Knowledge can be found in the most peculiar places - I am glad to say that the best pearls of wisdom I picked up not in schools or seminars but through common, every day interaction with common, every day people. One of such pearls I picked up, appropriately, on a fishing trip where I met Adam, the guy behind Venom Protein (the name can be misleading, so I wish to point out that their products are perfectly safe). Interestingly, the tips he gave me have nothing to do with proteins, or sport supplements in general. The knowledge I ‘stole’ from Adam was about fermented foods and, among else, their role during pregnancy.
The human body is commonly thought of as a single organism that must be protected from germs. The truth is a lot more nuanced. The human body is a symbiotic community consisting of human cells living alongside numerous species of bacteria. These bacteria inhabit the gut and skin primarily, but they can likewise be found along the entire digestive tract, on the surface of the eyes, and in every mucous membrane. Many common health problems are only recently being understood as disruption of this healthy microbiotic community, including cavities, infected stomach ulcers, and chronic skin infections.
Fermented foods are unique in that the same beneficial bacteria found in the human digestive tract are used to preserve food. Every culture on the planet appears to have had their own fermented foods, and modern science is busy uncovering the wisdom behind eating these foods. Medical studies have been confined to standardized probiotic supplements, but the results translate directly to fermentation.
## What Are Fermented Foods?
Before the invention of home refrigeration, fermented foods were common in every household. The common types in America were brought by European immigrants and included sauerkraut, sour pickles, yogurt, cheese, ketchup, sourdough bread, and many other recipes. After refrigeration, the preservative power of bacteria was largely replaced with copious amounts of sugar and salt, vinegar, and pasteurization to kill all bacteria.
In traditional fermentation, which includes lacto-fermentation and yeast fermentation, a 10 percent saltwater solution is often used to promote growth of beneficial bacteria by making the environment inhospitable for bad bacteria. Another common technique is the addition of vinegar or citric acid in small amounts.
## Benefits of Fermentationr
The microbes in every process, from Korean kimchi and Japanese miso to Austria's traditional beers, produce a mixture of acids, alcohols, enzymes, vitamins, and antioxidants. Lacto-fermented sauerkraut, for instance, contains ten times the vitami
C as cooked cabbage.
* Improved Nutritionr
Higher vitamin and antioxidant content occur with fermentation because beneficial microbes synthesize these substances from raw materials in food. Humans can perform some of the same synthesizing, but it takes a lot more effort.
* Better Digestionr
Lactic acid promotes the breakdown of proteins and moderates levels of stomach acid. It likewise prevents pathogenic bacteria, and those responsible for putrefaction of food, from surviving in the intestines. Beneficial microbes produce a range of enzymes needed for efficient digestion of food, which is another key factor in preventing colonization by unfriendly microbes.
* Detoxification of Foodr
Grains, beans and some other foods contain substances that are either outright poisonous or designed to inhibit digestion. Fermenting grains, as in the making of sourdough, increases the digestibility of gluten. Soaking beans ove
ight is a type of fermentation most people are familiar with.
* Preserving Producer
Eating healthy is sometimes really expensive. Fermenting makes it cheaper because fresh produce can be bought in season and preserved for the year. You can plan a larger garden without the worry of wasting any extra production.
## Lacto-fermented Foods Versus Probiotic Supplementsr
Research has focused on probiotic supplements, however, and it has been extremely promising. Probiotics have been used as a prophylactic to prevent MRSA infections during surgery and hospital stays. They have been used to reduce recovery times after surgeries, reduce incidence of cavities, prevent and treat respiratory illnesses in children, and treat constipation in Parkinson's patients.
The
amount of research on probiotics is nothing short of amazing. Fermented foods are a type of probiotic supplement that are theoretically more effective due to increased enzymes and vitamin content. Everyone can benefit from adding fermented foods to their diet, including sensitive groups like expecting and breast-feeding mothers.