Ferment: The Life-Changing Power of Microbes – by Dr. Tim Spector

You probably know that the gut microbiome is key to a lot of aspects of health.

Dr. Tim Spector, most well-known for the huge ZOE epigenetic study which covered, amongst other things, the effect of diet on the gut microbiome, and the effect of the gut microbiome on health, explains here about the process of fermentation. But…

Unlike the usual “and then the product is fermented and ready to consume” usual end-point of such description, Dr. Spector also covers what happens in the mouth, stomach, small intestine, large intestine.

Which is important, because all of these environments have very different conditions in terms of pH, temperature, and pre-existing microbiome (which latter will partially dictate how friendly or not the environment is to any given new arrivals, on a per-species basis).

For example…

• If you take unprotected microbes (say, in kombucha) then most will die in the stomach acid and certainly not make it to the gut. Some may make it through though, and whether they then survive and flourish in the gut becomes a numbers game.
• Semi-protected microbes (say, in kimchi, where many may have made for themselves a home inside a piece of fermented vegetable, that allows for some temporary protection from the stomach acid, and save them long enough to get into the gut) will fare better.
• Specialist probiotics in nice safe capsules designed to release only in the gut will usually deliver their load safely, but will tend to have less biodiversity than fermented foods.

With these things in mind, it’s clear that getting a mix of all these things is best, and this book covers many kinds of fermented products, instructions on how to make them, and appropriate recipes with your fermented products too.

In terms of style, it’s Dr. Spector’s usual very-accessible pop-science, well-referenced with a respectable bibliography.

Bottom line: if you’re curious about getting into fermenting your own products, and/or simply want to improve your gut health, this book will give you a lot of information that’s easy to apply.

Click here to check out Ferment, and get fermenting!