Welcome to Food Remedies, a weekly newsletter – your gateway to transforming eating habits for a healthier and more vibrant life! Thank you for being here. If you enjoy the newsletter, please forward it to a lucky friend. And if this email was forwarded to you, secure your own subscription to a journey toward lasting vitality.

Hi Reader!

Overview

Probiotics are among the ten most popular supplements; people commonly take them to support digestion. However, the role of beneficial bacteria in our health and disease is not limited to our digestive tract; it also extends to all aspects of our well-being.

Microbiome

I’m still baffled by the fact that there are ten times as many bacterial cells as human ones, and a quadrillion viruses live in and on the human body. Collectively, they make up our microbiome. Most microorganisms reside in our gut, but they cover all our surfaces. We have a symbiotic relationship with these organisms, meaning both sides benefit greatly from the arrangement. We provided them with safe accommodations and nourishment. In return, they protect us from harmful microorganisms, make vitamins and other bioactive compounds for us, digest nutrients we can’t break down, and communicate with our immune system so it develops and functions normally.

We are born bacteria-free and get populated by microorganisms going through the birth calan, breastfeeding, and by the environment. As we change from infancy to old age, so does our microbiome. Many factors shape our microflora, including a high- or low-fiber diet, fermented foods, GMO foods, diseases, medications, especially antibiotic treatments, and physical contact with other people and the environment.

Dysbiosis

We don’t have a clear definition of healthy gut microbiota because of the enormous individual variability in the healthy population. As a result, gut flora imbalance or dysfunction is hard to define or measure. Nevertheless, dysbiosis indicates disease or poor health.

​Disturbance in gut microbiota is associated with metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, a wide variety of digestive issues, cancer, fatty liver disease, immunodeficiency and autoimmune conditions, and even mental illnesses.

Probiotics as disease treatment and prevention

Rare treatments have received as much attention from scientists in the past twenty years as probiotics. There is a lot of inconclusive data and some very strong evidence of benefits for specific conditions, especially digestive diseases. Our knowledge is still minimal; so far, we identified only 20% of the gut microbiome. Research confirms that probiotics are beneficial in many disease conditions and safer than most drugs.

For example, a study that came out this year shows that only three months of probiotic supplementation has a positive effect on bone loss in postmenopausal women with osteopenia.

Probiotic supplementation is like tending to the soil of your garden, rotating crops, and adding compost and earthworms. If you are a gardener, you can appreciate my metaphor. And you know that your garden (body) will pay back tenfold.

​
Anyone can benefit from periodic high-quality probiotic supplements. Most probiotics don’t colonize in our gut long-term, probably due to competition with existing microbiota. That’s why you want to continue supplementation for long-term benefits. I also recommend periodically switching the blends of probiotic strains.

Food-derived vs. supplements

If you’ve read my emails for a while, you know I’m the “food-first” kind of nutritionist. And I always encourage you to start with food sources of nutrients and bioactive compounds. Since the beginning of civilization and culture, people cultured their food (pun intended): yogurt, cheeses, fermented sausages, sourdough bread, soy sauce, fish sauce, pickled vegetables, kvass, kombucha, miso, kimchi, sauerkraut, and surströmming to name a few. Two ounces of sauerkraut contains as much beneficial bacteria as a whole jar of an average probiotic supplement.

You might not enjoy probiotic foods yet, but acquiring a taste for them is possible and desirable. This sweet and sour beet kvass recipe is an easy way to start with home ferments and build your affection for them.

Until next week, take care!

Olga