The problem is that most 7-9 Nickle students are not regularly consuming foods that promote a healthy gut microbiome making them prone to illnesses, infections, and chronic conditions (including anxiety and depression). 

 

A literature search was completed and a variety of scientific journals and websites were reviewed. We also consulted with an expert on the topic and surveyed Nickle students in grades 7-9 on the daily foods they consume.

 

Research Methods

A literature search was completed and a variety of scientific journals and websites were reviewed. We also consulted with an expert on the topic and talked to friends about the common foods they consume. 

 

What is gut Microbiome?

Microbiome is the collection of microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and their genes, that naturally live inside our bodies (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 2024). Microbiome live in deep layers of the skin, nasal passages, oral cavity, urogenital and gastrointestinal tract. There are more microbes in our body than human cells. In fact, microbes outnumber our cells by 10 to 1 (Au, 2017). The most densely colonized area is within the intestine (or the gut) as it hosts 70% of all microbes in the human body (Schur and Abramson, 2011).  

 

Why is a healthy gut microbiome important?

Although microbes are so small that they require a microscope to see them, they contribute in big ways to human health and wellness. Gut microbes break down our food to extract nutrients we need to survive, produce some vitamins that our bodies can make itself, help our immune system recognize dangerous invaders (or pathogens), and produce anti-inflammatory compounds that protect the body against disease causing microbes (Institute for Genome Science, 2024). Negative changes in the composition of microbes in the gut have been linked to many diseases such as cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes, inflammatory bowel, kidney and liver diseases (Hou, et al., 2022).

 

Microbes in the colon release enzymes to break down and ferment these complex carbohydrates and fibers containing foods, which in turn produces short chain fatty acids (SCFAs).  SCFAs are an important nutrient for muscle function, immune cell activity and can help to prevent chronic diseases by controlling blood sugar and cholesterol levels (Harvard School of Public Health).  In addition, SCFAs make the environment in the intestine more acidic which can limit the growth of harmful bacteria, such as Clostridium difficile (also known as C.diff) (Harvard School of Public Health). Given this, research is now focused on what can be done to improve the composition of the human microbiome in order to prevent or treat (and even cure) diseases (Hou, et al., 2022). 

 

What foods help to build a healthy gut microbiome?

Diet can play an important role in influencing the type and amount of microbes that live in the colon. Foods that help feed microbes are called prebiotics and foods that introduce or add microbes to our intestines are called probiotics (Harvard School of Public Health). 

Prebiotic

Prebiotic foods contain hard to digest carbohydrates and fiber, such as inulin, starches, gums and pectins (Harvard School of Public Health).  Unlike easy to digest carbohydrates (such as sucrose or fructose) which are absorbed in the small intestine, hard to digest carbohydrates and fiber have to travel down to the large intestine and feed intestinal microbes, and as mentioned earlier the SCFAs produced from their degradation positively affect the intestinal tract and other systems in the body.  Prebiotic containing foods include whole grains breads and cereals, brown rice, bananas, greens, onions, garlic, soybeans, artichokes (Zeretsky, 2022), honey (Schell, et al., 2022), fruit, vegetables and dark chocolate (Heyek, 2013). 

Probiotic

Probiotic foods contain live microbes and are needed to improve or restore the microbiome in the gut (Zeretsky, 2022). These foods add new microbes or increase the number of specific microbes in your intestine. Probiotic foods include yogurt, Kefir, sauerkraut, tempeh, kimchi, miso, kombucha, pickles, buttermilk, natto and select cheeses that contain live cultures (Healthline, 2023).

Eating a variety of prebiotic and probiotic foods will promote a diverse and healthy gut microbiome (Healthline, 2017). As the saying goes: “you are what you eat” and your microbiome can respond quickly to improvements to your prebiotic and probiotic food intake (David, et al., 2014).

 

What foods do not promote a healthy microbiome?

A high sugar diet (high glucose or high fructose) increases mucus degrading bacteria and can result in negative changes to the mucus layer of the colon (Zhang, 2022).  Food additives in processed foods, such as emulsifiers, can also cause the mucus layer of the colon to decrease. Changes to the mucus layer of the colon changes the living environment for microbes and impacts the overall health of the gut microbiome.  

