This blog is about the intersection between evolutionary biology and food. But also about practical applications, sustainable agriculture, and general tasty things. I originally started eating this way to heal from chronic health problems and...it worked!
Melissa McEwen
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My Diet: Good, local, whole foods. Mostly meat, fish, and vegetables with some traditional whole grains and legumes.
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fermentation
05/20/2011 - 14:55
Another hypothesis is that lack of SCFAs is behind such diseases of civilization. A SCFA called butyrate provides some insight into this. Butyrate is the preferred fuel of the colonic epithelial cells and also plays a major role in the regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation (Wong, de Souza, Kendall, Emam, & D. J. a Jenkins, 2006). Lower than normal levels have been found in patients with several diseases, notably types of colitis and inflammatory bowel disorder. Studies show such diseases can be treated through application of butyrate in the colon. That and the fact that some studies show complete remission through bacteriotherapy transplants point to these diseases being caused by disturbed populations of gut bacteria. Interestingly, these diseases are common in captive populations of apes and unheard of in wild apes (McKenna et al., 2008).
Bacteria affect butyrate production, but so do dietary inputs. Certain fibers produce more butyrate than others in humans, whether or not this differs between primates would be an interesting avenue of research (Smith, Yokoyama, & German, 1998).
Figure 1: Butyrate production in response to fiber
Interestingly, one of the top producers is something known as “resistant starch.” Resistant starch represents the growing nuance in understanding of fiber, since it is a starch that acts like a fiber in terms of acting as a bacterial substrate. It first showed up on the scientific radar when scientists found that low rates of colon cancer were not just found in populations with high-fiber diets, but those with high-starch diets (O'Keefe, Kidd, Espitalier-Noel, & Owira, 1999)1. Researchers found that a particular starch resisted digestion and ended up being fermented by colonic flora. They called this resistant starch and it is found mostly in cooked starches, some raw starches like green bananas, and some rough unprocessed grains and seeds. The former is termed type III and is a major part of the diets of many foraging populations who consume pounded and cooked starches like cassava, taro, true yam, and sago palm.
Whether or not humans are better adapted to certain types of resistant starch remains unexplored, but could account from some inconsistent results in studies that used type I resistant starch, mostly found in grains and seeds that would have probably been relatively uncommon in our ancestral diet. These studies have shown poor results and others with promising results are marred by high drop out rates due to unpleasant gastrointestinal side effects (Rinne et al., 2005; de Vrese & Marteau, 2007; Vuksan et al., 2007). Whether some populations would do better on this type of starch versus others would be an interesting investigation, but very few cultures consume large amounts of unmilled seeds and grains.
What type of starch we are best adapted to is interesting because the role of starch in human evolution is so controversial. Richard Wrangham has suggested that utilization of cooked starches was one of the dietary quality innovations that fed our rapidly expanding expensive brain tissue as it evolved towards hominid size (Wrangham, 2003). Recent analysis throws a wrench in that theory because it suggests habitual use of fire came after encephalization, about 300,000 years ago (Roebroeks & Villa, 2011). However, this does not mean that such cooked starches did not change humans, even if it reduces their significance in human evolution.
The burgeoning field of archeological starch grain analysis has transformed our view of hominids once thought to be mostly carnivorous. Microfossils on Neanderthal teeth from around 44,000 years ago show evidence of the consumption of many roots and tubers, some of which show evidence of cooking (Henry, Brooks, & Piperno, 2010). The full impact of the adoption of cooked starches on the human body has not been fully elucidated. One promising adaptation is the starch-digesting salivary amalyse gene, AMY 1 (Perry et al., 2007). Chimpanzees and bonobos have only two copies of this gene, humans have as many as 10 copies, though it varies quite heavily by population from 2 to 10 correlated with the importance of starch in the diet. Molecular genetic evidence places the origin of divergence on this gene at about 200,000 years, about the time when habitual fire use became common. Further genetic analysis shows that adaptations to root and tuber starch as a major source of calories may account for variation in human folic acid metabolism, since folic acid is usually low in starchy vegetables (Hancock et al., 2010).
