By Dr. Mercola
As noted by Epoch Times,1
consumer behavior is changing in regard to food. Many are getting weary
of processed fare and the dubious health claims that go with them, and
are embracing more traditional foods and relearning ancient culinary
methods such as fermenting.2 According to the featured article:3
"This change in our relationship with food can be explained by the rise of 'diets of enlightenment.'
In his book 'The Omnivorous Mind: Our Evolving Relationship With Food,' author John S. Allen,[Ph.D.],
looks at how certain consumers are ... focusing more on holism,
emotion, personal opinion and experience when it comes to their food
...
[P]ersonal paths to enlightenment are leading shoppers to shun
the 'marketi[z]ed science' of the food industry, in favor of homemade,
experiential, and locally sourced options ...
A significant number of people now seem to be choosing their
approaches to eating for reasons less to do with nutrition and more to
do with wellness, sustainability and the search for identity. So goes
the saying, you are what you eat."
Your Body Is a Conglomerate of Microorganisms
In more recent years, scientists have discovered just how important your microbiome is for health.
Indeed, some have suggested your body can best be viewed as a "super
organism" composed of a diverse array of symbiotic microorganisms that
need to be kept in proper balance for optimal physical and psychological
functioning.
You have approximately 1,000 different species of bacteria living in
your body, and these bacteria actually outnumber your body's cells by 10
to 1. You also harbor viruses (bacteriophages), and they in turn
outnumber bacteria 10 to 1.
They've even realized your microbiome is one of the environmental
factors that drive genetic expression, turning genes on and off
depending on which microbes are present.
Research suggests many are deficient in beneficial gut bacteria, making
it a very important consideration if you're not feeling well, physically
or psychologically.
Why Ferment Foods?
Bacteria and yeast are both used in food fermentation, which boosts the
nutritional content of the food. Bacteria convert sugars and starch into
lactic acid, a process called lacto-fermentation, whereas yeasts
undergo ethanol fermentation.
Beer and wine are examples of the latter and, while fermented, their
influence on health is less beneficial compared to lacto-fermented foods
like yogurt, cheese and fermented vegetables, primarily due to their
alcohol content.
While you can do wild fermentation (allowing whatever is naturally on
the vegetable to take hold), this method is more time consuming, and the
end product less certain.
Inoculating the food with a starter culture speeds up the fermentation
process and helps to ensure you'll end up with a consistent,
high-quality end product. Besides preserving the food, allowing it to be
stored for several weeks without the addition of preservatives, the
fermentation process also produces:
Beneficial healthy bacteria that promote gut health. Fermented milk
products also contain non-digestible carbohydrate
galacto-oligosaccharide, which acts as a prebiotic,4 and essential amino acids5
Beneficial enzymes
Certain nutrients, including B vitamins, biotin and folic acid.6 Fermented milk products also contain higher amounts of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)7
Short-chain fatty acids, which help improve your immune system function
Most Stand to Benefit From Fermented Foods
In my view, optimizing your gut health is a foundational step if you are
seeking to achieve good health. Addressing your gut flora is also
important for most health conditions, be they acute or chronic.
Considering current disease statistics, it seems clear that most people have poor gut health and would benefit from eating more fermented foods.
While you could certainly use a high-quality probiotic supplement,
eating fermented foods is, I believe, a more effective and far less
expensive option.
Since different fermented foods will contain disparate bacteria, your
best bet is to eat a variety of fermented foods to optimize microbial
diversity. Fiber
serves as a prebiotic and is another important component, and may even
take precedence if you're already healthy, as fiber-rich foods provide
nourishment for the beneficial microbes already residing in your gut.
By strengthening their numbers, these beneficial microbes help keep disease-causing microbes in check.
I recommend eating fermented and fiber-rich foods every day, as research
shows your microbiome can be very rapidly altered based on factors such
as diet, lifestyle and chemical exposures.
This is a double-edged sword, no doubt, considering how many of our
modern conveniences (such as processed foods, antibiotics and
pesticides) turn out to be extremely detrimental to our gut flora.
On the other hand, your diet is one of the easiest, fastest and most
effective ways to improve and optimize your microbiome, so the good news
is that you have a great degree of control over your health destiny.
Do Bacteria in Fermented Foods Survive Your Digestive System?
Lucy Shewell, Ph.D., a molecular microbiology research scientist, has
written some well-referenced articles about fermented foods, covering
their nutritional makeup, health benefits and evidence showing many do
in fact survive the treacherous journey through your gastrointestinal
(GI) tract.9,10 According to Shewell:11
"Large cohort studies conducted in the Netherlands, Sweden and
Denmark found that fermented milk products were significantly associated
with decreased disease states.
