Antibiotic resistance is on its way, if not already, to becoming a major public health issue. The root cause mostly from how much unnecessary antibiotic we use in healthcare as well as the irresponsible sector of the meat industry where almost all antibiotic produced are used.

Antimicrobial resistance is largely situated in the gut where that various microbes, including: bacteria, viruses, and fungi, continue to carry the genetic coding for such resistance.

In a study published in mBio, researchers looked into the associations of the levels of antibiotic resistance genes of the human gut with dietary fiber and animal proteins of 290 healthy adults using food frequency questionnaires and microbiome genome sequencing.

They found that eating a diet high in soluble fiber and low in animal protein led to the lowest levels of antimicrobial resistance. Additionally, the gut flora of these people also had the most obligate anaerobes, a signal of healthy gut with low inflammation. Soluble fiber intake was the highest predictor of low levels of antimicrobial resistance. On the other hand, those with the highest level of antimicrobial resistance also had the least diversity in their gut microbiome, a common hallmark of the standard american diet high in meats and processed junk food.

Foods high in soluble fiber are fruits, vegetables, and legumes. So you should eat those instead of the standard american diet of animal products and processed junk food. Because while sitting around with an abundant of drug-resistant bacteria in your stomach does not seem like much, it will wreck havoc on you when you finally get an infection leading to intubation, multiple dangerous antibiotics injected into you while you lay in the ICU, and possible amputations. Hopefully broccoli doesn’t sound so bad now compared to a lambchop.

A Oliver et al. Association of diet and antimicrobial resistance in healthy U.S. adults. mBio. DOI:10.1128/mbio.00101-22