Probiotic Foods for Good Health

Probiotic

Foods

for Good

Health

Yogurt, Sauerkraut, and Other

Beneficial Fermented Foods

Beatrice Trum Hunter

The information contained in this book is based upon the research and personal and professional experiences of the author. It is not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician or other healthcare provider. Any attempt to diagnose and treat an illness should be done under the direction of a healthcare professional.

The publisher does not advocate the use of any particular healthcare protocol but believes the information in this book should be available to the public. The publisher and author are not responsible for any adverse effects or consequences resulting from the use of the suggestions, preparations, or procedures discussed in this book. Should the reader have any questions concerning the appropriateness of any procedures or preparation mentioned, the author and the publisher strongly suggest consulting a professional healthcare advisor.

Basic Health Publications, Inc.

28812 Top of the World Drive

Laguna Beach, CA 92651

949-715-7327 • www.basichealthpub.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hunter, Beatrice Trum.

Probiotic foods for good health : yogurt, sauerkraut, and other beneficial fermented foods / Beatrice Trum Hunter.

  p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-59120-534-0

1. Probiotics. 2. Fermented foods—Health aspects. I. Title.

RM666.P835H86    2008

613.2'6—dc22

2008031219

Copyright © 2008 Beatrice Trum Hunter

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.

Editor: Cheryl Hirsch

Typesetting/Book design: Gary A. Rosenberg

Cover design: Mike Stromberg

Printed in the United States of America

10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1

To Cheryl Hirsch and Ruth Mary Pollack with heartfelt appreciation

Contents

Introduction

Part One

Fermentation: A Venerable Tradition

1. Probiotics: New Applications for Old Knowledge

2. Fermentation: An Old and Widespread Practice

3. Fermented Foods and Beverages Around the Globe

4. Some Special Features of Fermented Foods

Part Two

Yogurt and Other Fermented Milk Products

5. Yogurt: An Ancient and Modern Food

6. Yogurt and the Gastrointestinal Tract

7. Yogurt and the Immune System

8. Yogurt and Food Allergy, Intolerance, and Sensitivity

9. Yogurt and the Genitourinary Tract

10. Yogurt and Structures, Organs, and Systems

11. Probiotic Bacteria: From Wild and Free to Controlled and Profitable

12. Yogurt: From Plain Jane to Superstar

13. Drinkable Cultured Milk

Part Three

Fermented Non-Dairy Foods

14. Fermented Vegetables: Nutritional and Therapeutic Treasures

15. Beans: Fermentation Is a Necessity

16. Cereal Grains: Improved Through Fermentation

Conclusion

Appendices

A. Probiotics as Dietary Supplements

B. Bioactive Probiotic Components in Milk

C. Bioactive Probiotic Colostrum: A Special Mammary Fluid

Main Sources

About the Author

Introduction

Many people seem to be obsessed with a desire to maintain a germfree environment. It may come as a shock for them to learn that the human intestinal tract is home to an estimated 100 trillion bacteria. This staggering number includes many beneficial microbes that help keep the body healthy by fending off pathogenic ones that otherwise might colonize in the intestinal tract.

The state of good health or disease can be compared to the metaphor of warfare: a constant battle is waged between the forces of good (the beneficial microbes) and the forces of evil (the pathogenic microbes). Both armies engage in continuous skirmishes against each other, in living environments of soils; in and on plants, including food and feed crops; and in animals, including livestock and ourselves. The beneficial microbes attempt to prevent the foodborne pathogens from establishing beachheads by adherence in our guts, where they thrive, proliferate, and inflict harm. If the beneficial microbes are overwhelmed, the pathogenic ones win battles by causing infections and diseases. Within the context of living organisms, the beneficial microbes experience the ravages of war. Fortunately, the beneficial organisms have strategic weapons to rout, immobilize, and defeat the enemy. These weapons are probiotics.

All too frequently, the concept of probiotics is limited to probiotic dietary supplements, to the exclusion of the time-honored probiotic foods. In this book, I will emphasize probiotic foods. Probiotic dietary supplements may offer benefits as medical adjuvants, but the day-by-day consumption of foods with probiotic benefits are the ones that deserve primary consideration. As with other dietary supplements, the probiotics should not replace foods, but serve as adjuncts for intestinal health. (To learn more about probiotic supplements, see Appendix A on page 153.)

