3 Reasons to Eat and Drink More Fermented Foods
Have you ever tried Kimchi before? Now’s your chance!
What are fermented foods?
Fermented foods are foods that have undergone conversion with microbial organisms and controlled microbial growth. Common fermented foods include sauerkraut, pickles (in the brine - not the vinegar), kimchi, miso and kombucha.
Why are fermented foods important?
Traditionally, prior to modern refrigeration, fermented foods were a way to preserve foods so they would last longer. However, we are now learning that the process of fermentation and eating foods that are fermented can help the overall health of our digestive system!
How do fermented foods help the gut?
In a recent study out by colleagues at a Stanford gut microbiome lab (Sonnenberg lab), found that people who ate fermented foods had increased diversity of bacteria in their gut and also potentially decrease your body’s overall inflammation.
It was an elegantly designed study where people were asked to increase their intake of fermented foods or fiber over a period of 10 weeks. They had 4 weeks to ramp up, and then ate 6 weeks of high fermented foods. On average, the research participants in the fermented foods group ate 6.3 servings of fermented food! This included things like kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, They found that after the 10 weeks, subjects increased the diversity of the bacteria in their gut microbiome. Some of the new strains were found in the fermented foods: these were the bacteria cultured out of the foods they ate. Surprisingly, though, they also found NEW strains that were not originally in the subjects’ stool or the fermented food!
Study participants in the fermented food group also decreased their inflammatory signals and activity in the blood. This is super important because inflammation drives a lot of the chronic diseases we see today: including cancer, cardiovascular disease (heart disease and strokes) and autoimmune diseases.
Sonnenburg Lab study:
The patients who ate more fermented foods had increased microbial diversity and decreased inflammation.
Why is gut flora diversity important?
Microbial diversity is important because we want a large diversity of gut flora to have a healthy GI system. I think of it like a zoo. The more different kinds of animals you have in the zoo, the more interesting and the more biodiverse your ecosystems. Same with the gut. We also want the balance of the gut flora to be healthy and favorable. Although the research is still coming out on exactly what this means for each individual, we know that certain strains of bacteria are known to be associated with more inflammation. Other strains are known to be seen in patients with obesity or irritable bowel syndrome.
The diversity of the gut flora can also be limited if the diet is limited in variety. So if you eat lots of different types of foods (in particular fruits and vegetables), the gut flora will get to also eat different types of fibers and grow different strains of healthy bacteria. Back to the zoo analogy: if you eat lots of different kinds of fruits and vegetables and fiber, you will feed all the different animals in your “zoo”. If you only feed the flora limited food, only the flora that subsist on that kind of food will thrive.
Medications like antibiotics (though super helpful when you have an infection) and other medications we take can decrease the gut flora diversity. This makes sense, because the antibiotics don’t know who are the good guys or the bad guys. When you have an infection, the antibiotics kill certain classes of bacteria - both the ones that are causing the infection and those that are potentially good and healthy for you in your GI tract. We know that repeated courses of antibiotics over time can significantly decrease the microbial diversity. Repeated courses of antibiotics also make it harder for your gut flor to recover back to its normal state.
How do I increase fermented foods in my diet?
If you are not used to eating a lot of fermented foods in your diet, you will want to start slowly.
Start low and Go SLOW.
Take small amounts and make sure you tolerate it for a few days before you increase. It may take your gut microbiome some time (a few days or weeks) to get used to the new diet and adjust accordingly. If you experience gas, bloating, discomfort, ramp back down to what you were tolerating before and hold there for a few days before increasing again.
Examples might look like:
1-2 ounces of kombucha. You can drink it straight, or mixed in water or sparkling water
A few slivers of sauerkraut on a sandwich or salad
Mixing 1-2 tsp of miso after making a broth for a little extra umami
Kimchi as a side dish to rice or noodle dishes
Adding 1-2 ounces of kefir to smoothies
For certain patients, it may not be appropriate to take fermented foods, so as always, consult your health provider.
Common side effects of taking fermented foods include increased gassiness and bloating, or a change in stools (usually looser stools).
Top 3 reasons to eat fermented food:
It’s good for your gut by increasing gut microbiome diversity and improve gut health
Fermented foods may help to decrease overall inflammation in your body
They taste good.
But Dr. Yeh, fermented foods taste FUNKY!
100% YES! There are certain fermented foods like natto (a japanese soybean dish) or other fermented dishes that have a stronger presence and flavor profile and may take some getting used to. I recommend that if you or your children are just starting on tasting fermented foods, try foods that may be more palatable - diluted kombucha, rinsed off pickles, miso soup etc. I encourage you to have an open mind, don’t force it, and take it slow. Personally, my kids are not yet loving kimchi, but are starting to like pickles. My older one will take down a can of kombucha like no other.
So what do you think? Are you ready to add more fermented foods into your diet?
Want to learn more? Click on the study below to read the full paper, or check out Dr. Sonnenburg interviewed by Dr. Huberman on The Huberman Lab.
