What The Hadza Tribe Can Teach You About Your Gut Health

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If you’re trying to strike the ideal balance of healthy bacteria in your gut, it might be time to take a page from the book of the Hadza tribe.

A new study is highlighting the natural diet of this African tribe in Tanzania, noting specifically how it impacts its microbiomes. Scientists collected 350 stool samples from 27 of these hunter-gatherer people and compared them with samples from 16 Italian city dwellers. They found that the gut bacteria of Hadza tribe members was far more diverse than others, and it even shifted seasonally as what they had available to eat changed.

Their dry-season diet included mostly meat and tubers, and their wet-season diet included things like berries and honey. And despite these foods (and their resulting bacterias) being dramatically different, the different gut bacteria always returned in the people’s digestive tracts the next year when they began eating those particular foods again.

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This research suggests that even though the Western way of eating certainly isn’t as diverse as a hunter gatherer diet and our gut bacteria clearly suffers from it, there is hope that we can introduce these healthy little buggers with gradual healthy shifts in our diets. (Phew.) The easiest change, though, is adding in more fiber. Apparently, the Hadza people consume at least 100 grams of fiber a day. Meanwhile, we eat a measly 15 grams. We also down a ton of processed food, so that can be reduced as well.

We really are what we eat, guys. And it’s in our power to do a better job — for both our guts and ourselves. Sure, most of us definitely can’t up and go live a true hunter gatherer lifestyle, but we can definitely learn from one.