Dr. Greger also covered that in his video before, personally I'm not a fan of bread and pasta etc. so it's no biggie for me:
Getting Starch to Take the Path of Most Resistance
http://youtu.be/wEwViGT2S6YHow beans, berries, and intact (not just whole) grains may reduce colon cancer risk.
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/getting-starch-to-take-the-path-of-most-resistance/Plants also need to be carbed up like we do, chemical fertilizers and pesticides alone just won't cut it:
Junk Food Is Bad For Plants, Too
https://www.cornucopia.org/2016/04/junk-food-is-bad-for-plants-too/Soils rich in organic matter are like human diets rich in fiber. Each is an important food source for the root and gut microbiomes, respectively. So long as a supply of organic matter replenishes the soil, it powers the cycle of eating, pooping, and dying among soil life that supports the entire botanical world. Microbe-manure in the soil is laden with N, P, and K. And dead microbes are an especially rich source of readily available nitrogen.
But N, P, and K are just the growth-fueling nutrients. A well-fed root microbiome also gives crops what a fertilizer and pesticide diet can never deliver—the full complement of essential minerals and a dazzling array of microbial metabolites and other compounds critical to the overall health of their green bodies.
So what can an organic-matter-chowing, exudate-chugging root microbiome do for its plant host? Plenty. Mycorrhizal fungi are a good place to start. When well-fed, they not only mine the minerals out of rocks, they bring them right to a plant’s doorstep, and in some cases right inside a plant’s green body. Among these minerals are those for which agronomists have documented declines in crops over time.
Our Little Hidden Helpers
http://www.mostlymicrobes.com/hidden-half/Mostly Microbes wrote:Your book covers a great deal of ground (no pun intended) about microbes ranging from soil microbiomes to human gut microbiomes. What common themes do you find in these different habitats?
Dave and Anne wrote:As we moved from researching the root / soil microbiome and plant science to the human microbiome, we began to see the root of a plant and the gut of a person in new light. We even came across some of the same terms, like “exudates” and “nutrient exchanges”. Given that the root and the gut have the same job—to acquire nutrients from the outside world—we also began to see that this property made each organ a hotbed of microbiome activity.
For example, healthy plants constantly pump a steady stream of sugars, phytochemicals, and other organic compounds out of their roots to attract and retain a robust microbiome to the surface of all their roots. And in humans, cells lining the small intestine and colon release a prodigious amount of mucus and other compounds, which are akin to the carbohydrate-rich exudates that flow out of a root. Of course, the little-digested complex carbohydrates in our diet that reach our colon add more to our gut microbiota’s dinner plate. And likewise in the soil, this is where organic matter, stuff like bits of wood and dead leaves (even dead microbes!) are the complex carbohydrates of the root microbiome diet. And so long as the root and the gut microbiome get fed, they’ll provide an array of beneficial compounds and nutrients for the host. We think of the root and the colon as grand biological bazaars where the constant exchange of wares and goods between host and microbiome creates the backbone of a built-in health plan for plants and people.
FYI - just a slight correction below:
Revised Estimates for the Number of Human and Bacteria Cells in the Body
http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002533