Another relatively unexplored avenue of research would be whether butyrate in the diet itself has led to decreased reliance on butyrate for colonic fermentation in some cultures that consume large amounts of dietary butyrate. The major source of butyrate in food is from the milk fats of grazing animals (Smith et al., 1998).
It is most common in the modern diet in butter at 3%. It is possible that pastoral cultures consume substantial amounts of exogenous butyrate. Currently there have been few studies on oral consumption of butyrate in humans. Animal studies have been inconclusive, with some showing positive effects and some showing negative effects, which is complicated by the fact that if ingested orally it is also present in the small intestine, where it may play different roles (Sengupta, Muir, & Gibson, 2006; Wächtershäuser & Stein, 2000). A small study found orally-administered butyrate had a positive effect on symptoms of Crohn’s disease, but the method of administration was through pills rather than food (Di Sabatino et al., 2005).
Another potential source of butyrate is fermented foods. Some fermented foods like ogi, a pounded fermented starch, contain measurable levels (Hesseltine, 1979). Fermented foods are worth examining evolutionarily because they represent another human dietary innovation in improving food quality. Fermentation increases the bioavailability of nutrients, breaks down starches, and reduces levels of anti-nutritional factors and toxins (Mugula, 2003). It is unknown how long humans have been purposefully fermenting food. Fermentation naturally occurs in the wild and many wild animals are known to indulge in such foods to the point of drunkenness (Dudley, 2002). Spontaneous fermentation and consumption of such foods by wild primates is unfortunately not well studied. However, fermentation is practiced by almost every known culture to some extent, with the largest diversity in fermented foods among African farmers (Dirar, 1993) It is estimated that fermented foods make up 1/3 of the diet of humans worldwide (van Hylckama Vlieg, Veiga, Zhang, Derrien, & Zhao, 2011). Exogenous fermentation may substitute for the reduced fermentative ability of the human gut.
1. The researchers concluded that colon cancer risk was increased with meat consumption. I will remain skeptical until they do studies on other cultures that eat relatively low-fiber and high-meat diets like the Masai and Siberian cultures for example.
Di Sabatino, A., Morera, R., Ciccocioppo, R., Cazzola, P., Gotti, S., Tinozzi, F. P., et al. (2005). Oral butyrate for mildly to moderately active Crohnʼs disease. Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics, 22(9), 789-94. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2036.2005.02639.x.
Dirar, H. A. (1993). The indigenous fermented foods of the Sudan: a study in African food and ... (p. 552). CAB International. Retrieved May 9, 2011, from http://books.google.com/books?id=J-ogAQAAIAAJ&pgis=1.
Dudley, R. (2002). Fermenting fruit and the historical ecology of ethanol ingestion: is alcoholism in modern humans an evolutionary hangover? Addiction (Abingdon, England), 97(4), 381-8. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11964055.
Hancock, A. M., Witonsky, D. B., Ehler, E., Alkorta-Aranburu, G., Beall, C., Gebremedhin, A., et al. (2010). In Light of Evolution IV: The Human Conditions Sackler Colloquium: Human adaptations to diet, subsistence, and ecoregion are due to subtle shifts in allele frequency. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(Supplement_2), 8924-8930. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0914625107.
Henry, A. G., Brooks, A. S., & Piperno, D. R. (2010). Microfossils in calculus demonstrate consumption of plants and cooked foods in Neanderthal diets (Shanidar III, Iraq; Spy I and II, Belgium). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1016868108.
Hesseltine, C. W. (1979). Some important fermented foods of Mid-Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society, 56(3), 367-374. Springer Berlin / Heidelberg. doi: 10.1007/BF02671501.
Hylckama Vlieg, J. E. van, Veiga, P., Zhang, C., Derrien, M., & Zhao, L. (2011). Impact of microbial transformation of food on health-from fermented foods to fermentation in the gastro-intestinal tract. Current opinion in biotechnology, 22(2), 219-211. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2010.12.004.
McKenna, P., Hoffmann, C., Minkah, N., Aye, P. P., Lackner, A., Liu, Z., et al. (2008). The macaque gut microbiome in health, lentiviral infection, and chronic enterocolitis. PLoS pathogens, 4(2), e20. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.0040020.
