Fermented Foods and Health
Fermented Foods and Health
In an article in Runner’s World, a registered dietician recommends runners eat fermented foods to meet nutrition needs, improve their health and better support their training.
The author lists four reasons to eat fermented foods: improve the gut microbiome, add a nutritional upgrade, aid digestion and improve protein intake.
“The finger millet has been processed traditionally using many methods including roasting, germination, fermentation, malting, flaking, etc. The processing methods facilitate better availability of nutrients. The fermentation process hydrolyses the complex protein to simpler proteins and reduces the phytates and tannins, which results in increased protein digestibility and bioavailability (Sripriya et al. 1997). The process of fermentation increases the health of gut microbiota, the bio-availability of major and minor nutrients, and reduces the antinutrients, which will be helpful in greater absorption of necessary nutrients”
Plant-based proteins have an average of 60-80% digestibility depending on source, whereas animal-based proteins have consistently shown 90% digestibility.
Kombucha, Kefir, Kimchi, Yogurt, and Sauerkraut are some examples of fermented food that would help intake more nutrients.
Source:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8249654/#:~:text=The%20fermentation%20process%20hydrolyses%20the,1997).
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