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Here's the reason why I'm asking: I've heard that it takes some time for pets(cats/dogs) to adjust to a different dry feed, where the new feed has to be mixed with the old one, slowly replacing the old one. I'm wandering if this advice has any truth in it, and if so, does this apply to humans as well?

For example, a cat eats the same kind of food for months at a time, but humans vary their diet much more dramatically. Are there any benefits to eating the same kind of food over extended period of time? I'm interested in knowing if the digestive system/symbiotic bacteria in the gut adapts to the food, resulting in better digestion/absorption of nutrients.

Thank you for your input!

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I think it would depend on the benefits you are looking for.

If you ate the same thing everyday, it's possible your intestinal flora, and the rest of your GI tract would optimize themselves for maximal nutritional extraction. It is known that the flora in you GI do affect nutrition. I recall reading about obese patients who had gut-bacteria which made more nutrients available.

However, if you were in an environment where your diet could change unexpectedly, this optimization could actually be detrimental, since you wouldn't be ready to switch foods when necessary.

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  • $\begingroup$ well they do adpat to how food is prepared. news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/10/… $\endgroup$
    – John
    Commented Nov 24 at 0:46
  • $\begingroup$ When I first clicked that link it didn't lead to article. After hunting it down, and reposting the link, I realize now it works! That's a strange link. $\endgroup$
    – TonyH
    Commented Nov 25 at 14:07
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I've seen in a documentary that inuit, eating only seals for a longer period of time are some of the most healthy people on the planet.
However I can't seem to find that documentary anymore.

I did found a wiki article about this subject:

Inuit diet Article

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    $\begingroup$ The only thing I can find in your Wikipedia link is a mention of larger livers in Inuit people. The part about bring healthy because of this is not clear - it could be that this seal diet just happens to be better in terms of baseline nutrition, nothing to do with absorption. $\endgroup$
    – blep
    Commented Apr 26, 2013 at 14:23

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