CHRONIC. Milk or tea with a few microbes. These fermented drinks are very fashionable. Do they really have the virtues attributed to them?
By Boris Hansel, with Guillaume Paret (video)
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Every Friday, find, on Le Point.fr, the nutrition chronicle of Pr Boris Hansel, endocrinologist and nutritionist at Bichat Hospital in Paris. He is also the host of the health channel PuMS on YouTube.
Ihe virtues of fermented drinks, do you believe in them? I’m not talking about wine or beer, but recipes like kefir, a milk-based drink, or kombucha, made from tea. These ancestral beverages would be the ideal solution for our intestinal health. And they are granted many other qualities. We will clear this together.
To make a fermented drink, microorganisms are added to the base drink, milk or tea for example: bacteria, fungi, etc. By using the sugars in the drink to grow, these microbes produce multiple chemical compounds. which give taste and nutritional characteristics to the drink.
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But what does science say about the properties of these fermented drinks? What is certain is that they are not trivial! They are found to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. And they modify the intestinal microbiota. That is to say all the billions of bacteria and fungi that colonize our intestines and contribute to our health.
What can we expect from kefir and kombucha for our health?
The scientific literature mentions possible effects to limit weight gain, or even promote weight loss. But also benefits against diabetes and even certain cancers. This is why some researchers do not hesitate to consider fermented drinks as true functional foods, that is to say, which provide a benefit for the functioning of our body.
But be careful not to oversell these drinks. Take the example of kefir and its effect on blood glucose and blood insulin levels. All of the scientific studies show a small beneficial effect. This encourages to consume kefir against diabetes. But these effects are very limited. We know of other much more effective means, such as physical activity and the reduction of a few centimeters in the waistline.
READ ALSODo you really need to drink milk to protect your bones? Another example of the supposed benefit of kefir in women after menopause. It could improve sleep and mental health! This is plausible now that we know the connections that exist between the gut and the brain. We therefore have rather good arguments for making fermented drinks our health ally.
Important precision for pregnant women and people who have an immunity deficiency. In principle, it is not recommended to consume this type of drink. Doctors recommend pasteurized drinks, from which living microorganisms have been eliminated.
In practice: a glass of fermented drink a day can be part of a balanced diet. Beyond that, it depends on everyone, some may have digestive problems. Everyone has to find the dose that suits them!