FORMER DISMISSAL OF PROBIOTIC FOODS

For too many years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) denied the probiotic value of yogurt. In its 1965 Yearbook, Consumers All, the USDA discussed yogurt in a section titled Food Quackery. The agency assured consumers that yogurt has no food or health values other than those present in the kind of milk from which it is made. This pronouncement was ludicrous, even at the time when it was made. The agency chose to ignore evidence of the additional values developed in fermented milk: its bactericidal activity against foodborne pathogens; its ability to synthesize certain vitamins; its role in alleviating many gastrointestinal distresses and other health disorders; its usefulness in relieving antibiotic-induced effects; and its beneficial role for lactose-intolerant individuals.

Over the years, research conducted by the USDA’s own Agricultural Research Service (ARS), as well as research conducted elsewhere, established evidence that yogurt has food and health values beyond those present in the milk from which it is made. The additional benefits are due to the probiotics in the fermented milk. Similarly, sauerkraut has values beyond cabbage, and other fermented foods have values beyond their original state.

DEFINING PROBIOTICS

As interest in probiotics has grown, experts have debated how to define probiotics specifically, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). One widely used definition, developed by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO), designates probiotics as:

… live microorganisms, which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.

Other definitions are more inclusive. R. Havenaar and J. H. J. Huis in’t Veld, in The Lactic Acid in Health and Disease (Elsevier, 1992), suggest probiotics are:

… a viable mono- or mixed culture of microorganisms which, when applied to animals or man, beneficially affect the host by improving the properties of the indigenous microbiota [microflora in the digestive tract].

G. Reuter, in Present and Future Probiotics in Germany and in Central Europe, (Biosci Microflora, 1997) offers this definition:

… a microbial preparation which contains live and/or dead cells, including their metabolites [byproducts], which is intended to improve the microbial or enzymatic balance at mucosal surfaces or to stimulate immune mechanism.

R. Fuller, in Probiotics in Man and Animals (J Appl Bacteriol, 1989), proposes that probiotics are:

… a live microbial food supplement which beneficially affects the host animal by improving its intestinal microbial balance.

R. B. Parker, in Probiotics: The Other Half of the Antibiotic Story (Anim Nutr Health, 1974), includes humans as well as other animals in food supplements that:

… have a beneficial effect on the host animal by affecting the gut microflora.

Live beneficial microorganisms promote a physiologic balance essential for good health in humans and other animals.

APPRECIATION AND UTILIZATION OF PROBIOTICS

To continue the war metaphor used earlier, the world seems to be overrun by pathogens. Each of us, in a volunteer army, should recognize the microbial allies that have evolved with, and support, our wellbeing. Unfortunately, the food processors, like a World War II fifth column, have infiltrated our ranks and undermined our health, by perverting the fermentation process. The food processors offer us yogurt-coated pretzels and frozen yogurts, chemically fermented soft drinks and alcoholic beverages, canned sauerkraut, and unfermented soy products, among others. We need to be on guard against these enemies within the camp, oust them, and strengthen the corps. We need to do constant battle with pathogens intent on our destruction, and allow the powerful forces of probiotics to secure and maintain the peace of health and wellbeing.

This book will demonstrate that fermented foods, such as yogurt and sauerkraut among others, help to maintain and restore good health. As the results of many human experiences through the centuries, the benefits of fermented foods have been recognized. Currently, fermented foods continue to be valued and used in traditional diets, but unfortunately they have been largely discarded in the Western diet.

There is no mention of fermented foods in the federal 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Healthy Americans, which provide advice about the foods and dietary habits that can promote health and reduce risk for major chronic disease, or in the numerous graphic versions of food pyramids. Rarely do Western physicians or nutritionists recommend fermented foods to patients. Nor are fermented foods included in dietary sheets given by dietitians to patients. The indexes of books by current writers on food and nutrition—people who are acknowledged as authorities in the field—fail to list any discussions of fermented foods. The ARS of the USDA has found many benefits of lactic acid bacteria (the principle agent responsible for fermentation) in its various research projects, but the agency rarely has translated the findings into practical applications for human health.

The time is long overdue to recognize something known, but forgotten: the health benefits of fermented foods. The recognition should encourage us to add health-promoting fermented foods to our daily diet.

