Leafy greens are essential for feeding good gut bacteria

A new discovery finds out how bacteria feed on an unusual sugar molecule found in leafy green vegetables could hold the key to explaining how 'good' bacteria protect our gut and promote health.

The finding suggests that leafy greens are essential for feeding good gut bacteria, limiting the ability of bad bacteria to colonise the gut by shutting them out of the prime 'real estate'.

Researchers from Melbourne and the UK identified a previously unknown enzyme used by bacteria, fungi and other organisms to feed on the unusual but abundant sugar sulfoquinovose, SQ for short, found in green vegetables.

Each year, leafy green vegetables, such as spinach, produce the sugar on an enormous scale globally, comparable to the world's total annual iron ore production.

The discovery also provides crucial insights that may one day be exploited to develop an entirely new class of antibiotics.