Foods with pesticide residue have also been found to impact the diversity of microbes in the gut (Gama, Neves, Pereira, 2022). In addition, there is some evidence that red meat, caffeine, fried food and alcohol consumption have a negative impact on your gut microbiome (Zhang, 2022). 

 

Column 1	Score	What grade are you in?	What Did You Eat For Breakfast? (Please be descriptive, ex I didn't have breakfast)	What Did You Eat For Lunch? / What Do You Have For Lunch? (please be descriptive, ex I had a ham and cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread with and mustard)	What Did You Eat For Dinner Last Night? (Please be descriptive, ex chicken with brown rice, with cut up cucumber)	Did You Have A Snack Any Time Through Out The Day? (Please be descriptive, ex carrots with ranch)	What is your Gender	Column 9
12/4/2024 16:25:30		Grade 9	2 Eggo waffles with butter and a hot chocolate	ginger bread muffin	Stir fry with lots of veggies and steak	Goldfish, Orange, granola bar covered in chocolate, and chips
12/21/2024 13:11:56		Grade 9	Timmy’s English muffin with bacon	FRENCH FRIES (medium )	Tacos with beef and corn and tomatoes	Mango, apple juice
1/14/2025 13:30:39		Grade 9	bread	cookies and oranges	rice	candies and jelo and chips and ice cream
1/14/2025 13:31:06		Grade 9	i had special k cerial	i had a pulled chicken bun with butter, as well as a cucumber and and strawbery and granola bar and goldfish	i had hamburger helper (ground beef and pasta), a slice of garlic toast and veggies	carrots and hummus, made good bites, marshmallow
1/14/2025 13:31:29		Grade 9	I never eat breakfast	I had a few blackberries and a slice of bread	I ate a kraft dinner 3 cheese shells pasta cup with coke	Nope
1/14/2025 13:31:30		Grade 9	I didn't have breakfast	i had 2 toasts with butter, green grapes, and welches	mozzarella pizza	oreos
1/14/2025 13:31:36		Grade 9	I usually have a bowl of cereal but I had the dentist today so I didn't eat breakfast.	Grapes and strawberries.	Broccoli with ranch and a fruit smoothie.	I took a cookie from the dentists office because they were free and I was hungry.
1/14/2025 13:32:14		Grade 9	Corn Flakes with Milk	Ham and cheese sandwich, along side a juice box then cookie	Steak and eggs	cheez its small packaged ones
1/14/2025 13:32:26		Grade 9	5 eggs and a banana.	Greek Yogurt	Linguini Spaghetti And Meat Sauce	Greek Yogurt
1/14/2025 13:32:49		Grade 9	pizza	pizza	pizza	pizza
1/14/2025 13:34:55		Grade 9	mango smoothie	fruit, crackers and salami	Chicken breasts with rice	Granola bar
1/14/2025 13:37:08		Grade 9	egg and tost	skip	chiken samwich	tuvbrvtgcn4ryf eru9jfg
1/14/2025 13:45:54		Grade 9	greek yogurt with berries	sandwich with ham and cheese, and an apple and fig bar	white rice with vegetable curry	no	Female
1/15/2025 11:00:58		Grade 7	Oatmeal	Macaroni and cheese white version	Chic-filet	Smoothie, m@m cookies	Male
1/15/2025 11:02:44		Grade 7	reeses pieces cearel	salad	salmon and white rice	yes choclate milk and chips	Male
1/15/2025 11:18:59		Grade 7	i had a drink from tim hortons	i dont eat lunch at school	chicken ceaser sailed	no i did not	Female
1/15/2025 13:58:37		Grade 8	rice krispies cereal	2 buns with nutella	KD macaroni	no	Male
1/15/2025 13:59:36		Grade 8	rice, and some water	steak with greens	Octopus odorigui	yeah at least 4 times and I ate bread every time	Male
