With focus shifting towards maintaining a holistic health, recent research in the field of human biology has found out that fermented food impacts our gut microbiota & its composition. Let us deep dive how these dietary microbes can impact our overall health.
The consumption of Yoghurt & other fermented foods such as Yoghurt, kimchi & sauerkraut has increased due to the fact that they are considered to be a source of health promoting bacteria.
All fermented foods are made through actions of live microbes but not all contribute to microorganisms in the gut. Some of the fermented foods are processed after fermentation & as such does not contain live microbes. Dough bread & filtered beers are examples of such foods. On the other hand, fermented foods that retain live microbes when consumed can help in improving gut diversity of microbes. These microbes have beneficial impacts including lactose digestion &/or regulating the immune system. Consumption of such foods offering live microbes are said to enrich health promoting bacteria such as lactic acid bacteria & compounds linked to health benefits such as Omega-6 fatty acid.
Traditionally fermented foods impact our metabolic, gut & immune health. It is important to note that most fermented foods are not able to meet the strict criteria to be called probiotic. Probiotics should be a live microorganism identified at genus, species & strain levels. Probiotics must be shown to confer health benefits. Needless to mention, Probiotics must be consumed live. On the flip side, microorganisms used to ferment a good may be unknown and may not be tested & shown to have a beneficial impact on our health. Besides, fermented food may not contain live microbes at the time of consumption ( as mentioned in the earlier paragraph).
Although fermented foods may contain species that are known to be probiotics, it is not safe to assume that fermented foods are a source of probiotics. Fermented foods with probiotics attributes include yoghurt & Kefirs. On the other hand, other fermented foods such as Kimchi, sauerkraut & kombucha may not be characterised as probiotics.
Fermentation is a great process & is said to bring important transitions into the food to ingestions. Microbes grow & metabolise nutrients available in the food. This transition results in food with better taste, texture & aids in digestion. Metabolic activity can result in increased absorption of vitamins & reduction of toxic substances or pathogens present in raw foods. Once ingested, microbes whether dead or alive engage immune systems in the small & large intestine. They are associated with increased production of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) such as Butyrate that have a beneficial impact on our immune & gut health.
How can you determine if you have the right proportion of beneficial bacteria in your gut that will metabolise fermented foods to provide your right probiotics? Understanding your gut bacteria is the solution to this. Sign for our Gut Microbiome Testing here.
