By David Liu PHD

Friday March 2, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- The gut microbiota is very important for your health.  A healthy gut microbiota means you will less likely develop chronic disease such as elevated cholesterol levels which are associated with coronary heart disease, a study suggests.

Wong, Julia M.W and colleagues published their study recently in the Journal of AOAC International saying that our ancestors' diets were based on plant foods, high in dietary fiber and fermentable substrates, which help people prevent high cholesterol and heart disease.

Certain diets or supplements work better than statins to lower heart disease, early studies have shown. The authors of this study also pointed out that therapeutic diets that mimic plant-based diets in the early phases of human evolution may lead to a drug-like cholesterol reduction.

The Western diet, on the other hand, likely contributes to the increased need for pharmacological agents to lower cholesterol because the diet is low in dietary fiber and fermentable  substrates, and high in saturated and trans fat.

The Western diet can cause a less than optimal gut microbiota and it can't meet the needs of our archaic gut microbiota.

Dr. T. Colin Campbell, a nutrition professor at Cornell University says in his book China Study that plant-based diets can help prevent many diseases including heart disease and cancer and diabetes.

Probiotics are considered beneficial for the gut microbiota.  Antibiotics should be avoided by all means.  Using antibiotics would kill all bacteria, but fungi can grow without any competition for nutrients and eventually those fungi may cause diseases.