There are a variety of health benefits associated with eating spinach, including improved blood pressure levels and cognitive function. However, a new study suggests that these leafy greens may promote the growth of certain gut bacteria that cause an unwanted outcome: bad gas.
Microbiologists from the University of Vienna and the University of Konstanz have discovered that a sulfur-containing sugar called sulfokinovose, found in leafy vegetables, promotes the growth of important bacteria in your gut. The study, conducted recently in The ISME Journal, revealed it bacteria in your gut produce a gas called hydrogen sulfide after you have consumed spinach.
Why does it matter? At low concentrations, this gas, which smells like rotten eggs, can have an anti-inflammatory effect on the body. However, large amounts of hydrogen sulfide in the gut can be linked to cancer development. Thus, researchers were trying to discover exactly how the intestinal microbiome, which contains numerous microbial species, metabolizes sulfokinovoses.
The gut microbiome plays a major role in how the food we eat affects our overall health, meaning that it has an impact on the way our body reaps the benefits of nutrients in food. As one of the lead authors of the study noted, many scientists still do not know on what substances this collection of microorganisms feeds – or how they even process it.
Prior to this study, one of the lead authors and his team of researchers found that the intestinal microbiome uses sulfokinovose as a nutrient. For this study, the researchers took a step further and analyzed fecal samples to determine exactly how sulfokinovosis affects the microorganisms in the gut.
“We could now show that, unlike, for example, glucose, which carries a large number of microorganisms in the intestines, sulfokinovosis stimulates the growth of very specific key organisms in the gut microbiome, “ David Schleheck, study author and microbiologist at the University of Konstanz, said in a statement.
More specifically, the sulfo sugar promotes the growth of Eubacterium rectal, which is one of the 10 most common intestinal microbes in healthy individuals.
“The E. rectal bacterium ferments sulfokinovoses via a metabolic pathway that we have just deciphered, which produces, among other things, a sulfur compound, dihydroxypropanesulfonate or DHPS serves as an energy source for other intestinal bacteria such as Bilophila wadsworthia. Bilophila wadsworthia eventually produces hydrogen sulfide from DHPS via a metabolic pathway that has also only recently been discovered, ‘ Schleheck said.
What does it all mean? Hydrogen sulfide is essentially produced by both cells in the body and also by this group of specialized microorganisms in the intestinal microbiome after eating leafy vegetables. The researchers describe this discovery as surprising, as previous research suggests that sulfate and taurine (which are two substances found mainly in proteins and fats, including meat), are known to be gas – not vegetables. It is now clear that the sulfo sugar in spinach can also produce hydrogen sulphide, or stinking gas.
On the contrary, research has also shown that spinach offers many benefits to the gut microbiome, which means you still have to eat spinach and leafy vegetables regularly. The researchers are now curious to see if sulfokinovose offers any health benefits as it causes stinking flatulence. In fact, they suspect that sulfokinovoses can be used as prebiotics, which is the key for probiotics (good gut bacteria) to thrive.
Long story short, keep eating your spinach, but just remember not to do it too much, and include vegetables of all colors like sweet potatoes and red and yellow peppers on your plate every week to diversify your gut bacteria and bad gas to avoid.
For more information, check out The Worst Foods for Gut Health. And to deliver the latest food news straight to your inbox every day, Subscribe to our newsletter!