These disease states include bladder cancer, cardiovascular disease
and periodontitis ... Bacteria derived from food appear to be members of
the variable human microbiome with the ability to alter the gut
microbiome.
But do the bacteria we ingest in common fermented foods ... actually survive once we eat them? ...
The stomach is an extremely acidic environment (pH < 3) and
contains destructive digestive enzymes, such as pepsin, which break down
proteins into smaller amino acid building blocks.
Most ingested bacteria will not survive this first part of the
journey ... [T]hey must also be able to adhere to the gut epithelial
cells in order to have any beneficial effects.
Variation in the ability of probiotic strains to survive the human
GI tract has been demonstrated. Studies subjecting various strains to
conditions simulating the environment of the human GI tract found that
strains of B. animalis, L. casei, L. rhamnosus and L. plantarum have the greatest resilience."
Research has also demonstrated that the Lactobacillus strain, found in
yogurt for example, survives the human GI tract, provided the bacteria
are present in the food in sufficiently high numbers.
The lactic acid bacteria found in kimchi have also been found to
survive the journey through your digestive system. To be effective,
research suggests dosages of 100 million to 1 billion colony-forming
units (CFUs) are needed.12,13,14,15
How Probiotics Influence Your Health and Well-Being
Each of Shewell's articles contains at least 80 scientific references,
so if you really want to delve into the science of fermented foods, I
suggest reviewing them. In summary, research shows fermented foods, be
it cultured dairy or fermented vegetables, have a wide range of
beneficial effects, including the following:
Enhanced nutritional content of the food
Restoration of normal gut flora when taking antibiotics
Immune system enhancement
Improvement of symptoms of lactose intolerance
Reduced risk of infection from pathogenic microorganisms
Weight loss aid. Certain fermented foods, such as kimchi, have been shown to have anti-obesity effects in animals
Reduced constipation or diarrhea and improvement of
inflammatory bowel conditions such as Crohn's disease, ulcerative
colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and necrotizing enterocolitis
Prevention
of allergies in children, including the alleviation of peanut allergy
when giving probiotics in conjunction with oral immunotherapy16
Antioxidant17 and detoxifying effects (kimchi).
Kombucha also has antioxidant properties, thanks to a compound called D-saccharic acid-1,4-lactone (DSL)18
Reduced risk for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacterial infection, which causes ulcers and chronic stomach inflammation
Improvement
of leaky gut (a compromised intestinal wall that allows undigested
foods and toxins to pass into the bloodstream, triggering an
inappropriate immune system response)
Reduced urinary and female genital tract infections
Improvement of premenstrual syndrome
Improvement of and reduced risk for atopic dermatitis (eczema) and acne
Fermenting Your Own Veggies Is Easy and Inexpensive
I recommend inoculating the food you're about to ferment using a starter
culture to speed up the fermentation process. In the video above, Julie
and I demonstrate how to make fermented vegetables at home.
You can find more advice on fermentation
in my previous interview with Caroline Barringer, a Nutritional Therapy
Practitioner (NTP), and an expert in the preparation of the foods
prescribed in Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride's Gut and Psychology Syndrome
(GAPS) Nutritional Program. For a simple kimchi recipe, see Shewell's blog.22 Here's a summary of the basics:
Shred and cut your chosen veggies. I strongly recommend using fresh
organic vegetables to avoid pesticide exposure. Also, when adding herbs,
only use fresh organic herbs, in small amounts. Tasty additions include
basil, sage, rosemary, thyme and oregano.
Juice some celery. This is used as the brine, as it contains natural
sodium and keeps the vegetables anaerobic. This eliminates the need for
sea salt, which prevents growth of pathogenic bacteria.
Pack the veggies and celery juice along with the inoculants into a
32-ounce wide-mouthed canning jar. Starter culture, such as kefir
grains, whey or commercial starter powder can all be used for
vegetables. Use two packets of starter culture for a 12- to 14-jar batch
during summer season. In the winter, you'll need three packets for a
batch of this size. A kraut pounder tool can be helpful to pack the jar
and eliminate any air pockets.
Top with a cabbage leaf, tucking it down the sides. Make sure the
veggies are completely covered with celery juice and that the juice is
all the way to the top of the jar to eliminate trapped air.
Seal the jar and store in a warm, slightly moist place for 24 to 96
hours, depending on the food being cultured. Ideal temperature range is
68 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit; 85 degrees max. Remember, heat kills the
microbes!
When done, store in the refrigerator to slow down the fermentation process.
While some fermented foods contain vitamin K2,
most notably natto, a fermented soy product typically sold in Asian
grocery stores, you can create therapeutic levels of this vitamin in
fermented vegetables by using a special starter culture made with
vitamin K2-producing bacteria.
