The word “Bacteria” tends to have a very bad cognition, since most people immediately assume it as something bad. And although there are bad bacteria that can be harmful to our health, there is also the good kind of bacteria as well.
Good bacteria, also known as Probiotics, are actually good to improve some body functions. For example, the kind of bacteria that lives in our intestines actually help us process and digest foods.
Probiotics are basically microorganisms that can improve our overall health. They can be found in our own bodies, like we already mentioned, and in many other foods like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut and kimchi.
YOGURT
Yogurt is perhaps the most well known natural probiotic, since good bacteria is found in the fermented milk that creates the yogurt itself. Which means, yogurt has living microorganisms that, once consumed by us, can be very helpful.
The bacteria found in yogurt is known as Lactobacillus bulgaricus, which are lactic microorganisms that can be found in fermented milk and are extremely beneficial to our intestinal health.
According to the European Food Safety Authority, yogurt is a natural probiotic because the different types of bacteria that can be found in yogurt help eradicate or alleviate multiple digestion problems, such as lactose maldigestion.(1)
However, not all yogurts contain natural probiotics, since some companies do eradicate the presence of the Lactobacillus bulgaricus once the yogurt has gone through the heat-treatment necessary for its production. Although some are injected with living probiotic bacteria afterwards.
The WHO/FAO Probiotic Guidelines Committee has approved yogurt as one of the natural probiotics foods due to the living, good bacteria's that can be found in it.
KEFIR
Much like the yogurt, Kefir is beverage that comes directly from milk. In this case, Kefir is a fermented milk drink that comes from the result of yeast and bacteria acting upon the Kefir grains. This according to US National Library of Medicine.
According to a Brazilian Journal of Microbiology article, there are two main bacteria's that can be found in Kefir: The lactic acid bacteria, also known as LAB, and the lactose-fermenting yeast.(2)
A paper done by the US National Library showed that kefir is actually used to treat different health issues and conditions related to gastrointestinal problems and even heart issues.
SAUERKRAUT
Unlike yogurt and kefir, two foods that you can find already prepared and ready to consume, sauerkraut is actually a fermented cabbage food, originary from European countries and known for being a natural probiotic.
Like yogurt, Sauerkraut has a very high presence of the lactobacillus bacteria and others lactic acids and tyramines, just as stated by the institute of Global Advances in Health and Medicine.(3)
The study done by this institute showed that Sauerkraut has many benefits for our health, however, consuming this natural probiotic in great quantities might result in unwanted diarrhea.
KIMCHI
Much like Sauerkraut, Kimchi is also a fermented food. In this case, Kimchi is a traditional Korean food that is done by fermenting various kinds of vegetables in lactic acid bacteria, which of course, results in a natural probiotic.
Since the same bacterias that are present in dairy products like Yogurt and Kefir are present in the Kimchi, you can expect similar results. Meaning consuming this traditional Korean food can improve your intestinal and gastrointestinal health.
According to a paper written by Jeong JK about the benefits of Kimchi, this fermented foot is actually extremely helpful to alleviate or improve any problems regarding gastrointestinal health.(4)
