“Stunning” Study Reveals: Making This Simple Dietary Change Improves Gut Microbiome, Helps Prevent Inflammatory Diseases

Consider adding tasty, nutritious kimchi, yogurt, and kombucha tea to your healthy diet.Andre Boukreev/Shutterstock

Research confirms what natural health experts have insisted for years:  that the gut microbiome – the community of bacteria in the intestinal tract – plays a vital role in health.  Researchers say imbalances in this microbial community – alternatively known as dysbiosis – can trigger a laundry list of unwanted health conditions, including increased risk of obesity, autism, “leaky gut,” and inflammatory conditions such as arthritis.

Now, a new Stanford School of Medicine study suggests that one simple dietary “tweak” – enriching the diet with fermented foods such as yogurt, fresh sauerkraut, and kimchi – can improve the health and diversity of the microbes (or microbiota) while reducing levels of inflammatory enzymes in the body.  So let’s look at how fermented foods contribute to better health and disease prevention.

Unexpected Study Results Have Researchers Scratching Their Heads – While Highlighting Dramatic Benefits of Fermented Foods

In the controlled clinical trial, which was published in July in Cell, 36 healthy adults were randomly assigned to a ten-week diet that included either fermented foods (including yogurt, kefir, fermented cottage cheese, kimchi, and kombucha tea) or high-fiber foods (such as legumes, seeds, nuts, whole grains, vegetables, and fruits).