1/15/2025 14:00:07		Grade 8	Frosted flakes	Timbits and hot choclate	Pepperoni pizza with Cantoloupe on the side	Granola bar	Male
1/15/2025 14:00:23		Grade 8	water and a peanut butter protine shake	chile	chile	I had popcorn	Female
1/15/2025 14:00:30		Grade 8	Egg	TImbit	Wings	crackers	Male
1/15/2025 14:03:56		Grade 8	cereal	i had a grail cheese	i had a stake	i 1 cut i haf pepper	Male
1/15/2025 14:06:09		Grade 8	i didnt have breakfast	i didnt have lunch	i had a nice tennder steak seasoned with salt and mustard and in the smoker for 1.5 hours with thai red spicy and white rice with soysauce aged 1.23 years from a patique place called sakand it was 31.99$ your welcome it was 1310ru plibo	i had a chocolate glazed donut	Male
1/15/2025 14:06:36		Grade 8	A muffin	Kettle corn	Taquitos and bagel bites	Tortitos and chunky guacamole	Female
1/15/2025 14:06:39		Grade 8	beanut butta on english muffin	ritz cracker w/ yogurt	edo but tonight i am going to eat ribs and frys on the grill from costco and my dad is gonna cook	yea i had a rice krispy	Male
1/15/2025 14:07:55		Grade 8	I had an egg sandwich with kethchup	I had a turkey sandwich with mustard and peppers and two cookies	califlower soup with cheese bread on the side	I had red peppers and almonds	Female
1/15/2025 14:07:57		Grade 8	One piece of toast	cheese, salami, crackers,	Chicken and butter pasta	Chip	Female
1/15/2025 14:12:36		Grade 8	apple and cinnamon oatmeal	I had left over swirly pasta and meat sauce	I had the swirly pasta and meat sauce	I had pickles and fruit bars	Female
1/15/2025 14:14:43		Grade 8	Vector cereal	I didnt have lunch	kraft dinner with ketchup	meat sticks, beef jerky	Male
1/15/2025 14:16:35		Grade 8	nothing, accept for a banana	i had a protein bar and water	nothing, i had practice	ya, after school i usually have an apple and like a cheese bun	Female
1/15/2025 14:16:38		Grade 8	taust w penut spread	cappiccino yogurt	teriky beef wi white rice and i picked out all the veggies cause im a big fat boy	mustard packet	Male
1/15/2025 20:30:16		Grade 7	Cheerios with banana and a mixed berry smoothie	Raman, green peas, apples, cucumbers, juice, apple sauce	BBQ Chicken, scalloped potatoes, carrots and yogurt and milk	banana muffin, apricots, granola bar, pretzel goldfish	Male
1/17/2025 11:16:32		Grade 6	Noodles Noodles	Noodles Noodles	Noodles Noodles	Noodles Noodles	Male
1/17/2025 11:17:33		Grade 6	i don't have breakfast	I have what my grandma make's	i don't have dinner	whatever snacks	Male
1/17/2025 11:18:01		Grade 6	waffles with surpe	rice	chicken pot pie	chips with pops	Male
1/17/2025 11:18:05		Grade 6	breakfast	lunch	dinner	snack	Male
1/17/2025 11:18:06		Grade 6	toast	noodles	steak	gushers noodels noodels noodels	Male
1/17/2025 11:18:31		Grade 6	i do not eat breakfast	tuna	sloppy joes	cashews	Male
1/17/2025 11:18:52		Grade 6	i didnt eat breakfast	chips	chicken wings	rice crispy square	Other
1/17/2025 11:19:02		Grade 6	Toast with cream cheese	A croissant with meet	I had shepards pie	I had one mango	Female
1/17/2025 11:19:12		Grade 6	3 srcambled eggs with bacon	i ate leftover mac and cheese heated up	steak tacos ( lettuce cheese sourcream rice and ground beef) with fajita veggies	a orange and a bag of hawkins cheezies	Male
1/17/2025 11:20:03		Grade 8	www.noodles	www.noodles	www.https.noodles	noodles with a side of noodles	Female
