The diet is inspired by the eating habits of non-industrialised societies such as parts of Papua New Guinea. It is not vegetarian, but is primarily made up of vegetables, legumes and other whole-plant foods.
The diet includes one small serving of animal protein per day such as salmon, chicken or pork, said the findings of international teams of scientists led by Professor Jens Walter of University College Cork.
It has no dairy, beef or wheat – excluded because they are not part of the traditional foods consumed by rural Papua New Guineans. People who followed the diet during a trial in Alberta, Canada, ate very few processed foods that are high in sugar and saturated fat.
It is also fibre-rich, with a fibre content of 22 grams per 1,000 calories – exceeding current dietary recommendations.
In just three weeks, the diet promoted weight loss, decreased bad cholesterol by 17pc, reduced blood sugar by 6pc and cut down on C-reactive protein – a marker of inflammation and heart disease – by 14pc.
These improvements were linked to beneficial changes in the participants’ gut microbiome, the home to trillions of bacteria that play a vital role in our health, influencing digestion, immunity and metabolism, the findings, published in the journal Cell, said.
“Industrialisation has drastically impacted our gut microbiome, likely increasing the risk of chronic diseases,” Prof Walter, principal investigator at APC Microbiome Ireland, said.
“To counter this, we developed a diet that mimics traditional, non-industrialised dietary habits and is compatible with our understanding on diet-microbiome interactions.
“In a strictly controlled human trial, participants followed this diet and consumed L reuteri, a beneficial bacterium prevalent in the gut of Papua New Guineans but rarely found in the industrialised microbiomes.”
Prof Walter said it also improved microbiome features damaged by industrialisation, such as reducing types of bacteria that degrade the mucus layer in the gut.
It has been christened NiMe (non-industrialised microbiome diet.) Recipes will be posted on Instagram under the handle @nimediet, and on Facebook pages.
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