kombucha from China and kefir from the Caucasian mountains.

Any benefits?

You can’t escape the supposed benefits of fermented foods as they have been touted all over the media. The main area of focus: probiotic content and gut health. A probiotic is defined as live microorganisms that can establish within the gut and provide a benefit to the host. With this interest has come an increased recognition for the importance of looking after our gut microbiota, both for gut and non-gut health outcomes.

Finally emerging evidence from studies for fermented foods and health in humans has found to be positive re gut bacteria.

Research has uncovered so many variables that could be at play so the outcomes are not always clear-cut. Some other interesting areas of research ongoing include: the possibility that fermentation can increase the iron bioavailability from cereals by reducing phytic acid content, which can stop your body absorbing iron. Certain bacteria can also synthesise nutritive compounds, including particular B vitamins all very interesting.

Overall

Fermented foods can be included as part of a balanced, healthy diet, although it should be recognised that some shop bought have a high salt content such as sauerkraut and kimchi. Fermentation is popular at home and if you do wish to commence this ensure you follow safe food hygiene practices and that you use the correct ingredients, conditions and storage for that particular ferment. Although the evidence for specific health benefits is still emerging, the taste, saving on food waste are all positive!

We have loved making water kefir (we used these) the last few years and delighted that it tastes amazing while boosting gut health.

Just remember if buying fermented foods in the supermarket that are processed by heat, baked or filtrated (e.g. pasteurised sauerkraut, sourdough) these are inactivate as this processing removes the microbes and will not contain live cultures.

Call 07717392306 or email:info@121dietitian.com for help integrating these into your diet today.

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Updated Jan 2021

Snapshot of ADHD in practice – how nutrition can help

October 22, 2018 by 121dietitian

Here, Director and Principal Dietitian, Gillian Killiner discusses why children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at risk of being deficient of multiple nutrients and why the link between hyperactivity and food sensitivity is strong.

Overall nutritional status in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) shows that this patient population is at risk of multiple nutrients deficiency. Why is this? There are many hypothesis from insufficient chemical balancing to early exposure to antibiotics and gut flora and fauna being disrupted negatively affecting nutrient absorption.

One area that has been studied is low trace mineral status. Most notably, minerals that may play a crucial role in the production of dopamine, norepinephrine, and melatonin, which regulates sleep.

Nutrient deficiency

Investigators at the University of British Columbia and the Children’s and Women’s Health Centre in Vancouver, Canada, 2010 showed among 44 children aged 6 to 12 years with ADHD, nutrient deficiency were averaging around 40%. The data suggested children with ADHD are nutritionally different from the rest of the population in that they eat less meat, fish, and poultry and have low levels of related micronutrients that are essential cofactors for the body’s manufacture of dopamine norephinephrine, and melatonin.

Researchers have also theorised that ADHD children may be deficient in essential fats, not just because their dietary intake from foods such as seeds and nuts is inadequate (though this is not uncommon), but also because their need is higher, their absorption is poor, or they are unable to convert these fats well into EPA and DHA, and from DHA into prostaglandins, which are also important for brain function.

Hyperactivity and food sensitivity

Of all the avenues so far explored, the link between hyperactivity and food sensitivity is the most established. Food allergies can be of two types: Type 1 in the classical, severe and immediate allergy most commonly associated with peanuts and shellfish. This allergy involves an antibody called IgE and most people discover if they have this type of allergy early in life since the reaction is so immediate and severe. The second type, Type 2 involves the IgG antibody which works in quite a different way. Symptoms of these allergies can be many and varied and may take many hours to appear. These allergies often go undetected for this reason.

A study by Dr Joseph Bellanti of Georgetown University in Washington DC found that hyperactive children are seven times more likely to have food allergies than other children.

Creating a dietary programme for ADHD sufferers

As a Dietitian for over 20 years, I have treated hundreds of children with health issues including ADHD. I find that there are often not one but multiple issues that need to be addressed when creating a programme of care for optimising health in the ADHD individual.

The focus in practice requires the following approach:

Assessment:

A full dietary and fluid assessment
A lifestyle assessment
Bloods
GI and bowel assessment
Sleep

Plan:

No one size fits all when it comes to making changes. Each programme has to be personal and specific to each child based on:

Their age
Their understanding
Their weight
If they are growing
Their taste – are they fussy/faddy eaters?
Their behaviour around food
Allergy potential
Sleep patterns
Mood
Resistance to change
Supplementation
School involvement
Their family’s ability to facilitate and provide all of the changes
Activity levels
Fluid intake
Siblings

I have excellent success with children as when they are switched on they are keen to please and try. Once you get the correct balance of all the above and focus on the positive things the family can relax and enjoy their lives together again. The programmes created at 121 Dietitian are enjoyable, achievable and fun, which they have to be as they are for life.

The results are rewarding.

If you wish to book for an assessment, get in touch today!

Contact Gillian by emailing: info@dietitian.com or by calling: 077 1739 2306.

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FODMAPs – all you need to know to get results..

September 11, 2018 by 121dietitian

Here, Gillian Killiner, Principal Dietitian at 121, discusses the Low Fodmap Programme and in particular, why seeking the help of a qualified and experienced Dietitian is key to implementing it successfully.

The Low Fodmap Programme has been around for over 10 years. I heard about it in its infancy and thought: “Wow! This is excellent for gut dysfunction and IBS”. And so in 2010/2011, I packed my bags and returned from Belfast to London on three separate weeks to go back to my training hospital, Guys and St Thomas’s to learn all about it – the first course of its kind outside of Monash University, Australia.

The work load was intense but exciting. After qualifying with my certificate in Low FODMAP practice, I took my first ~~guinea pigs~~ patients and we followed the information I had learned from the course. I can’t lie, it was hard work and over the 7 years I have been practicing the Low FODMAP programme daily, much has changed in the way I deliver, advise and support because everyone is different. My high success rate of 97% is due to my expertise of using the programme daily.

The gut is not just about absorption – it’s microbiota has a complex network of links to emotions, stress, activity, genetics, medical history, medication, lifestyle, food and fluids…

We as individuals are not all uniform and do not follow the same diet and lifestyle so this is the basis of my increasing frustration and the fiasco I find myself in.

People are coming to me more and more in desperation, telling me they have tried the Low FODMAP programme and it hasn’t worked. AhhHHHHH!! Another emotional boundary to cross.

I have found that with the programme’s popularity and success has come the internet dippers who take a bit from one website that they like and mix it with another and believe they have completed the programme. Wrong…

The other – and most frustrating way that these people are not succeeding – is that they are being handed a “sheet” from their Consultant or GP and left to get on with it. Excuse me… WHAT??? A little more respect to the programme please! A sheet will not get results but in fact dangerously add to people’s fears around food and restriction is dangerous in the wrong hands.

A patient came to me recently and had been told by a health food shop to avoid a major list of foods. She did so and over two years of carefully following the advice she back gravely ill, malnourished, depressed and still her stomach issues continued.

If you have a gut health problem that has not resolved with medication, dietary changes, or visiting a health shop to pay and hold two balls in the air and told to eat very little, don’t despair – do get in touch.

Gillian is an expert in all areas of Gut Health and provides a free, no obligation assessment prior to an appointment

For more information, call Gillian on: 07717392306 or email: info@121dietitian.com

Our Clinics are available online worldwide and located at various clinics in NI.

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