Food aversions.
Most of the time in nutrition practice, you will seem to find cases where patients present with gastrointestinal discomforts when consuming certain types of food, most commonly, dietary protein foods- then, when delving upon their lifestyles, they tend to consume ultra-processed foods and deli meats. These UPFs, can harm the gut by reducing the beneficial bacterial colonies, that do reside there while also reducing the absorption of vital nutrients needed for digestive health.
In this era of the grind, where there is little-to-no time to prepare indigenous foods rich in whole fiber- people opt for convinient and palatable foods which take less time in preparing, as opposed to indigenous dishes which require alot of intensive planning, that may seem to consume the little energy left, after a long day of work.
UPFs can cause fatty liver disease even in people who do not seem visibly obese- with fatty liver disease that progresses with time, hepatic fibrosis occurs that leads to a hallmark loss of hepatic vitamin A stores, the active vitamin A metabolite/retinoic acid, enables the formation of a set of immune cells called the T-regulatory cells. Our guts are constantly exposed to a wide variety of toxins, food antigens and many more entities of which, the immune system ought to be highly vigilant and active against these entities, however such activation, may lead to an exaggerated immun response that can, damage the gut entirely, therefore, T-regulatory cells do exist to calm and regulate the immune cells that may cause bad damage.
Another nutrient is a byproduct of fiber fermentation in the gut called, butyrate- this metabolite helps to stabilize a blueprint within the T-regulatory cells that keeps them vibrant and ready to serve, this blue print is known as FOXP3. This shows why patients suffering from such discomforts need to up their whole fiber intake.
Fiber is abundant in the following- sweet potatoes,(a vitamin A powerhouse/S-tier) boiled bananas/rich in potassium that promotes regular bowel movements thus preventing constipation, green apples, boiled arrowroots, boiled cassavas, boiled yams, beans, peas, carrots and guavas.
Beans and cabbages happens to be the foods that worsen symptoms, for these, encourage small spoonfuls of these foods types until the patient can report tolerance. Foods rich in vitamin A include- liver, beef, fatty fish, salmon, groundnuts, nuts, olive oil, avocadoes, pumpkins, boiled eggs and pawpaws. Pairing fiber rich foods and vitamin A rich foods are a nice medical nutrition therapy for providing these patients with good health and nourishment.
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One important thing to understand is, most of these foods aversion became, conditioned, in a person at a particular point of time, probably because due to a violent bout of vomiting and nausea when eating a plate of meat with some cabbages, the individual will then build a perception that any food within the food group associated with the ones that caused the vomiting the other time, are inherently bad, usually, such individuals will mention that the mere sight/smell of those foods makes them have a sense of disgust- well, in reality, these foods are not the cause, the cause was probably due to food mishandling.
THE CEPHALIC PHASE OF DIGESTION
When we see/smell food or hear cookery nearby, our brain, through the vagus nerve, sends signals to the stomach to release acid and activate enzymes, needed for nutrient absorption. When a person develops perceived disgust to such foods, the vagal nerve may influence the stomach to purge these foods via vomiting and nausea, even diarrhea/the presence of such foods activates the amygdala to associate those foods with discomfort, such a pattern becomes reinforced with time. Our amygdala evolved in time to help mammalian organisms identify threats and keep away from them, to ensure the continuity of life.
The consequence of reinforcing such a pattern can cause, malnourishment e.g if animal protein was involved, you may have gradual deficiencies of vitamin B12 for nerve health- low vitamin B12 can cause anemia, peripheral neuropathy with shaking of the fingers and blackening of the skin around the knuckles of the hands, low zinc which can cause increased susceptibility to infectious disease and low immunity while reducing taste acuity, especially in geriatics.
Further into it, zinc provides the mucosal membranes of the stomach and gut with integrity, if zinc and also vitamin A stores go down, this barrier of mucus will deteriorate- this means, ulcers will ultimately become prevalent and the pathogenic bacteria will now be able to interact freely with the gut causing inflammation which will sustain disease, with time, intestinal permeability due to the loss of the good bacteria that, cements the cells together and the mucosal loss becomes evident.
Intestinal permeability is one of the leading pathophysiological hallmarks of various diseases such as colorectal cancer, IBD, ulcerative colitis…
A leaky gut can also cause neuroinflammation, since the toxins generated by these pathogenic bacteria can be able to inflame brain cells leading to brain fog, irritability and potentiate the risk of neurological diseases such as ALZHEIMER’s disease.
Being predictive may affect nutritional diversity.
