Want a healthy gut? Reach for the kimchi, sauerkraut, artichokes, coffee and chocolate. But watch out – one category of food will make your microbes wither
Kimchi, kombucha, sauerkraut, miso and kefir – all fermented foods and drinks – have been around for centuries, but suddenly they are all the rage. The reason? They are supposedly packed full of gut-healthy microorganisms, and we are finally waking up to just how much the trillions of microorganisms that live in our guts (AKA the gut microbiome) contribute to our mental and physical health.
True, probiotic products such as Yakult – sweetened skimmed milk fermented with a single strain of friendly bacteria – have been shifting hefty units for some time: the global probiotic market, dominated by yoghurt drinks, was worth $45.6bn (£33bn) last year. But Yakult is fairly bland and sweet. Traditional and home-fermented delicacies are another, more pungent matter altogether: kombucha (a naturally fizzy cocktail of green tea and sugar) tastes vinegary; kimchi (vegetables fermented Korean-style) is sour and fiery; sauerkraut, which is fermented cabbage, whiffs of sulphur. All can intimidate palates used to highly processed western blandness.
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