What Foods Have the Same Nutrients as Fermented Foods?

What Nutrients Do Fermented Foods Contain?

Fermented foods are teeming with probiotics and postbiotics beneficial for gut health. Fermentation also enhances the bioavailability of nutrients already present in foods and can convert some micronutrients into new forms that weren’t there originally.

What if I Don’t Like Fermented Foods?

Wondering how to obtain the nutrients found in fermented foods if you aren’t a fan of them or can’t eat them due to an allergy, I’ve got you covered!

Two things make fermented foods particularly beneficial for health are probiotics and postbiotics.

Probiotics are live beneficial bacteria and yeast that can take up composition in our guts and improve the composition of our gut microbiomes, but you only get probiotics from raw, unpasteurized fermented foods.

So, where else can you get probiotics besides fermented foods? There is a small amount of probiotics in soil and natural environments, so you can get exposure by being out in nature or gardening. However, while these species are beneficial they are different from the Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus found in most fermented foods. For those, your best option is a probiotic supplement. Although, probiotic supplementation can be useful in a lot of circumstances, you can actually get a much, much broader range of probiotics by eating fermented foods—which have a slightly different array of microbes depending on fermentation process and from batch to batch. It’s also important to note that not everyone needs a probiotic supplement or fermented foods; they can be extremely beneficial for the gut microbiome, but if you eat a wide variety of plant foods and are otherwise healthy, you probably don’t need one.

Postbiotics are the products of probiotic microorganism metabolism. (Essentially they are bacteria poop, but you don’t have to think of them that way!) Postbiotics are actually what is responsible for most of the health benefits associated with fermented foods. Even for the probiotics that live inside our digestive tracts, the way they benefit us, is via posbiotics – that’s the full range of chemical compounds they produce that are absorbed into our bloodstream and do all kinds of good things in our bodies (for example, short-chain fatty acids). The great thing is you get postbiotics even if the fermented food is cooked or pasteurized.

Postbiotics can be obtained from the distilled or pasteurized versions of fermented foods. Some people don’t tolerate raw fermented foods but do tolerate cooked or pasteurized versions. Another food that contains at least short-chain fatty acids, one of the main important postbiotics, is dairy products. These are a little higher in grass-fed dairy, and because short-chain fatty acids are fats, they are higher in full-fat dairy products.

As always, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to eat fermented foods if you don’t want to.  Focus on all of the nutrient-dense foods you enjoy, have access to, and can afford and prepare them in a way that you love!  There is no one perfect Nutrivore diet—there is a ton of flexibility of food choice that aligns with Nutrivore principles. And, Nutrivore celebrates every small step you take towards consuming a more nutrient-replete diet. Don’t forget that the diet you follow or don’t follow now does not impact your long-term health, what does is your lifelong eating patterns!

Food Swaps

If you’re looking for swaps for other foods check out these posts!