We’ve been beating the “EAT MORE PLANTS” drum for a while now. We’re a fruit and vegetable company after all. There’s plenty of evidence out there that chowing down on at least five servings of fruit and veg daily is insanely beneficial for your overall health. But we recently dug into one study from 2018 that has us even more excited about eating the rainbow.

The American Gut is a study with over 11,000 participants (or “citizen-scientists,” as the creators of this study call them) that investigated microbial and molecular density in human stool, and which found correlations between overall gut health and various factors, like quantity and variety of plants consumed by subjects. Subjects who consumed more than 30 types of plants over the course of an average week – fruits, veggies, grains, nuts, seeds, spices, roots… anything that grows in the dirt – in turn enjoyed a greater diversity in their gut microbiota.

It’s official: your microbiome is a foodie. 

Why more plants make for a more diverse gut biome

The American Gut study found that consuming a greater variety of plant foods was a better indicator of gut biome diversity than adherence to any specific diet (for example, being a vegan or eating omnivorously). The reasoning behind this likely has to do with the “dietary” preferences of the roughly 100 trillion bacteria that call our guts home.

Your gut biome features hundreds of species of bacteria, each of which differ in how they break down the carbohydrates we eat into simple sugars (which are then fermented to form short-chain fatty acids which our cells can absorb). That means that different bacteria respond favorably to different sorts of dietary fibers and starches.

Over the course of a week, if you eat – for instance – some bananas, apples, nectarines, peaches, watermelon, cherries, grapefruit, orange, raisins, asparagus, artichokes, garlic, onion, leek, shallots, carrot, peas, fennel, corn, cabbage, kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils, soybeans, oatmeal, barley, rye bread, couscous, brown rice, and cashews, voila! That’s 30 crowd pleasing varieties of plants you’ve served up to the microorganisms in your gut.

How kencko can help

If your response to reading all those foods in rapid succession is panic – hey, we had to crack our knuckles and wipe our brows several times while typing it all out – don’t worry. 

For starters, the study is talking about all plants, including grains, legumes, spices, and other foods that might not scream “I’m a plant!” when you bite into them. For instance, a lunch that includes a peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole wheat bread with a dash of cinnamon would count as four plants right there. You’re likely doing better than you think already.

Even if you aren’t managing to take in 30+ varieties of plant foods, as long as you’re eating the plants you have access to and do enjoy, and occasionally trying new plant-based foods, you’re doing great.

However, with a slight nudge and a wink, we feel obligated to say, “you know… smoothies are a great way to warm your palette up to new fruits and veggies, and our range of instant smoothie blends features over 35 varieties of them.”

Not only might it become untenable to store the fresh equivalent of all of those different varieties of produce in your home, chances are you wouldn’t be able to eat them all before some of them started to spoil. And sheesh… we wouldn’t want to see your grocery bill from that particular produce-heavy trip. Where do you even go about procuring lucuma, blue spirulina, baobab, or maca anyway?

Then there’s the issue of seasonality. We adore fresh produce, so this isn’t meant to be a knock at it. But seasonality plays a role in what’s available to purchase throughout the year, as well as the quality of what’s for sale. Through our flash freezing, slow drying process, we lock in the flavor and nutrients of fruits and veggies at their freshest, letting you keep a fully stocked produce selection in a less-than-square-foot section of your pantry, for weeks without worrying about fruit flies.

Think of your morning kencko smoothie as a supplementary infusion of fruits and veggies – a drinkable combo of your favorites as well as more “out there” plant foods. So shake up some kencko and sip away to fuel a happier and healthier gut!