Few things can make us act irrationally like feeling hungry. We’ve all been there; even small inconveniences can cause a meltdown when we’re desperate for a snack. To quote that great Snickers strapline: you’re not you when you’re hungry.

And neither is your gut bacteria. At least, that’s the conclusion of a new study that has found some bacteria behave erratically when starved of vital nutrients. 

Published in the journal Nature Microbiology, the paper claims that gut bacteria gets ‘hangry’.  

According to researchers from the University of North Carolina, when our bacteria cells get hangry, they start to release harmful toxins into our bodies – making us feel unwell. 

Dr Adam Rosenthal, assistant professor in microbiology and immunology at UNC’s School of Medicine, has been looking at the functions of different cells within the gut microbiome to see why some leave us alone and others make us feel ill.  

He and his colleagues selected one particular gut bacteria type called Clostridium perfringens. They found that when starved of nutrients, these bacteria cells produced nausea-provoking toxins. When well-fed, they didn’t produce toxins.

“If we give more of these nutrients, maybe we can get the toxin-producing cells to behave a little bit better,” suggested Dr Rosenthal.

To test the theory, the scientists exposed those badly behaving cells to a substance called acetate, and found that both toxin levels and the number of toxin-producing cells reduced.

While the study went on to suggest possible ramifications for dealing with antibiotic resistance off the back of this new research, there’s one key takeaway for us mere mortals. 

Not eating enough, leaving wide gaps between meals or eating nutrient-deficient food isn’t great for our gut health. 

We know that what we feed our gut really matters; increasingly, experts suggest we should be aiming to eat a minimum of 30 plants a week to give our bacteria the range of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients they need to thrive. So it makes sense that a dearth of pre- and probiotic foods might have an adverse impact on how well our microbiome functions. 

The solution? Eating regularly and focusing on having a diverse range of plants and fermented foods (which has been proven to help improve gut diversity more than fibre).

Images: Getty