Is sauerkraut more than just a tangy garnish? A new University of California, Davis, study Published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology suggests that fermented cabbage could help protect your intestine, which is an essential element of overall health, digestion and disease protection.
The authors Maria Marco, professor in the Department of Food Sciences and Technology, and Lei Wei, a postdoctoral researcher in the Marco laboratory, examined what is happening during fermentation – in particular, how cable metabolites compared to those of raw cabbage.
Researchers have tested whether sauerkraut nutrients could help protect intestinal cells from inflammation damage. The study compared raw cabbage, sauerkraut and liquid brine left behind the fermentation process. The sauerkraut samples included both products purchased in stores and fermented cabbage made in the laboratory.
They found that sauerkraut helped maintain the integrity of intestinal cells, unlike raw cabbage and brine. Marco said that there was also no notable difference between the sauerkraut of the grocery store and the version made in the laboratory.
“Some of the metabolites we find in sauerkraut are the same type of metabolite that we find to make by the intestinal microbiome, which gives us a little more confidence than this link that we have found between the sauerkraut metabolites and good intestinal health is logical,” said Marco. “It does not matter, in a way, if we do sauerkraut at home or if we buy it in the store; The two types of sauerkraut seemed to protect the intestinal function. ”
Digestive advantages
Chemical analysis shows that fermentation modifies the nutritional profile of cabbage, increasing beneficial metabolites such as lactic acid, amino acids and chemicals based on intestinal health. These changes can explain why fermented foods are often associated with digestive advantages.
Marco said that she and Wei have identified hundreds of different products during fermentation and are now working to determine which the biggest role in long -term intestinal health support.
“In addition to eating more fibers and fresh fruits and vegetables, even if we just have a regular portion of sauerkraut, perhaps by putting these things more in our diet, we find that this can help us in the long term against inflammation, for example, and make our digestive tract more resistant when we have a disturbance,” said Marco.
Vegetables and fermented foods are already a staple food in many diets, but this research suggests that they could be more than a simple accompanying dish. Marco said the next step is to conduct human tests to see if intestinal protective metabolites found in sauerkraut can have the same positive effects when included in daily diets, as shown in the laboratory.
“A little sauerkraut could go very far,” she said. “We should think about including these fermented foods in our regular diet and not only as a side in our hot dogs.”
This research was funded by a subsidy from California Department of Food and Agriculture, as well as a research prize graduated from Jastro Shields from UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.