Mugula, J. (2003). Microbiological and fermentation characteristics of togwa, a Tanzanian fermented food. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 80(3), 187-199. doi: 10.1016/S0168-1605(02)00141-1.
OʼKeefe, S. J., Kidd, M., Espitalier-Noel, G., & Owira, P. (1999). Rarity of colon cancer in Africans is associated with low animal product consumption, not fiber. The American journal of gastroenterology, 94(5), 1373-80. doi: 10.1111/j.1572-0241.1999.01089.x.
Perry, G. H., Dominy, N. J., Claw, K. G., Lee, A. S., Fiegler, H., Redon, R., et al. (2007). Diet and the evolution of human amylase gene copy number variation. Nature genetics, 39(10), 1256-60. doi: 10.1038/ng2123.
Rinne, M. M., Gueimonde, M., Kalliomäki, M., Hoppu, U., Salminen, S. J., & Isolauri, E. (2005). Similar bifidogenic effects of prebiotic-supplemented partially hydrolyzed infant formula and breastfeeding on infant gut microbiota. FEMS immunology and medical microbiology, 43(1), 59-65. doi: 10.1016/j.femsim.2004.07.005.
Roebroeks, W., & Villa, P. (2011). On the earliest evidence for habitual use of fire in Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1018116108-. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1018116108.
Sengupta, S., Muir, J. G., & Gibson, P. R. (2006). Does butyrate protect from colorectal cancer? Journal of gastroenterology and hepatology, 21(1 Pt 2), 209-18. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1746.2006.04213.x.
Smith, J., Yokoyama, W., & German, J. B. (1998). Butyric Acid from the Diet: Actions at the Level of Gene Expression. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 38(4), 259-297. doi: 10.1080/10408699891274200.
Vrese, M. de, & Marteau, P. R. (2007). Probiotics and Prebiotics: Effects on Diarrhea. J. Nutr., 137(3), 803S-811. Retrieved May 9, 2011, from http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/137/3/803S.
Vuksan, V., Whitham, D., Sievenpiper, J. L., Jenkins, A. L., Rogovik, A. L., Bazinet, R. P., et al. (2007). Supplementation of conventional therapy with the novel grain Salba (Salvia hispanica L.) improves major and emerging cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes: results of a randomized controlled trial. Diabetes care, 30(11), 2804-10. doi: 10.2337/dc07-1144.
Wong, J. M. W., Souza, R. de, Kendall, C. W. C., Emam, A., & Jenkins, D. J. a. (2006). Colonic health: fermentation and short chain fatty acids. Journal of clinical gastroenterology, 40(3), 235-43. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16633129.
Wrangham, R. (2003). “Cooking as a biological trait.” Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, 136(1), 35-46. doi: 10.1016/S1095-6433(03)00020-5.
Wächtershäuser, a, & Stein, J. (2000). Rationale for the luminal provision of butyrate in intestinal diseases. European journal of nutrition, 39(4), 164-71. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11079736.
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03/18/2011 - 17:55
Living in Queens, one of the most diverse counties in the nation, I have been able to experience many interesting traditional cuisines. But I'd also been able to observe people losing their traditions without even really noticing. There are two examples that come to mind, both involving fermented rice. One is the Indian Idli, which Stephan has blogged about.
The spicy coconut chutney in the middle and the sambar soup are SO DELICIOUS.
The other is the Filipino Puto.
SO chewy and delicious with butter!
If you go to the market and ask a random elder woman of each culture who she makes these dishes, you will probably get wildly divergent answers. Some women still ferment the rice, but a lot of them are using modern ingredients. For both you can now buy batter mix with leavening agents so you don't have to ferment at all. Some people also now add wheat flour to these dishes. I'd had 70 year old women tell me that baking powder is the traditional way to make idli.
It's a shame because fermentation produces a rich flavor that can't be compared to those made with mixes. It's very possible that the fermented versions also have some health benefits. Though probiotic bacteria are probably killed during the steaming process and white rice doesn't have many anti-nutrients, they may endow the rice with more vitamins. Idli probably has more benefits because it also contains skinless urad dal, which has some antinutrients and lectins, though much less than the skinned version.
