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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Healthy Living / Fermented Food Statistically Significant in Drastic Reduction of COVID Deaths

Fermented Food Statistically Significant in Drastic Reduction of COVID Deaths

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

Variety of fermented food jars on a counter

The European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology has published a blockbuster study that spotlights the role of traditionally fermented vegetables such as probiotic-rich sauerkraut in the diet as a potential mitigator of severe COVID-19 disease and mortality.

The authors of the study conceived the idea for this research because of the shocking differences in COVID-19 outcomes between various parts of the world.

What could possibly account for these disparities?

Could dietary preferences in fact play a larger role than conventional medicine has considered before?

For example, the very low death rates in Eastern Asia, Central Europe, and the Balkans have a common feature. These people groups are known for eating large quantities of probiotic-rich fermented foods on a regular basis.

In other studies to date, fermented vegetables or cabbage are associated with low overall death rates in European countries. This trend holds when COVID-19 is part of the mix.

In the chart below, the authors note that the shorter the food supply chain, the better the overall COVID outcomes. Vegetables fermented at home represent the shortest food supply chain of all.

In fact, of all the variables considered, only fermented vegetables reached statistical significance with the COVID‐19 death rate per country.

Each gram/day increase in consumption of fermented vegetables of the country reduced the mortality risk for COVID‐19 by a shocking 35.4% (1)

covid death rate chart of improved outcomes

Fermented Foods versus COVID

The study authors note that fermentation of vegetables and other foods like dairy was introduced into the human diet during the Neolithic, aka “New Stone Age”. This period occurred some 12,000 years ago. Such foods proved essential for the survival of humankind throughout the intervening millennia.

Modern life has resulted in a drastic reduction in the consumption of fermented foods. Correspondingly, the incidence of chronic diseases has dramatically increased. Worse, the commercial, heavily marketed versions of these traditional foods are typically not fermented long enough to have the same benefit. This serves to lead consumers to falsely believe that they are consuming traditional food comparable in quality to what is made at home.

The scientists postulated that the absence of these foods negatively altered the gut microbiome. This likely resulted in the pathogenesis of various disease types. This includes allergies, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, different types of cancer, diabetes mellitus, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. It also potentially allowed infectious diseases like SARS‐CoV‐2 (COVID-19) to rapidly spread or be more severe. (2)

Cabbage contains precursors of the organo-sulfur compound known as sulforaphane. This is the most potent natural activator of Nrf2, possibly the most active antioxidant in humans. Nrf2 blocks the AT1R axis, thereby preventing COVID-19 from binding to this receptor. When this happens, oxidative stress declines. In turn, the potential for lung and endothelial damage diminishes…two severe outcomes of COVID‐19. (3)

Fermented vegetables also contain many friendly microbes or lactobacilli, both potent Nrf2 activators.

The researchers propose that dietary manipulations such as adding fermented foods to the diet may enhance Nrf2‐associated antioxidant effects helpful in mitigating COVID‐19 severity.

For example, in central European countries where COVID death rates are low, raw and fermented cabbage is a regular feature in the diet. This is the case also in sub-Saharan Africa.

In sub‐Saharan Africa, although young age is an important factor, people commonly eat fermented foods, mainly cereal‐based foods like sorghum, millet and maize, and roots such as cassava, fruits, and vegetables. Fermented cassava products (like gari and fufu) are a major component of the diet of over 800 million people and, in some areas, these products constitute over 50% of the diet. (4)

Summary

In conclusion, the authors note that nutrition may play an integral role in the immune defense against COVID‐19. This may explain some of the differences seen in COVID‐19 between and within countries.

Since consumption of fermented foods was the only variable that reached statistical significance with the COVID‐19 death rate per country, it seems wise to introduce these traditional foods to your family’s diet if you haven’t already!

It doesn’t take much to make a huge difference either. The key is regularity, preferably daily consumption. The authors found that each gram/day increase in fermented vegetables in a particular country reduced the mortality risk for COVID‐19 by a whopping 35.4%

Thus, even a teaspoon per day (4 grams) of fermented vegetables can conceivably have a huge impact!

References

(1-4) Cabbage and fermented vegetables: From death rate heterogeneity in countries to candidates for mitigation strategies of severe COVID‐19

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Category: Healthy Living
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: the bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Comments (1)

  1. Keith

    Nov 2, 2020 at 7:51 am

    Covid is a fake psyop to usher in the new world order. Germ Theory has never been proven and is a antiquated theory. Terrain theory is not the end all be all theory either. There is a lot of variables and modalities then just one cause.

    During the 1918 pandemic scientists tried to find the see if the sickness was being spread by person to person. In 1919 Milton Rosenau published a article in the JAMA journal about transmission of the 1918 pandemic. He concluded that since they could not reproduce not one case of person to person “flu” transmission that there is a lot more to deduce about how the sickness is spread. In fact there has never been a actual study that has ever produced that a “flu” was contagious from person to person.

    So the questions remained until the book The Invisible Rainbow was Published in 2019 by Arthur Firstenburg. He makes the most compelling case about how people never even had flu like symptoms until the addition of electricity. He backs all his research up with over 150 pages with over 2000 references.

    Some very bad people are controlling the world and they are using false flags and fake realities to control the population. The Freemasons are a major part in this deception. I have spent years researching many so called conspiracy theories only to discover that they are basically all true. This world is been hijacked by some really smart people that have really bad intentions.

    I highly recommend anyone who wants to break free of all the lies and deceptions in the medical industry ( I call it a suicide industry) to read the Invisible Rainbow and also Goodbye Germ Theory. Take control of your life and there is absolutely no reason to fear a virus. They are not contagious and major effort has gone into making the world believe they are the cause of illness. Others like Dr Kauffman and Dr Cowan have been talking a lot about this.

    Covid is completely fake. There is absolutely no reason to think otherwise. People get suck people die. The death rate for 2020 is lower then the last 3 pervious years. There is no excess deaths at all. Less people are dying. Suicide is rising at unbelievable rates due to fear over a fake virus. They convinced the world that a new contagion was killing people when there is zero evidence of the claim. The news media lies about everything constantly. They cannot be trusted ever for anything. The news is not a source of information but a clever way to control the masses through lies and manipulation techniques. It’s time to wake up and as fight back.

    The Georgia guidestones erected in 1980 want the population to be under 500 million. They are trying to lower the population through vaccines making people unable to have children. There is a game being played here and 99 percent of the people are unaware of. Do your research and read the books on the germ theory hoax. Make your own conclusions. If we don’t fight back now we will be living is a dystopian nightmare like you only see in some movies only worse.

    God bless everyone
    Keith.

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