PART ONE

Fermentation: A Venerable Tradition

CHAPTER 1

Probiotics: New Applications for Old Knowledge

At present, probiotics is not a familiar term to many people. It will become more familiar. Probiotics (meaning for life) are foods that are cultured with live beneficial microorganisms. Digested in sufficient amounts, they can combat pathogenic microbes and bestow functional or health benefits. Probiotic foods are fermented foods. Perhaps the best recognized ones are yogurt and sauerkraut. Many more exist.

In recent years, the sales of probiotic supplements as well as probiotic foods have risen meteorically in the United States. By 2003, sales were nearly $13 million annually, with a spectacular 14 percent increase in yearly sales. In terms of importance in food-product formulations, probiotics rose from tenth place in 2000 to fifth place by 2005. The increased sales were stimulated by federal research.

NEW USES IN AGRICULTURE

Since 1996 governmental funding for agricultural applications of probiotic research has doubled annually. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has conducted studies with biopreservatives such as probiotic bacteria produced by lactic acid, bacteriocins, and bacteriophages. As a result, some farmers use probiotics to help boost disease resistance in crops, increase reproduction in farm animals, and increase milk and egg production. Such increases are achieved by better health of crops and animals, bestowed by the probiotics. However, the findings have not yet been applied to people.

NEW USES FOR FOOD SAFETY

Governmental agencies responsible for food safety, the food industry, and the consuming public are concerned about the alarming number of incidences of foodborne diseases causing illnesses and deaths, resulting from the consumption of raw or undercooked foods that are contaminated with various pathogenic microbes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that some 76 million Americans experience foodborne illnesses every year. About 325,000 of them are so serious that they require hospitalization. Some 5,000 people die. Some critics charge that these numbers are gross underestimations. Many infected people do not seek medical attention. Those who do may be misdiagnosed. Also, many cases may go unreported. The reporting system is largely passive, that is, voluntary rather than mandatory.

The list keeps growing of contaminated foods that have been responsible for outbreaks of foodborne illnesses and deaths. Among them, recently, are spinach, lettuce, mixed salad greens, green onions, endive, watercress, parsley, cabbage, sprouts of alfalfa, radish and mung beans, water chestnuts, carrots, tomatoes, melons, raspberries, strawberries, apple cider, carrot and orange juices, ground beef, chicken, turkey, fish, soft cheeses, egg salad, coleslaw, peanut butter, and almonds.

In attempts to prevent contamination of foods by pathogenic microbes, researchers have taken a fresh look at one of the powerful agents that prevents food spoilage: lactic acid bacteria, the principal agent responsible for fermentation.

One example of using lactic acid bacteria for food safety is with raw produce. In a search to find substitutes for the harsh chemical sanitizers used with raw fruits and vegetables, Alejandro Castillo at Texas A&M University at College Station, and his colleagues in Mexico, reported in the Journal of Food Protection (Sept 2007) about their success with lactic acid bacteria. The researchers intentionally exposed cantaloupe and bell peppers either to Escherichia coli 0157:H7 (E. coli) or Salmonella typhimurium. Both are virulent types of bacteria that contaminate foods. Then, the researchers sprayed a lactic acid solution on the produce for fifteen seconds. The treatment reduced dramatically the bacterial populations on the rough and crinkled rind of the cantaloupe by nearly 99.9 percent, and by slightly more on the smooth-surfaced bell pepper. Although we do not consume the rind of melons, there have been outbreaks of foodborne illness in individuals who had eaten melons. The rinds had not been washed, and were contaminated with pathogenic microbes. In cutting the melons, the knives had transferred the microbes to the interior edible portion.

Castillo and his colleagues also conducted experiments with animals. They reported that a 2 percent lactic acid spray was effective in sanitizing carcasses.

The Institute of Food Technology, in its publication Food Technology (Sept 1997), reported that use of lactic acid bacteria was effective in improving the safety of minimally processed fruits and vegetables.

Decades ago, researchers at Cornell University, had noted that a raw vegetable, washed in a vinegar solution, reduced the surface contamination of lead on raw produce. Vinegar is a product of fermentation. More recently, the Journal of Food Protection (May 2003) reported that washing apples in a vinegar solution resulted in a significant reduction of Salmonella.