A dosa is the pancake version of the idli. THere have been some studies on the fermented batter. "They produced flavour, enzymes and helped in the saccharification of starch. Both bacteria and yeasts were contributed by the ingredients Oryza sativa and Phaseolus mungo. The prevalence of bacteria and yeasts was affected by seasonal variations but bacteria always dominated the overall microbial load."
There is also some evidence that fermented rice improves cholesterol markers and reduces fatigue in animals. though these studies have used more grainy fermented rice like red rice or brown rice. I've had very good results with fermented white rice, but a lot of the fermented brown rice products make me feel somewhat ill. However, some of them, like the health food store drink Amazake, contain considerable amount of sugar which could confound things.
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04/09/2010 - 10:42
Kombucha. It's a magical fermented health drink that cures everything because it was developed by wise ancient Chinese monks or something. It's fairly tasty once you get used to it, perhaps even delicious and refreshing. It doesn't have much sugar either.
Recently I had been drinking it habitually after finding out the 711 right around the corner carried my favorite flavors. Since I can't have beer anymore (*cries*) except the gluten free kind that tastes awful and a tablespoon of wine makes me blind drunk, Kombucha became my flavorful and refreshing drink of choice.
The problem was that around that same time I started feeling kind of sick in the afternoon. I just couldn't believe my beloved kombucha was the problem, so I initially blamed seasonal allergies.
At some point I looked at my spending habits and figured I shouldn't buy a $4 bottle of kombucha every day. I planned on buying a kombucha starter kit eventually. Miraculously, not only did my pocketbook get heavier, but the afternoon sickness went away.
Lots of people ascribe fairly magical powers to fermented foods and many sick people down barrels of sauerkraut and kefir believing they will provide them health. But we have to remember that people with food sensitivities also often have cross reactions to pretty much EVERYTHING. Yeast is a fairly common sensitivities for those sensitive to gluten, but fermented foods also contain other potentially irritating ingredients like amines and histamine. In the end, while paleolithic people would have probably consumed lots of bacteria and yeasts, modern fermented foods have them in very high amounts.
So if you are having a problem, don't blame it on "detox." Take a good look at your diet, even at foods you think are healthy. Fermented foods can help heal, but they can also cause reactions.
Comment?: 5
03/14/2010 - 20:26
Last weekend the fridge at work was left ajar, which was overall a complete disaster. But I did notice that a jug of apple cider was bulging. Aha! A sign of fermentation. I poured it into a glass. It was fizzy and smelled kind of alcoholic. I took a swig. It was fairly tasty, though later I realized I didn't need the alcohol at 11 AM.
A few years ago I would have been aghast at eating "spoiled" food like that, but since becoming intimate with fermentation, I am much more daring. The fridge is a recent invention and our ancestors might not have had the luxury to turn up their noses at food that's a little...um...off? But "off" sort of implies the food is bad, when actually in many cases it's good.
The status of fermentation in the paleo diet is controversial. Many paleo books do not mention it and Cordain's Paleo Diet newsletter recently knocked kombucha for containing acetic acid and yeast (they also said it causes metabolic acidosis...of which there is one case in the medical literature and the person in question also had other serious problems).
That's nonsense. Our our bodies are full of yeast and acetic-acid producing bacteria and our natural environment would have also been rich in these. Think about the life of a hunter-gatherer. From birth to death they are surrounded by dirt. Of course this is bad when you have a wound that gets infected, but this immersion in dirty nature probably means their bodies are more biodiverse than ours.
Contrast that with my birth, which was a C-section done in a clean environment. Science shows that C-sections alter gut bacteria, which is bad news, because largely the species established when you are young are the ones that stay with you for the rest of your life. There is plenty of science supporting the Hygiene Hypothesis, which posits that children growing up in clean environments have higher incidences of allergies, asthma, and other diseases of civilization. There is emerging evidence that gut bacteria plays a role in metabolic syndrome as well.
There is no question in my mind that our modern gut biodiversity caused by our divorce from dirt is a bad thing.
