The benefits of fermented food

 Some new research out of Stanford has shown that eating fermented food, such as yogurt, sauerkraut, kombucha, and kefir may alter our gut biome (bacteria, viruses and fungi) in a beneficial way. Fermented foods are often teeming with live microorganisms as well as byproducts of the fermentation process that include various vitamins and lactic and citric acids. In the study, the group of subjects that ate such foods were found to have far more microbial species in their guts than the control group. What’s more, those who ate the fermented foods showed marked reductions in 19 inflammatory compounds, such as interleukin-6, an inflammatory protein that tends to be elevated in diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.

Interestingly, just five percent of the new microbes came directly from the fermented foods. As one researcher said, “The vast majority came from somewhere else, and we don’t know where.” The researchers guessed that the species were either low-level microbes below the level of detection that bloomed, or the fermented foods did something that allowed for the rapid recruitment of other microbes into the gut environment.

The more fermented foods the test subjects ate, the greater the number of microbial species they acquired—a good thing. Studies have linked high levels of microbial diversity to lower rates of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and other ills. Researchers also discovered that those with a higher levels of diversity had reductions in inflammation when eating a high fiber diet, while those with less diversity had slight increases in inflammation when they ate more fiber. The researchers suspect that people with low microbiome diversity lack the right microbes to digest all the fiber they consume. Perhaps that’s why some people experience uncomfortable gastrointestinal issues when they eat a lot of fiber.

I like fermented foods, such as sauerkraut and yogurt. I eat yogurt several times a week. I’ve been eyeing bottles of kimchi at my market for months. Now I’m motivated to buy it.  

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