Fermented Foods MASTERCLASS! This Video is Natto Be Missed

Fermented foods like kimchi, kefir, and sauerkraut have a serious health halo. And the fermented foods market is booming, estimated to grow over $500 million over the next 4 years. But are fermented foods really gut health superstars? And if so, how? Today we're diving into a fascinating new paper published out of Stanford in the journal Cell Metabolism., and we're going to separate fact from fermentation fiction. Now, in this video, I'll provide you my 7 favorite bites of knowledge from the article, and I'm going to gift you a recipe that a friend and I created just for this video. And after watching the video, if you think it was not too bad and you don't want me to be sour, please click subscribe. It really helps. Anyway, with that, moving on. Factor 1, there are 3 types of fermentation. Did you know that? Now, technically speaking, fermented foods are those transformed by microbial growth and enzymatic conversions. The most common bacteria is lactic acid-producing bacteria. They're the most common fermenters, but other microbes can do the job too, like acetic acid bacteria, filamentous molds, and yeast. Here's how it works at a high level: the addition of salt and access to preferred nutrient sources for the growth of these fermenting microbes promote their growth, leading to early community dominance in the microbiome of the food. Now, on to the 3 types of fermentation. There's spontaneous, starter culture, and one called backsloppen. Now, in spontaneous fermentation, microbes from the environment, they are what initiate fermentation. This means there will likely be more variability in the final microbial community. By contrast, the use of a starter culture allows for a more reliable final product of the fermented food. Starter cultures are often used in dairy products, and they allow for more precision in developing the final product. This is neither good nor bad per se, it's just different. Finally, backslapping is when a portion of the previous fermented food is incorporated into the next batch, propagating the microbial community. This is common for sourdough bread and kombucha. Now, moving on and getting more interesting, food safety. The case of cassava. One of the benefits of fermented foods is they can enhance food safety. The microbes that are responsible for the fermentation can produce other antimicrobial peptides that kill off pathogens or otherwise help detoxify food. And a great example is cassava, a starchy tuberous root native to South America and a staple food for over half a billion people. But that in its raw form contains high levels of a neurotoxic cyanogenic glycoside. Consumption of unprocessed cassava therefore can lead to the development of an irreversible neurological disorder called Kansho that causes irreversible paralysis of the legs. However, fermentation of cassava massively reduces levels of this neurotoxin, turning a poisonous food into a tool for human nutrition. Isn't that interesting? Okay, moving on. Fact 3: Increased nutrient availability. Fermentation can increase the nutrient availability of food, and recent studies reveal that fermented foods tend to have more vitamins and minerals, like increased levels of vitamin C, B12, vitamin K, riboflavin, and folate as compared to their unfermented counterparts. So you get more nutrient bang for your buck by having fermented foods. Okay, now we're going to get more technical. Activation of key receptors, focusing on one called HCA2. Metabolites made by microbes can also lead to the activation of receptors like hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor 2, or HCA2. Activation of HCA2 has anti-inflammatory effects and may even increase bone density. Pretty cool, right? Compounds made by the gut, like hippuric acid, activate HCA2. I reviewed a bit on hippuric acid in a prior video on visceral fat. You can see that video for more, but briefly, foods like green tea and wild berries might also help to increase hippuric acid levels through processing in the microbiome, although they themselves aren't fermented foods per se. Moving on, we talked about HCA2, how about HCA3? In addition to HCA2, great apes, including humans, but not other animals, also have the HCA3 receptor. And the only known activator of HCA3 is a compound called D-phenylactic acid, made by lactic acid-producing bacteria, and it can be elevated in the blood after eating sauerkraut or kimchi. Now, there aren't a lot of great animal models for HCAC since it doesn't exist in many animals other than great apes. So it's hard to know exactly what it does, but there is some thought that it plays a role in immunometabolism and energy storage since HCA3 is expressed on many immune cells and fat cells, adipocytes. But at present, its exact function remains somewhat of a mystery. I suppose the science needs to ferment a bit more. But before we jump to Fact 6 about the anti-obesity hormone GLP-1, I want to gift you a recipe my friend Martina Slurjova at Keto Diet App created just for me. And now for you. She knows I love macadamia nuts. I'm a macadamia nut monster. And when we were discussing this paper, she proposed a fermented macadamia nut hummus. And it's our gift to you. The recipe is linked in the video notes. And if you need the raw ingredients, you can get a lovely discount from my friends over at House of Macadamia I've been using their product for over 5 years, 15% off with discount code NICK15. With this discount, you can buy the kilo bag, my favorite, and the cost per ounce is only 84 cents. So super economical. Anyway, getting on. 6. GLP-1 augmentation through probiotics. GLP-1 is the anti-obesity hormone produced by gut cells that leads to increased satiety. Research shows that certain probiotics like L. reuteri and Akkermansia mucifilia can increase GLP-1 levels. Now, while exact products and protocols to increase these microbes in the gut are still being developed, there are human studies showing that compounds like short-chain fatty acid supplements bound to inulin, a fiber, can increase GLP-1 production and alter weight, and lower liver fat levels. Again, the science needs more time to ferment, so I don't want to make any extravagant claims, but if you like sauerkraut on your burger, it's likely healthier than a bun. Unless you make really good sourdough bread buns, then I suppose that would also have a health benefit. 7. Lactic Acid. First it's sour, then it's sweet science. Now, let's chat about lactic acid, which is obviously made by lactic acid-producing bacteria, that we already talked about. Lactic acid itself can activate the receptor GPR81 on immune cells and reduce inflammatory responses, including in the colon, in the intestines. This may be one mechanism by which fermented foods have been shown in human randomized trials to reduce inflammation. And this GPR81 receptor, it's also expressed on fat cells and may lead to increased lipolysis, or the release of stored fat, as free fatty acids, ready to be burned by mitochondria for fuel. And activation of GPR81 may lead to a decrease in the hunger hormone ghrelin. Pretty cool, right? It's pretty amazing what lactic acid can do. So wrapping up, what have we learned? Fermented foods aren't just delicious, they're little powerhouses of microbial magic, enhancing nutrient availability, detoxifying cassava, activating receptors, and even influencing whole-body metabolism. From boosting food safety to potentially tweaking GLP-1 levels, these foods are doing a lot more than just adding a tangy kick to your meals. But as with any good fermentation process, the science is still bubbling away. There's plenty more to uncover about how these foods interact with our microbiome and overall health. Now, if you're excited as I am to see where this field is heading, stay tuned, because the future of fermented foods is notto thing short of fascinating. Stay curious, and check out the newsletter if you want the references. It can be found in the video notes below. And please don't forget to hit subscribe so as not to miss more deep dives like this.