Key TakeawaysA new research means that sauerkraut could shield the intestinal wall from irritation.Within the lab, sauerkraut was extra useful than sauerkraut brine or plain cabbage.Consuming fermented meals can assist intestine well being and cut back persistent irritation.
Your intestine does extra than simply digest your meals. It influences nearly each system in your physique, together with your mind, coronary heart and, in fact, your digestive system. Your intestine’s microbiome accommodates dwelling organisms, together with micro organism and yeast, that have an effect on your well being—hopefully in constructive methods.
However what you eat vastly influences what your microbiome is made up of. Consuming fermented meals, like yogurt, kefir and sauerkraut, may help you add useful probiotics. Then there’s prebiotics, that are meals for these probiotics to feast on, and so they’re primarily present in fruits, greens, nuts, seeds and entire grains. Some meals play a twin function as each prebiotic and probiotic. For instance, kimchi and sauerkraut are fermented, offering probiotics. And since they’re created from cabbage, additionally they present meals for that useful micro organism.
When these useful micro organism eat, they produce metabolites. A metabolite is a compound shaped in or essential for metabolism, which implies it helps you retain your vitality up and keep your total well being. Metabolites also can assist do away with poisonous substances within the physique. There’s some proof that sure microorganisms produce metabolites that particularly assist keep a wholesome intestinal wall, which can also be generally known as an intestinal barrier.
The well being of your intestinal wall is vital, because the intestinal wall ought to solely permit sure compounds to cross via it. A wholesome intestinal wall is made up of wholesome cells which can be correctly joined collectively. An unhealthy intestinal wall has massive gaps between cells, doubtlessly permitting toxins to enter the physique. That’s known as intestinal hyperpermeability or leaky intestine syndrome, and it might probably have some unfavorable well being penalties, together with achy joints, fatigue, despair, anxiousness, meals allergic reactions and autoimmune ailments.
As a result of each cabbage and sauerkraut have well being advantages, researchers on the College of California, Davis, wished to look at the distinction in metabolites between the 2. Particularly, researchers had been testing whether or not sauerkraut’s and cabbage’s metabolites may assist shield intestinal cells from inflammation-related harm. Their findings had been printed in April 2025 in Utilized Environmental Microbiology. Let’s break down what they discovered.
How Was This Examine Carried out?
Researchers examined the metabolites in two varieties of sauerkraut, the brine from the sauerkraut and uncooked cabbage. The 2 varieties of sauerkraut included store-bought and home made sauerkrauts. The home made sauerkraut was examined at various occasions all through the fermentation course of to see if their metabolites modified at completely different occasions.
When a research is completed in a lab setting, researchers try to mimic the human physique for research which can be making an attempt to attach elements with how they react in people—known as in vitro. On this case, the intestinal surroundings was imitated within the lab through the use of cells from the intestinal wall and exposing them to inflammatory compounds plus the metabolites produced from sauerkraut, cabbage and brine samples.
What Did This Examine Present?
Researchers discovered that each one sauerkraut samples—store-bought and home made—helped shield the intestinal cells from irritation. The sauerkraut brine and uncooked cabbage didn’t have these results.
Evaluating store-bought sauerkraut to home made, researchers discovered no distinction with the results of sustaining the integrity of the intestinal cells, regardless of having some differing metabolites. Regardless of the variations, researchers be aware that there are “core metabolites” shared by each varieties of sauerkraut that shield your intestines from inflammatory harm.
As with all research, this one additionally has some limitations, the first one being that it was carried out in a lab, not in people. Till this similar idea is examined in human contributors, we can’t say with certainty that the outcomes straight apply to people.
How Does This Apply to Actual Life?
This in vitro research means that home made and store-bought sauerkraut could shield the intestinal wall from irritation.
It’s vital to notice that the store-bought sauerkraut used on this research was from the refrigerated part of the grocery retailer, which signifies that it maintains its probiotics. Shelf-stable canned and jarred sauerkraut has been heated to excessive temperatures and, in that course of, it loses most of its probiotics.
So, now you end up standing in entrance of the refrigerated part of the grocery retailer, and also you discover that there are a number of manufacturers to select from. Is one higher than the others?
“We discovered that the enrichment of the largely useful compounds was constant throughout sauerkraut ferments,” says Maria Marco, Ph.D., the research’s lead creator. “This discovering is helpful as a result of it means that, as long as the fermented cabbage is made appropriately, we don’t have to depend on a single business model to get a profit from consuming that kind of meals.”
When Marco says “made appropriately,” she refers back to the sauerkraut not being heated. Refrigerated and home made sauerkraut are produced just by combining cabbage with salt and permitting the fermentation course of to occur over time. When shopping for sauerkraut, the elements must be fundamental—cabbage and salt, presumably with a seasoning added, like caraway seeds or garlic.
If you wish to begin including sauerkraut regularly however aren’t accustomed to it, start with small quantities—like a tablespoon with a meal day-after-day or so—and steadily enhance it in accordance with your physique’s tolerance.
Not a sauerkraut fan? Different fermented meals, like yogurt and kefir, can even add useful micro organism to your intestine. When your microbiome is balanced with loads of useful micro organism, it reduces irritation. An imbalanced microbiome has been linked with greater ranges of irritation, which may result in persistent sickness, together with leaky intestine syndrome. There’s proof that, in addition to the signs we beforehand talked about, leaky intestine has additionally been linked to kind 2 diabetes. Meaning taking good care of your intestine has the potential to result in higher total well being—particularly since gut-healthy meals are typically fairly good for you in different methods, too.
The Backside Line
“Our research affirms how fermentation dramatically adjustments the bioactive composition of our meals and drinks and the way these adjustments could influence our digestive tract,” says Marco. “Though extra research have to be executed, an image is forming that we discover well being advantages from fermented meals [that are] not noticed from consuming the uncooked or cooked elements these meals are created from.”
This doesn’t imply that uncooked or cooked cabbage isn’t good for you, although. “It’s vital to level out that we nonetheless have many questions as to the perfect format—like cooked or recent—and portions of those meals we must be consuming, and the way completely different folks reply to them. Nonetheless, fermented meals are good to incorporate as part of a nutritious diet,” concludes Marco.
So if you wish to make some gut-conscious decisions in your subsequent grocery run, attain for reliable fermented meals like yogurt, sauerkraut and kefir.