There is growing recognition of the value of fermentative agents for the control of pathogens. This recognition offers a valuable tool in the large issue of food safety. In addition, another feature makes the fermentation process attractive to the food industry.

NEW USES IN FOOD-PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in so-called functional foods. These are foods to which novel or unique ingredients are incorporated, purportedly for health benefits. Currently, federal statutory and regulatory provisions require that such added ingredients used in food formulations that bear health or structural function claims must be approved for their intended uses. Doubtless, among the new functional foods will be fermented products.

In Europe, consumers have embraced probiotic-fortified dairy products. In contrast, Americans have had a deep-rooted perception that all bacteria are bad. According to Niklas Bjärum, sales and marketing director of Probi, a Swedish biotechnology company, American attitudes are changing, and Americans are coming to accept the idea that some bacteria can be beneficial. Bjärum remarked in 2007 that The United States market has been a sleeping beauty. But it’s a question of when it wakes up to probiotics—not if—and I think that time is now.

The functional food frenzy already has begun. Nutritionally enhanced yogurt is regarded as a functional food. Many more will follow. At a time when healthy foods, fortified foods, and enriched foods appeal to a health-conscious public, fermented foods will come to be regarded by the food industry as a profitable extension of new food-product development. Within the categories of acceptable claims for health or structure, food processors are touting product benefits to the immune system, the digestive tract, and the genitourinary tract, and others for the alleviation of specific health disorders.

NEW USES AS ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE INCREASES

The rising incidence of pathogenic contamination in the food supply results from many factors, including a radical transformation of agriculture and the misuse, overuse, and growing ineffectiveness of antibiotics. The issue is only part of a larger one, concerning pathogenic contamination of the environment.

Antimicrobials have been available for a long time. But the growing problem of environmental contamination has generated a new industry. The goal is to make the environment germ free, an impossible task and an unwise objective. In attempting to make the environment germ free, both the beneficial as well as the pathogenic microorganisms are destroyed. Probiotics is a wiser choice, in using beneficial microorganisms to suppress and kill the pathogens. However, the trend favors use of antimicrobials.

Much effort is devoted to create germ-free environments. Many antimicrobial products are available. Alcohol-based products now substitute for thorough hand-washing with soap and hot water. Antimicrobials are used to treat children’s toys, furniture, fabrics, and a wide array of other consumer goods. Ironically, some of the very substances used for this purpose are suspect.

The prevalent hospital-induced infections from Staphylococcus aureus (staph infection) has led to ongoing research to produce antimicrobials intended for hospital airducts, walls, ceilings, floors, railings, doors and doorknobs. The research extends to appliances inserted into the body, such as artery-opening stents, and to prosthetic body parts, such as artificial limbs.

Many uses would extend to public places. For example, the aircraft manufacturer Boeing has expressed interest in coating surfaces in its planes touched by passengers, such as hard surfaces and fabrics. Other coatings are intended to kill viruses (for example, the influenza virus) on contact. Such substances also may be added to paints brushed or sprayed onto surfaces.

These attempts to achieve germ-free environments result in unintended consequences. The hygiene hypothesis demonstrates that we need some exposure to germs in order to develop mechanisms and substances in our bodies that are capable of resisting infections. It has been observed, for example, that children who grow up on farms, exposed to farm animals, are at lower risk of infections than are urban children sheltered in highly antiseptic environments. This is not to condemn cleanliness, but rather to recognize the value of a strong immune system that helps to buffer the body from assaults by pathogens. Either infections may not occur, or they may be mild and allow the body to recuperate quickly. The immune system can be kept healthy and strong by probiotics.

CHAPTER 2

Fermentation: An Old and Widespread Practice

The fermentation of foods and beverages was a chance discovery in prehistoric times. The transformation of wild and cultivated grains, fruits, and berries to beer, wine, and other foods, must have seemed miraculous. The mysterious process may have inspired later alchemists, who sought to transmute base metals such as lead, into noble ones such as gold.

BENEFICIAL MICROORGANISMS INVOLVED IN FERMENTATION

The fermentation of foods and beverages has been practiced nearly worldwide. Numerous types of wild yeasts, bacteria, and fungi (molds) have succeeded in creating a variety of fermented products. Fermentation of