(Please note that not every strain of bacteria makes K2, so not all
fermented foods will contain it. For example, most yogurts have almost
no vitamin K2. Certain types of cheeses, such as Gouda, Brie and Edam
are high in vitamin K2, while other cheeses are not.)
Our Kinetic Culture Jar Lids Help Cut Offensive Fermenting Odors
Besides a starter culture, other helpful tools include a shredding disc,
a kraut pounder/vegetable tamper tool, weights and kinetic culture jar
lids. Some people find the odor emitted by fermenting vegetables
objectionable, and the kinetic culture jar lids can help eliminate these
smells.
The lid has a one-way valve that allows the gases to be released while
preventing oxygen from entering the jar, which would stop the
fermentation process. A charcoal filter cuts the odors. Again, they're
by no means necessary, but can be useful if you or one of your family
members isn't thrilled with the smell of fermenting vegetables.
Optimizing Your Microbiome Is a Potent Disease Prevention Strategy
I believe optimizing your gut flora may be one of the most important
things you can do for your health, and here you can wield your personal
power to the fullest by making healthy food and medical choices. The
good news is that supporting your microbiome isn't very complicated. One
of the best ways to improve your gut health is through your diet.
Fermented foods are ideal, but dietary fiber is also important. Some
microbes ferment fiber and the byproducts nourish your colon.
You'd also be wise to take other proactive steps to support your gut
health and prevent damage to your microbiome. To optimize your
microbiome, consider the following recommendations:
Do:
Avoid:
Eat plenty of fermented foods. Healthy choices include lassi, fermented grass-fed organic milk such as kefir, natto (fermented soy) and fermented vegetables.
If you ferment your own, consider using a special starter culture that
has been optimized with bacterial strains that produce high levels of
vitamin K2.
This is an inexpensive way to optimize your vitamin K2, which is
particularly important if you're taking a vitamin D3 supplement.
Antibiotics,
unless absolutely necessary (and when you do, make sure to reseed your
gut with fermented foods and/or a probiotics supplement).
While researchers are looking into methods that might help ameliorate the destruction of beneficial bacteria by antibiotics,23,24
your best bet is likely always going to be reseeding your gut with
probiotics from fermented and cultured foods and/or a high-quality
probiotic supplement.
Take a probiotic supplement.
Although I'm not a major proponent of taking many supplements (as I
believe the majority of your nutrients need to come from food),
probiotics is an exception if you don't eat fermented foods on a regular
basis
Conventionally-raised meats
and other animal products, as animals raised in concentrated animal
feeding operations (CAFOs) are routinely fed low-dose antibiotics, plus genetically engineered grains loaded with glyphosate, which is widely known to kill many bacteria.
Boost your soluble and insoluble fiber intake, focusing on vegetables, nuts and seeds, including sprouted seeds.
Chlorinated and/or fluoridated water, especially in your bathing such as showers, which are worse than drinking it.
Get your hands dirty in the garden.
Germ-free living may not be in your best interest, as the loss of
healthy bacteria can have wide-ranging influence on your mental,
emotional and physical health.
Exposure to bacteria and viruses can help strengthen your immune system and provide long-lasting immunity against disease.
Getting your hands dirty in the garden can help reacquaint your immune system with beneficial microorganisms on the plants and in the soil.
According to a recent report,25 lack of exposure to the outdoors can in and of itself cause your microbiome to become "deficient."
Processed foods. Excessive sugars, along with otherwise "dead" nutrients, feed pathogenic bacteria.
Food emulsifiers such as polysorbate 80, lecithin, carrageenan,
polyglycerols, and xanthan gum also appear to have an adverse effect on
your gut flora.26
Unless 100 percent organic, they may also contain genetically engineered
(GE) ingredients that tend to be heavily contaminated with pesticides
such as glyphosate, a possibly carcinogenic pesticide.
Open your windows. For the vast
majority of human history the outside was always part of the inside, and
at no moment during our day were we ever really separated from nature.
Today, we spend 90 percent of our lives indoors.
And, although keeping the outside out does have its advantages it has also changed the microbiome of your home.
Research27
shows that opening a window and increasing natural airflow can improve
the diversity and health of the microbes in your home, which in turn
benefit you.
Agricultural chemicals. Glyphosate
(Roundup) in particular is a known antibiotic and will actively kill
many of your beneficial gut microbes if you eat and foods contaminated
with this broad-spectrum herbicide.
Wash your dishes by hand instead of in the dishwasher. Research has shown that washing your dishes by hand leaves more bacteria on the dishes than dishwashers do, and that eating off these less-than-sterile dishes may actually decrease your risk of allergies by stimulating your immune system.
Antibacterial soap, as they too kill off both good and bad bacteria, and contribute to the development of antibiotic resistance.
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