Research has shown that fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi are good for your gut health.
Made by adding live bacteria or yeast to ingredients like tea, milk, or vegetables, fermented foods contain probiotics, the “good” bacteria in your gut.
Fermented foods can increase the diversity of your gut microbiome, the trillions of microorganisms that live on the lining of your large intestine. This can affect digestion, your immune system, and your brain. Experts believe that the more diverse your microbial community, the healthier you are.
But with big food companies capitalizing on this discovery to make a profit, it’s easy to be sold a product that doesn’t live up to expectations.
“There’s a lot of mass-produced stuff out there right now in the fermented food space, but it’s not necessarily of high quality,” Tanzil Miah, a nutritionist specializing in gut health at the Gut Health Clinic in London, UK, told Business Insider.
For example, a new lawsuit alleges that Poppi, a “gut-friendly” soda that claims to help gut health, requires consumers to drink more than four cans a day to reap any potential health benefits.
Mia shared her three tips for getting the most out of fermented foods.
Eat multiple times a day
Mia eats two fermented meals a day: two to three tablespoons of yogurt or kefir, and about 30 grams of aged cheese.
There is compelling evidence that eating multiple servings of fermented foods each day is beneficial for gut health.
A 2021 study from Stanford University found that people who ate about six servings of fermented foods per day for 10 weeks had greater microbiome diversity than those who ate a high-fiber diet. They also had reduced inflammatory biomarkers.
Yogurt is Tanzil Mia’s staple fermented food. Gabriella Tourian/Getty Images
Eat a variety of fermented foods
It’s also important to eat a variety of fermented foods, as diversity bolsters your gut microbiome, Mia says.
“We haven’t yet unlocked all the microbiome’s secrets, but one thing we know for sure is that our gut microbiome loves diversity,” Mia said.
Eating plant-based foods, probiotic foods and prebiotic foods found in plants like fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds leads to a more diverse microbiome that contains a greater variety of beneficial bacteria, she said.
Buy local and check the labels
Thanks to the explosion of the gut health craze, sauerkraut, kimchi, and kombucha are now available at most grocery stores, but they’re often mass-produced and contain more ingredients than you might expect, says Mia.
“Some of that goodness gets lost during processing and mass production,” she added.
Some are considered ultra-processed foods (UPF) because they contain five or more ingredients, including ingredients not typically found in a typical kitchen. UPFs are associated with many health problems and are not particularly nutritious for your microbiome, as they typically contain very little dietary fiber or nutrients.
Mia recommended buying locally made fermented foods when possible, and checking nutrition labels before buying products in the store.
“Visit local markets, farmers markets, things like that,” she said.
