Gut health: The role fermented foods in chronic disease prevention

The proportion of fermented foods in the human diet can vary widely by age, culture, and other factors. However, some research suggests that no matter what an individual’s background is, they could benefit from consuming certain fermented foods as a preventative measure to some chronic diseases. Which organisms or metabolites can you think of that might be beneficial for human health?

One such fermented food is yogurt [1], which has already been directly classified as advantageous to human nutrition by health agencies in multiple countries such as Estonia, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain [2,3]. These guidelines describe immunomodulatory effects in diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), allergies, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), as well as a general improvement in the overall health of the human gut [2]. What other products can you think of that may contain viable probiotics that could provide a protective effect against similar non-communicable human diseases?

While these food products are far from being able to cure such diseases in humans, microorganisms found in these foods can still elicit positive health benefits, as it has been shown that some organisms can migrate from the food to the gastrointestinal tract [4]. These microorganisms that reside in fermented foods produce metabolites, such as short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that are beneficial in some diseases [5]. For example, colonic butyrate has been found to induce proliferation of anti-inflammatory regulatory T cells, which are important in the alleviation of symptoms in IBD [6,7,8].