The pickle prescription: a natural cure from the past

More good evidence is building of the significant benefits of fermented food in our diets. Fermented foods have been an integral part of man’s diet for more than 10,000 years such as with the production of bread and beer, before Big Food moved in with its sugary and oft processed foods.

Food fermentation happens when microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast, and mould work on raw foods in the absence of oxygen with effects including largely removing the sugars. The field is known in the scientific community as zymology. These foods give your body a dose of healthy probiotics, while microbes act on the stomach wall to among other things train the immune system to correctly distinguish between pathogens and harmless substances. Other effects are to aid the prevention of autoimmune diseases, while also reducing inflammation and assisting nutrient absorption.

Sound evidence is also emerging of consequences for mental health and anxiety with reduced stress on the brain. Fermenting food also helps it to last longer, while enhancing its taste and giving it added complexity.

Fermented foods also pass through the system more quickly as they are welcomed as healthy by the body unlike, for example, a processed meal that may park itself in the stomach for what seems like an eternity while the stomach tries to work out what to do with it.

Pasteurising products such as canned food, dairy products and eggs (usually at a temperature of around 60 °C) kills these well-meaning microbes. Slightly pasteurising the products means the microbes are “slightly” killed. Evidence is, however, emerging that even these dead microbes can have beneficial effects, although the mechanisms for this are not yet fully understood.

Commonly enjoyed fermented foods include kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt, miso, some cheeses and sourdough bread. Much of this nourishment is also quite simple to make yourself.

Although dairy products are often used to obtain fermented products, vegans can also enjoy them by using coconut, nut oil, etc. as the basis.