1/17/2025 11:20:33		Grade 6	i ate home made bread with butter	sandwich	i ate rice, beans and meat	i ate some crackers	Male
1/17/2025 11:21:15		Grade 9	daylan	muuuuuusssssssssssssttttttttttttttttteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrddddddddddddddddddddddddddd	fajita	fruit snacks beef jerky daylan peches cheese nut more cheeese meat	Other
1/17/2025 11:21:39		Grade 6	blue berry waffle with penut butter and bananas	chicken wings with salt and pepper	mac and cheese home made	rice crispy home made	Male
1/17/2025 11:21:39		Grade 6	I had half a cinnamon bun with icing, some raspberries and a cup of 3% milk	I had Annie's Mac & Cheese with parmesan	a quesadilla with wheat tortilla, fried peppers, mushrooms, onions and chicken	Some fresh fruits and a small pastry	Female
1/17/2025 11:22:48		Grade 6	oatmeal	penut butter and jelly sandwich with whole wheat bread	sturfri with chicken and roasted veggies	guacamole with torstedo chips	Female
1/17/2025 11:23:09		Grade 6	milk & cookies	yogurt and ham and water and cheese and crackers	spaggety with tomato sauce and water and chicken wings	gum	Female
1/17/2025 11:23:15		Grade 6	eggs, toast, blueberry and avocado	i'm going to have pizza with peppers and apples	hot wings from canadian brewhouse and a side of tatortots	i'm having orange peppers with ranch	Male
1/17/2025 11:23:57		Grade 7	noooooooooooooooodlesss	nooooooooooooooooooooooooodles	noooooooooooooooodles	more noooooooooooooooodles	Female
1/17/2025 11:24:08		Grade 6	apple slices and granola with cherry yogurt	a croissant with strawberry cream cheese	spaghatti with tomato sauce,with meat	beef jerky with cucumbers and hummus	Male
1/17/2025 11:24:31		Grade 6	A fruit smoothie with mangos and strawberrys	A cheese meat and ham sandwich with ceasar salad	lasanga with rice and salad	cheese meat and crackers	Female
1/17/2025 11:28:05		Grade 6	i ate Frence toast	steak with salad	meatball soup with carrots	nuttella spread on whole wheat bread	Male
1/17/2025 11:28:26		Grade 6	cookies and milk	banana and water and cheese and crackers and ham	cucembers, tomatos, melons, watermelons and spaggeti	1 gum	Female
1/17/2025 11:28:43		Grade 6	cereal	peanutbutter and jelly sandwich with butter	spagetti with tomatosauce	raspberry nutrigran bar	Male
1/17/2025 11:38:23		Grade 6	i didnt have breakfast	i had fruit a muffin and a granola bar	potato soup with garlic bread	No	Female
1/17/2025 19:17:57		Grade 9	Cereal. Honey nut with regular milk.	I had pizza since it was a friday and easy with a dr pepper	Plant based chicken nuggets with like 3 bowls of peas (i love peas ❤️)	i had dill pickle crackers like the puffy ones i don’t remember the name of the brand two oranges a welches pack and some frozen blueberries I LOVE YOU EMMY AND NAHLA	Female
1/19/2025 19:50:03		Grade 8	Piece of bread/toast	Everything Baygle with cream cheese and tall iced coffee	One piece of quesadila. And some broccoli withh ranch.	Granola bar, ice cream, wagon wheel, Crackers,	Female
1/20/2025 13:17:16		Grade 9	I didn't have breakfast today	I had a penut butter and strawberry jam sandwich on white break	I had udon noodles with fishcakes, broccoli and green onions	No Snack today	Female
1/20/2025 13:17:38		Grade 9	Pancakes (3)	Wagonwheel	Pizza	Rice Crips	Male
