Zhao Liping Diet

January 28, 2015

Zhao Liping is a PhD microbiologist from China who has recounted his personal microbiome story for the mainstream Western press.

As he was finishing his PhD and starting his family he began to eat rich foods and over the course of several years gained 66 lbs, mostly in his waist area.

After reading a study published in Science about the link between gut obesity and the microbiome in mice, he changed his diet and monitored his microbiome via stool samples.

After consuming fermented “prebiotic” foods such as Chinese yam and bitter melon, eating whole grains, and modifying his gut biome, he lost the 66 lbs, his high blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol. The bacterial profile showed an increase in microbes known to be anti-inflammatory such as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii.

Science, Vol. 336, June 8, 2012