Having a history of stomach problems, managing my gut bacteria is important to me. I do it two ways: not eating foods that seem to encourage the proliferation of misery-causing bacteria and then balancing my bacteria with probiotic foods. "Cleansing" is a bad idea because it gets rid of both bad and good bacteria and irritates the gut...and an irritated gut can't be a good habitat.
A few times since starting the paleo diet I've gone off the band wagon. My IBS soon returns with a vengeance. I can tell the wrong bacteria are having a feast at my expense. My strategy for getting it under control borrows a lot from the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which treats colitis by reducing such fermentation. Last time this problem happened, after a week of staying up late to plan a food event and then eating lots of carby sugary food at the event, I calmed things down by eating zero carb for a week. I particularly enjoyed a tonic of egg yolks cooked in bone broth.
Soon my stomach was feeling much better, but I don't think zero carb completely solves the situation. I think fermented foods are the missing link, providing valuable bacteria and truly digestible nutrients.
While the scientific studies show that it's very hard and perhaps impossible to add new species to your gut, probiotics can still have an effect, though it will go away if you discontinue them. Furthermore, fermented foods often are simply easier for your body to digest and contain many beneficial bioavilable nutrients.
That brings me to Wild Fermentation, which was really a groundbreaking book for me. It taught me to embrace and take advantage of wild crazy bacteria.
This book is of the post-vegan canon. Sandor was a vegan, but a serious health problem propelled him to become omnivorous. In his case, it was AIDS.
But Wild Fermentation contains a wide variety of ferments suitable for all diets. The exception is meat ferments, which he does himself, but does not include instructions for in his book. He refers readers to The Indigenous Fermented Food of the Sudan, which apparently tells of how the Sudanese ferment meat nose to tail. Unfortunately that book seems to be unaffordable.
That's OK with me actually...I'm not sure meat fermentation is something I want to dabble in right now. The main ferment I consume is lacto-fermented vegetables. It's quite funny because just a few years ago I wouldn't have eaten pickles or sauerkraut if you paid me. I think my tastebuds were to put it lightly, shallow from years of consuming industrial food lacking in complexity. I admittedly had to force myself to eat my first batches of pickled vegetables, but at this point I LOVE them. They are tangy and delicious. The best part is that I now crave sour foods rather than sweet foods.
Pickled ginger carrots vs. Snickers? I'll take the former. The variety of flavors, the spicy and sour ginger with the tart carrots, is just superior.
An important thing I learned from this book was the distinction between vinegar preservation and lacto-fermentation. You can make pickles by just putting some cucumbers in vinegar, but they will not have the same health-giving or flavor properties as vegetables that have been fermented.
Sandor particularly praises sauerkraut: he talks about a study that shows that it is much richer in cancer-fighting compounds than plain old cabbage. I personally find that the best sauerkraut is made in a heavy crock with a water seal that allows the cabbage to breath, but doesn't allow mold to get in. Luckily, I have access to one, but if I didn't I would make kimchi, which is just as tasty and more resistant to mold. However, Sandor says not to worry too much about mold, as it seems to be a surface phenomonon that doesn't affect the overall welfare of the cabbage buried beneath the brine.
One of the joys I experienced when I first ate Korean food was all the delicious pickled vegetables they bring you. I realized after my first Korean meal that you really can pickle almost any robust vegetable. Vegetable fermentation has become trendy in NYC and the local farmer's markets are full of pickled beets, radishes, onions, carrots, peppers, and silky wonderful mushrooms. The most surprising pickle I had recently was pickled beet stems, which is a revelation since I usually throw those away. The pickling process had muted the bitterness, but preserved the crunchiness and added a rhubarb-like tartness.
Some of the other ferments Sandor addresses are less relevant to the paleo diet, but great if you eat grains to get the full nutrition out of them. Kefir is relevant to everybody since you can make it from ruminant milk, nut milk, and anything that has fermentable sugars like coconut water.
Overall, my digestion feels better when I consume fermented foods and I have noticed that my seasonal allergies are much better. But of course, the main reason to eat them is that they are delicious and nourishing.
