Drink To Your Health

Fermented drinks are all the rage, but are they really good for you? The authors of the new book Kombucha, Kefir and Natural Sodas give us the low-down

- Nina Lausecker And Sebastian Landaeus

So... what’s the link between fermentation and health? Bacteria, that’s what! They’re everywhere, from the start of the fermentation process to the insides of our stomachs during digestion. Bacteria are responsible not only for digesting things inside our intestines, but also things outside of them. Bacteria aren’t happy simply breaking down our food for digestion, they also reduce it into molecules that are more easily absorbed by our bodies. This is called bioavailability. Besides that, the microbial community makes vitamins, breaks up toxins and medicines, and strengthens our immune systems. And all those things are a big plus for our health!

THE STOMACH, OUR SECOND BRAIN

Just as Giulia Enders tells us so brilliantly in her best-selling book Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ, we humans are inhabited. Yes, it’s true! And not by just anyone, thanks very much. Our intestines play host to around 100 trillion bacteria (or about 2kg of the average adult’s total body weight). Today, some scientists even consider our gut microbiota to be an independent organ. So, more than 95 per cent of the bacteria on our planet are harmless to humans. And a significant number of them are actually some of our best allies because they protect our gut, gathering in the exact places where pathogenic agents would like to do us harm.