1/20/2025 13:17:41		Grade 9	I didn't have breakfast	I had gold fish with a ham sandwich	Tacos with meat, cheese, lettuce	Goldfish and Granola bars	Male
1/20/2025 13:18:30		Grade 9	I never eat breakfast	I dont eat lunch at school, only at home, I eat pilmeni	Khash, it's boiled bones and goat stomach, armenian food, yummy	No	Female
1/20/2025 13:18:37		Grade 9	I had a penutbutter banana sandwich	croissant and ham sandwich	butter chicken and couscous	no other then a pumpkin chocolite chip muffin at lunch	Male
1/20/2025 13:19:31		Grade 9	I didn't have breakfest	I had leftover sphegatti with meat sauce and mushrooms	I ate sphegatti with meat sauce and mushrooms with ceaser salad	I had a bear paw and a babybell	Female
1/20/2025 13:19:51		Grade 9	pasta	sandwich	noodles	lays	Male
1/20/2025 13:20:22		Grade 9	Corn Flakes	Grilled cheese sandwich	Macaroni and cheese with a side of celery sticks	Goldfish crackers	Male
1/20/2025 13:20:31		Grade 9	Yogurt parfait	I had peporoni Pizza	I ate Pizza for dinner	I had welchers	Other
1/20/2025 13:20:59		Grade 9	Porridge	fried rice	noodles	fries	Male
1/20/2025 13:22:41		Grade 9	apple	nothing	sandwich (foot long)	muffin	Male
1/20/2025 13:23:27		Grade 9	bennett	bennett	bennett	bennett	Male
1/20/2025 13:23:52		Grade 9	ur mom	ur mom	ur mom	ur mom	Male
1/20/2025 13:25:02		Grade 9	1slice of Strawberry rubarb pie and ice cream	Meatballs and white rice (leftovers)	meatballs (with grape jelly and BBQ sauce sauce) with white rice and caesar salad	i had 1 pack of gummies, a container of Ritz Bitz crackers, a container of green grapes	Female
1/20/2025 13:26:05		Grade 9	I didnt have breakfast	burger with pickles, tomatoes and ketchup	chicken salad	I had chocolate pudding	Male
1/20/2025 13:26:33		Grade 9	blueberry waffle	boneless buffola wings	boneless buffola wings	no i sont rmember	Female
1/20/2025 13:27:10		Grade 9	I had overnight oats (with raisins in them)	I had goldfish, A fruit bar, An apple, and pretzel bites	I had chicken with Caesar salad and potatoes and green beans	No	Female
1/20/2025 13:28:45		Grade 9	White Toast with butter and a glass of milk	I had some goldfish and a croissant	Ginger pork with coconut rice, pad Thai, iced tea.	Nahh	Male
1/20/2025 13:34:08		Grade 9	I had a blueberry scone with butter and oat meal with a little brown sugar.	A chocolate chip muffin, duritos, grapes and blueberries, and some water.	Curry chicken and a bubly	I had Tostitos and salsa.	Male
1/20/2025 13:42:16		Grade 9	I didnt eat breakfast	pizza, chip's and sour patch kids	pizza	chips and guaukamole and 3 fudgesiceles	Female
1/20/2025 19:08:53		Grade 9	I had a smoothie. it had strawberrys, mango, pure maple syrip and a protien drink in the smoothie.	i did not have lunch	I had on stuffed chicken, the size of my palm.	no	Female
1/25/2025 19:00:13		Grade 9	bagel	sandwich on a cheese bun with lettuce tomato ham and cheese with mayo	chick pea salad with lettuce tomato chicken cucumber and chickpeas	cucumbers and cherries	Female
2/18/2025 15:49:09		Grade 7	i did not have breakfast	i had crackers peperoni sticks and a peace tea	i had brown rice with cut up cucumbers	i had a banana yougurt	Male
2/25/2025 13:13:53		Grade 9	yogurt with syrup	orange and apple sauce	kraft dinner	yes a cheese string	Male
3/2/2025 16:31:09		Grade 7	Scrambled Eggs and buttered toast	Meatballs and gravy	Cheese pizza	Veggie chips	Female

After analyzing our data collected by the survey it is evident that Nickle students in grades 7-9 are not consuming enough foods to promote a healthy gut microbiome. In addition, more needs to be done to bring attention to this important topic so that teens are aware of the connection between the foods they eat and the health of their gut and the broader link to their whole body health. 

 

“About the Human Microbiome.” NIH Human Microbiome Project - About the Human Microbiome, 2024, hmpdacc.org/hmp/overview/. 

Au, Regina. “Why Our Microbiome is Important to Our Physiology and Diseases.” International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology & Pharmacotherapy, vol. 2, 8 Mar. 2017, pp. 125–131, https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.15344/2456-3501/2017/125. 

David, Lawrence A., et al. “Diet rapidly and reproducibly alters the human gut microbiome.” Nature, vol. 505, no. 7484, 11 Dec. 2013, pp. 559–563, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12820. 

Gama, Jessica, et al. “Chronic effects of dietary pesticides on the gut microbiome and Neurodevelopment.” Frontiers in Microbiology, vol. 13, 30 June 2022, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.931440. 

Government of Canada, Statistics Canada. “A Few Reasons Why Some Canadian Teens Might Not Be Getting Enough Fruits and Vegetables.” Statistics Canada, 15 Nov. 2023, www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/4718-few-reasons-why-some-canadian-teens-might-not-be-getting-enough-fruits-and-vegetables. 

Government of Canada, Statistics Canada. “Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth, 2019.” The Daily - , 11 May 2022, www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/200723/dq200723a-eng.htm. 

Hayek, Nabil. “Chocolate, gut microbiota, and human health.” Frontiers in Pharmacology, vol. 4, 2013, https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2013.00011. 

Hou, Kaijian, et al. “Microbiota in health and diseases.” Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, vol. 7, no. 1, 23 Apr. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-022-00974-4. 

Kumar, Akash, et al. “Gut Microbiota in anxiety and depression: Unveiling the relationships and Management Options.” Pharmaceuticals, vol. 16, no. 4, 9 Apr. 2023, p. 565, https://doi.org/10.3390/ph16040565. 

“Microbiome.” National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 22 Mar. 2024, www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/science/microbiome#:~:text=The%20microbiome%20is%20the%20collection,to%20human%20health%20and%20wellness. 

“The Microbiome.” The Nutrition Source, 25 July 2022, www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/microbiome/#microbiota-benefit. 

Ozgen, L. E. Y. L. A., S. Akar Sahingoz, and E. Yalcin. "Knowledge and attitude of adolescents on probiotic foods and their consumption." (2022): 369-384.

Palsdottir, Hrefna. “11 Probiotic Foods That Are Super Healthy.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 3 July 2023, www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-super-healthy-probiotic-foods. 

Rosi, A., et al. “Dietary habits of adolescents living in North America, Europe or Oceania: A review on fruit, vegetable and legume consumption, sodium intake, and adherence to the Mediterranean diet.” Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, vol. 29, no. 6, June 2019, pp. 544–560, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.numecd.2019.03.003. 

Schell, Kathleen R, et al. “The Potential of Honey as a Prebiotic Food to Re-Engineer the Gut Microbiome toward a Healthy State.” Frontiers in Nutrition, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 28 July 2022, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9367972/. 

Scher, Jose U., and Steven B. Abramson. “The microbiome and rheumatoid arthritis.” Nature Reviews Rheumatology, vol. 7, no. 10, 23 Aug. 2011, pp. 569–578, https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2011.121. 

Zeratsky, K. “Probiotics and Prebiotics: What You Should Know.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 2 July 2022, www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/probiotics/faq-20058065.

We gathered useful information from one parent in particular with a dietition background that gave us insiteful knowlage and guadance. Without the participation of our Nickle school peers we would not have been able to conduct our survey. 

We would like to acknowledge and thank all Nickle students who participated and completed our survey. We would also like to acknowledge our appreciation of all our parents for supporting and encouraging us to be here. We also appreciate all judges who take time out of their day to listen to students' projects and make difficult decisions. Most of all thank you to all the people who make science fair possible. We are forever grateful. In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that we live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Stoney Nakoda Nations (Chiniki, Bearspaw, Goodstoney), the Otipemisiwak Métis Government (Districts 5 and 6), and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.