Comment?: 5
02/21/2010 - 15:57
Last year I read a certain book that extolled the virtues of fermented coconut water, but gave no instructions for making it. Instead, the author's website sold the drink and it wasn't cheap. I wanted to try it myself, so I went on Ebay and bought water kefir grains for about $6.
Now water kefir is kind of like dairy kefir, but it supposedly thrives in just sugar water rather than milk. The problem was that my grains never really thrived. There is a host of conflicting and bizarre information out there about how to treat them and somewhere along the way I did something wrong. I tried all kinds of different fancy sugars, spring water, artisan dried fruit....but they never reproduced. Whatever, I still got benefits from them even if they are pain to take care of. Since you don't ferment kefir as long as kombucha, cleaning and feeding them was a chore I had to do every other day. Maybe they were unhappy because I went on vacation and left them in the fridge....it's hard to find babysitters for tiny gelatinous bacterial and yeast colonies. However, I plan on buying more soon and hopefully I can figure it out, because I really enjoyed the drinks I made.
I suspect the reason that people buy expensive coconut water is that the way to make it is NOT to put your kefir grains in the coconut water. You should do a normal water kefir ferment that consists of sugar and lemon for a day or so. Then use that fermented water and mix it with coconut water or whatever juice you want in a nice bottle with a good stopper. A couple of days later you should have carbonated fermented coconut water. It's probiotic and has less sugar than normal coconut water. Ferments of other fruit juices are delicious too and water kefir is less harshly acidic than kombucha.
Comment?: 2
02/18/2010 - 16:10
Learn how to use fermentation to get the most out of your food. And Sandor ferments pretty much everything in this book. A huge variety of valuable information for anyone.
Comment?: 0
02/07/2010 - 14:30
This recipe book is a great introduction to healthy traditions of agrarian cultures all over the world and to the wonders of healthy fats.
Comment?: 2
02/01/2010 - 12:59
Another consideration for GERD via Whole Health Source: fermentable carbs, specifically fructooligosaccharides (FOS) might make it worse. It makes sense- colonic fermentation seems to play a huge role in digestive disorders. A low fermentative diet, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, has long been used for inflammatory bowl disease. It's funny because fiber-rich vegetables and grains are often suggested for GERD patients, but this study shows they just make everything worse. Foods high in FOS include bananas, onions, chicory root, garlic, asparagus, barley, wheat, jícama, tomatoes, and leeks. Most of those foods I never eat- it's interesting that most weren't encountered by humans until the neolithic, except the alliums, but wild alliums are very small. Others, like garlic, I find are OK as long as they are cooked very well. FOS is sometimes added to foods like kefir to make them "prebiotic," which is unforunate because it's clear they can feed both good and bad bacteria. This article sums up the concerns:
6. Since Inulin/FOS is found in natural foods it must be okay, right?
Wrong. Sucrose (table sugar) is naturally found in beets, sugar cane, oranges, and other plants. Humans have perverted this naturally occurring substance into a refined chemical. Sucrose is arguably one of the most unhealthy food additives in human history. We should learn from our experiences with sucrose and apply them to Inulin/FOS. Instead of adding refined, super concentrated Inulin/FOS to your food, eat the foods that naturally contain Inulin/FOS.
The body is genetically adapted to certain foods and if we continue to mess with our food chain then our health will suffer the consequences. Of the nutritional fibers, cellulose was the most likely to be included in a traditional hunter-gatherer diet. Cellulose is an insoluble fiber that is slowly fermented by the microbial population in the human colon. Inulin/FOS is a soluble fiber that is quickly and easily fermented. The difference between cellulose (a food we are adapted to) and Inulin/FOS (a food we are not adapted to) is like the difference between a slow burning ember and a raging fire. Who likes playing with fire?
To help clear my GERD, I followed a very low carb diet. I wonder if that diet stopped feeding the bad bacteria and allowed my bacteria to normalize. There is really no way of knowing, but it's clear the fiber isn't a great solution for GERD.
Foods that are already fermented, like kimchi and pickles, may be less of a problem because most what can be fermented has probably already been consumed by bacteria. Furthermore, they provide beneficial bacteria. You shouldn't have to risk feeling baddies to heal your gut.
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