What Does Eating Nothing But McDonalds for 10 Days Do to Your Gut Bacteria?

You may have heard of or seen the movie Supersize Me, which is a Morgan Spurlock’s documentary that chronicled the drastic health changes that can occur from only eating McDonalds food for one month.

A professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, Tim Spector, wanted to work a slightly different angle and find out what happens to your gut bacteria, if you eat only fast food, specifically McDonald’s, for just 10 days.

His son, Tom, became the willing guinea pig and reported his symptoms. They also sent stool samples to different labs, throughout the 10-day trial.

“Tom said that for three days he felt OK, but then started to become more lethargic and turned a slight gray color according to his friends. He reported feeling bad the last few days and says he also experienced some withdrawal symptoms,” TIME reported.

The most revealing results came from the stool samples, which revealed what the fast food had done to alter Tom’s gut bacteria.

Gut Microbes ‘Devastated’ After 10 Days of Fast Food:

Nearly 100 trillion bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microorganisms, which total about 2-3 pounds, compose your body’s microflora. In comparison, we have about 10 trillion cells in our bodies, which are only about 10% the total number of microorganisms that we host. Our cells are much larger than those of the microorganisms.

There is a growing body of scientific evidence, which makes it quite clear that these microorganisms are symbiotic with us and are essential to our survival, They play a major role in your health, both mental and physical.

When you eat too many grains, sugars, and processed foods, these foods serve as “fertilizer” for pathogenic microorganisms and yeast, causing them to rapidly multiply. You should have at least 85% beneficial bacteria to less than 15% pathological bacteria to be healthy. Grains, sugars and processed foods can tip that balance the wrong way.

In one study, the hunter-gatherer Yanomami tribe, which had never come in contact with outsiders prior to the researchers’ arrival and have never been exposed to antibiotics, had about a 50% greater microbial diversity than American subjects did.

They also had 30 - 40% more diversity than the Guahibo and the Malawian tribes, the latter two of which have adopted some Western lifestyle components, such as living indoors and using antibiotics.

According to one of the authors of this study:

“As cultures around the world become more ‘Western,’ they lose bacteria species in their guts… At the same time, they start having higher incidences of chronic illnesses connected to the immune system, such as allergies, Crohn’s disease, autoimmune disorders, and multiple sclerosis.”

Echoing these sentiments were the results from Tom’s stool samples during and after his 10 days of a fast food diet. The results, from Cornell University and the British Gut Project, found his gut microbes were devastated. About 40% of his bacteria species were lost, which amounted to about 1,400 different types. Losses of microbial diversity such as this have been linked to diabetes and obesity.

If You Want to Eat & Be Healthy:

There is more, but this is a good start:

1. Get rid of processed food and embrace the pre-1950s model. Spend quality time in the kitchen preparing high-quality meals for yourself and your family. If you rely on processed inexpensive foods, you exchange convenience for long-term health problems and mounting medical bills.

2. Drastically reduce your grain and sugar consumption.

3. Stay away from GMOs - The major GMO crops are corn, canola, cottonseed and soy.

4. Go organic and free range - By eliminating pesticides, added hormones, food additives and toxic chemicals from your body, you will also be taking a major step toward better health. Organic meats come from animals that were not fed GMO grains.

5. Eat the rainbow - From the fruits and vegetables that you consume, try to select as many different colors as you can. Different colors provide various phytonutrients.

6. Eat fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, yogurt, kefir and kimchi. These can reseed your gut with beneficial microorganisms.

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