Sunlight might Affect Gut Microbiome Diversity Researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada have found a significant link between exposure to ultraviolet rays and an increase in gut bacterial diversity. The findings could prove important in managing autoimmune diseases known to be associated with gut bacterial diversity, such as inflammatory bowel disease. Ultraviolet (UV) designates a band of the electromagnetic spectrum with wavelengths ranging from 10 nm to 400 nm, shorter than that of visible light but longer than X-rays. Our senses cannot detect UV rays — not until the damage is done — which is why they can be especially dangerous. Too much time in the sun causes sunburns, eye damage, accelerate aging, and skin cancer.

 What is the impact of cooked vs. raw food on the gut? "Because cooking involves exposing food to heat, it tends to change the various foods' physical and chemical properties. But do these alterations change the delicate microbial environment of the gut? That is the question that researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, Harvard University, in Cambridge, MA, and other institutions recently set out to answer. "Our lab and others have studied how different kinds of diet, such as vegetarian versus meat-based diets, impact the microbiome," says the senior author of the new study, Peter Turnbaugh, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco.