Fermented foods could boost weight loss and slim down your waist, according to a new study.
From yoghurt to pickled vegetables, live microbes are present in a variety of foods we eat every day. Despite a commonly held belief that this "good bacteria" contributes to our health, evidence of this has been "lacking" so far, according to researchers of a newly published study.
The first "real-world" evidence that eating more of this live bacteria could provide benefits like weight loss, smaller waists, and improved blood pressure has been reported by a study published in the Journal of Nutrition.
You may know yoghurt, sauerkraut, and kimchi contain probiotics, also known as "good" or "friendly" bacteria.
Scientists say high levels of microbes - present in fermented foods, raw vegetables and fruits - are part of a healthy diet, but they could be giving a health boost that was previously unrecognised.
A study led by scientists from the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) examined microbe levels in 9,000 different foods to determine how they relate to measurements of health like weight and blood pressure.
Its findings showed that eating more live microbes was linked with measurements of better health — more favourable blood pressure, better blood glucose and insulin, lower inflammation, as well as lower waist circumference and body mass index.
This established that those who consumed higher quantities of live dietary microbes showed tangible, if modest, health benefits.
Researchers were unable to determine whether live dietary microorganisms directly caused the health benefits, but the findings match up with previous research that has found general exposure to microorganisms may benefit health by strengthening the immune system.
The study split food into three categories based on their number of live microbes. Participants reported their food intake and scientists determined how eating various foods - and how much - was linked with health measurements such as blood pressure and weight.
Co-first author Professor Colin Hill, of University College Cork said: "Those foods with high levels of microbes (fermented foods, raw vegetables and fruits) are all nutritionally valuable parts of a healthy and diverse diet.
"These same foods could be providing an additional, hitherto unrecognised, health benefit due to live microbes themselves that enter the gut and interact with the host microbiome, immune system and even the enteric nervous system."
Researchers caution that further research is needed into the link between a microbe-rich diet and possible health benefits.
"More research that extends these findings to other populations and research that uses study designs that permit stronger causal claims is needed, especially given the potential benefits that might be available by simply substituting into the diet more foods that have safe live microbes," said co-lead author Professor Dan Tancredi, PhD, of University of California - Davis.
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