Gut Health
Superfuel for the Inflamed Gut
Fermented foods and short-chain fatty acids are the superfuel for an inflamed gut. They strengthen the gut barrier and support a healthy immune response.
Gut Health
Fermented foods and short-chain fatty acids are the superfuel for an inflamed gut. They strengthen the gut barrier and support a healthy immune response.
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You might boldly claim: virtually all people eating a Western diet have gut inflammation. Some experience it very mildly, others noticeably more severely.
You should also know that many people – especially in Europe – are susceptible to gut inflammation. Researchers have even identified gene regions responsible for this, referred to in English as IBD, Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Geneticists named these gene regions after the disease itself.
Why these gene variants, grouped under IBD, appear particularly frequently in Europeans remains unknown. In any case, certain genes in us promote inflammation, particularly in the gut. Research has just recently identified such a gene variant.
This is a so-called loss-of-function mutation – the affected gene is called PTPN2. If you carry this mutation (gene variant), the protein produced from it no longer functions properly (hence loss of function). Unfortunately, this makes the gut more permeable – which in turn promotes gut inflammation.
Don't dismiss this lightly: one quarter of the European population carries this gene once. Since we inherit genes and gene variants in duplicate – one from each parent – we have two copies of it. In slightly more than 2% of the population, the mutation is found in both copies.
What we want to say is this: you need to do something to combat gut inflammation. The solution has long been equally well-known. Humans have fermented food for ages. Pickled vegetables, fermented grain beverages, fermented dairy products and much more. All these products share one thing in common: acid is produced, often lactic acid, as lactic acid bacteria do their work.
Alcohol, too – such as beer or wine – is the product of fermentation by microorganisms. When ethanol is produced, acetic acid bacteria are usually not far behind. They produce acetic acid, a short-chain fatty acid. This we recognize from the kitchen. Vinegar is essentially a diluted acetic acid solution.
In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that humans – and the gut in particular – absolutely depend on a good supply of these substances created through fermentation. The bacteria, yeasts, fungi and other organisms living in our large intestine produce these for us when we eat well, with plenty of dietary fiber and more.
However, gut inflammation often arises earlier, namely in the small intestine. There, incompletely digested food particles encounter the small intestinal lining, which readily becomes inflamed in genetically susceptible people. At the same time, however, there's usually very little fermentation by microorganisms in that region.
This is where vinegar, fermented grain beverages, and similar substances come into play. You can drink acids or consume them orally. Particularly lactic acid, for example in the form of kefir. These days, short-chain fatty acids in the form of propionate (propionic acid) can even be purchased as a supplement – highly questionable! In any case, you absolutely must have acid and microorganism sources in your diet. More, much more!
Because oral consumption works wonders in the small intestine, but also throughout the entire body. There's now a good body of research on this; one study, for example, describes how lactic acid (lactate):
The mechanism of action here is quite complex:
"The molecular mechanisms responsible for these functions, including histone deacetylase-dependent modulation of gene expression and signal transduction through G-protein-coupled receptors, have already been described."
Be that as it may. Below is a small list of foods that will immediately provide you with microorganisms and acids:
