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Health Benefits Of Sauerkraut- Is It Worth Consuming?
Are You Looking For Health Benefits Of Sauerkraut? Here is everything you must know before preparing sauerkraut at home.
For anyone who does not know about sauerkraut, it is a type of fermented cabbage that has major health benefits associated with it. This dish was originally made in china nearly 2000 years ago.
Back in those days, people used only the fermentation process to keep their food from rotting or spoiling quickly. This dish was able to survive the test time which made it extremely popular. The name given to it is “sauerkraut” came from Germany where it was most appreciated.
Due to the process of fermentation that sauerkraut undergoes, the health benefits of sauerkraut are beyond your imagination as compared to raw cabbage.
Below mentioned are some of the most important health benefits of sauerkraut you must find out.
Health Benefits Of Sauerkraut
This dish is enriched with essential nutrients that are required most necessary to maintain optimal health. One cup or 142 grams of sauerkraut provides only 27 calories.
1. Highly Nutritious
Sauerkraut has many important and essential nutrients that are worth taking note of, as you already know one cup has 27 calories, let’s see the nutrition profile in one cup.
- 0 grams fat
- 6-gram carbs
- 4-gram fiber
- 1 gram protein
- 41% of daily sodium requirement
- 23% of the daily value of vitamin C
- 15% of the daily value of vitamin K
- 12% of the daily value of iron
- 9% of the daily value of manganese
- 11% of the daily value of Vitamin B6
- 9% of the daily value of folate
- 15% of the daily value of copper
- 5% of the daily value of potassium
This dish is mainly nutritious because it has undergone a fermentation process, in this process m8crooragnishs in the cabbage works constantly and digest the natural sugars cabbage has, they later convert it into organic acids and carbon dioxide.
The process of fermentation begins when bacteria and yeast that are naturally present inside the cabbage and your hands come into contact with various sugars present inside the cabbage.
Sauerkraut fermentation forms conditions that increase and promote the growth of beneficial probiotics which are found in other nutritious food like kefir and yogurt. Probiotics are various bacterias that have very powerful health benefits. These also help to make the food easier to digest thus increasing the ability of our gut to absorb more minerals ad vitamins they have.
However, unlike raw cabbage, sauerkraut can be high in terms of sodium content, if you are minding your daily salt intake, you must keep this point in mind while trying to have sauerkraut.
2. Improves DIgestion
The health benefits of sauerkraut are not limited to confined portions. You will be surprised and shocked at the same time to know that your gut is believed to contain more than 100 trillion microorganisms also known as gut flora. This is nearly 10 times of total present inside your body.
Unpasteurized sauerkraut dish has probiotics, which are very helpful and beneficial bacterias that act as the first line of defense against harmful bacterias and toxins. They can help improve your digestion and overall health.
Research has also shown that probiotics may help in reducing gas, constipation, bloating, diarrhea, and various symptoms related to ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
The supplements of probiotics may have 1 to 50 billion colony forming units or CFUs per dose. In comparison to this when we talk about sauerkraut, it has 100 to 1000 million CFUs.
Different strains of probiotics are known to provide different advantages, Consuming a variety of stains right provides you with a broader range of such health benefits. In this regard, this dish has many advantages. It had been reported through some research that one serving of sauerkraut may have 28 stains of distinct bacterias.
Like different fermented food items, sauerkraut also has a different range of enzymes which may help in breaking down nutrients we intake into smaller and easier-to-digest molecules. Such health benefits if nutmeg makes them must to include to our diets.
3. Boosts Immune System
Health benefits of sauerkraut are associated with working and cutting of immune system as well. For starters, the bacterias involved in populating your gut have a very strong influence on the immune system. The probiotics present in sauerkraut help to improve the balance of these gut bacterias and keeps the gut lining in a healthy shape.
When you have a strange gut lining, it automatically protects unwanted substances from coming out or leaking into the body which might cause an immune response.
Maintaining healthy gut bacterias also helps to prevent the growth of undesired and harmful bacterias along with boosting the production of all sorts of healthy antibodies to fight diseases. Moreover, if you consume different probiotics from food such as sauerkraut, it may reduce the risk of getting infections like urinary tract infection and the common cold. Also, if you are among those people who easily get sick, the health advantages of sauerkraut can help you efficiently. Consuming probiotics from food enriched with them can help fasten your recovery.
In addition to that, sauerkraut being a rich source of probiotics has iron and vitamin C which are essential for working a healthy immune system. In particular, consuming more vitamin C when you ae developed a common cold can help you get rid of all the symptoms quickly.
4. Aids In Weight Loss
When you consume sauerkraut regularly, it may aid in your weight loss if you want to shed some kilos. This is mainly due to the food item sauerkraut is made of. It is made of cabbage and like most vegetables, it is high in fiber and very low in calories, you can easily make that out by looking at the nutrition profile.
When you take a high fiber diet, it makes you feel full for a longer time due to which you will not binge on different snacks. Also, the probiotic content present in sauerkraut will help you get a slim waistline. The exact reasons associated with sauerkraut aiding in weight loss are not understood by many people but scientists do believe that it has certain probiotics that have the tendency to reduce fat that your body has stored from diets.
Various studies have reported that participants who were given food rich in probiotics or supplements were able to lose more weight as compared to those given a placebo. Also,a recent study reveals that purposely overfed groups given probiotics gained less body fat by 50% than those group of participants who were given a placebo. Using these results you can conclude that diet rich in several probiotics may help with weight loss.
However, the results obtained are not universal. In addition to this, different probiotics strains have different effects. More research and studies are still required to determine how effective the health benefits of sauerkraut are when it comes to weight loss or cutting fat.
5. Helps With Brain Health And Reduce Stress
Your mood could be affected by the food you eat, it’s also true the other way round. brain function can also be affected by what you eat. in recent years there has been an increase in the number of studies that are trying to discover an intimate connection between brain and gut.
It has been found that bacteria present in our guts perhaps have the special ability to send messages to our brain, it may influence the way it perceives the world and its function.
The creation of a healthy gut is also contributed by probiotic, fermented foods such as sauerkraut, different researches around the world shows that it may help to control and reduce stress and helps to maintain brain health.
symptoms of anxiety, depression, autism, and obsessive-compulsive disorder can be reduced by using probiotics, it also has been found that probiotics help in the improvement of memory which may contribute to higher academic scores.
6. May Reduce Risk Of Some Types Of Cancers
The main component involved in the preparation of sauerkraut is cabbage which contains some antioxidants and other beneficial plant components that can help reduce the risk associated with certain cancer types.
Research believes that some compounds present in sauerkraut can help reduce the damage in DNA and prevent mutations in cells along with blockage of excessive cell growth which alone s the main cause of cancer and leads to the development of tumors in tissues and organs.
The process of cabbage fermentation involved may create some plant compounds that might help in suppressing the growth and spread of precancerous cells in the body.
Certain types of genes are associated with an increased risk of cancer. The expression of such genes is modulated by some chemical compounds in the food items that you consume.
Two recent studies conducted suggest that taking sauerkraut and cabbage juice might help in reducing the risk associated with cancer this is done by reducing the expression of genes that may cause cancer. In another study conducted researchers noticed that women who ate more cabbage and sauerkraut from their teenage days into adulthood were able to reduce chances of developing breast cancer.
Women who consumed more than just 3 servings per week had lowered breast cancer by 72% as compared to those who just took 1.5 servings. A study in men had shown the same results in the case of prostate cancer.
However, one must also look for the fact that these studies are limited in number and hence we cannot conclude that the results will be the same for everyone. Thus a lot more studies are required to affirm these facts.
7. Contributes To Stronger Bones
Many of you might not be aware of such health benefits of sauerkraut. To be precise amount vitamins, sauerkraut is enriched with vitamin K2, which plays an essential role in maintaining our bone health. If we talk about it more specifically, it helps to activate two proteins that later binds with calcium as calcium is the most important and main mineral present in bones.
This is believed to contribute to healthy and strong bones. In fact, few studies have empathized on the role of vitamin K2 for bones ad the results were pretty impressive as it did aid in stronger bones.
For example, a study conducted 3 years back in postmenopausal women noticed that those who took vitamin k2 as supplements had slower rates of bone mineral density loss as compared to those who did not consume vitamin k2 through diet or supplements.
Similar to this, several different studies have observed and reported that those who took vitamin k2 were able to reduce the risk of hip, non-spine, and spine fractures by a huge percentage of 60 to 80% which is considered excellent by the doctors and researchers.
However, among these studies, some used very high doses of vitamin k2 supplements thus we cannot figure out how much is generally required for getting all sorts of benefits given here as sauerkraut alone would not be able to fulfill the demands.
8. Heartburn And Reflux
Both heartburn and reflux are related to each other and difficult to get rid of. Some people often call these symptoms dyspepsia. We are familiar that digestive stress, reflux, and heartburn can be alleviated by keeping a healthy environment in our gut.
Many people believe that adding only a spoonful of sauerkraut to your food is probably one of the best remedies to treat heartburn. Autoimmune gastritis is present with various symptoms of heartburn, GERD, and dyspepsia. Autoimmune diseases are often linked with bacterias resent in your gut. When you try to connect the dots in the gut immune system, it will become clear that consuming food like sauerkraut can be beneficial in treating and alleviating all such issues as heartburn and reflux exceedingly.
Such health benefits of sauerkraut make it fit for regular use as many people often face issues like heartburn and acid reflux after they consume their food.
9. Gas And Bloating
Saujerkraut is wondrous for digestion so it will not be a new fact that it does not help with intricacies like gas and bloating. Many people are surprised when they make few changes in their diet, they often see changes in their stomach. When you make few changes and include items like sauerkraut, you will be able to eliminate all such symptoms like embarrassing flatulence and excess gas.
Support your gut health and digestion by taking enzyme-rich sauerkraut regularly.
10. Gut Infections
There are some gut infections like SIBO and candida that can be treated using sauerkraut or the tremendous health benefits of sauerkraut may aid in quick recovery. Candida is a resultant of the overgrowth of fungi or yeast that usually occurs when your immune system is not balanced or out of balance.
It might happen in your mouth, digestive tract, or even inside the esophagus. Not only this, it causes a lot of pain too that needs to be tacked and treated. Many studies have observed that sauerkraut has some probiotics like lactobacillus that can be effective against dealing with candida.
While some practitioners who know much about it suggest avoiding fermented food items if you have a gut infection some believe it can be beneficial.
Another term used here is SIBO which stands for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Taking probiotics for such infections can be useful and you get all such strains using sauerkraut.
In fact, several analyses of researches have shown that probiotics were able to reduce symptoms related to SIBO like pain and distress and helped to destroy fatal bacterias. You can also reduce the chances of being attacked by dangerous gut bacterias by adding some sauerkraut to your diet regularly.
11. Mania And Schizophrenia
While most mood disorders are often found very disruptive to life, this particular mood disorder named schizophrenia is among the most disabling ones. Also, treatment options for this disorder are very costly because only limited treatment options are available all over.
More than 50 million people over the globe are suffering from schizophrenia. They have constant and very frequent memory losses, releases, emotional disabilities, and reduced functioning of the brain. If the health benefits of sauerkraut can help even a tiny bit with such symptoms, it is worth going for. On that note, let’s see what studies have to say regarding this.
A clinical study found out that taking probiotics through supplements was able to reduce psychiatric symptoms in individuals going through schizophrenia. Vitamin D along with probiotics was able to reduce psychiatric symptoms in some people who were approached for clinical trials recently.
Another study found out that people who took probiotics for the treatment of mania or along with other mediation had fewer chances of being hospitalized than other people who did not consume supplements of probiotics thus helping us understand the importance of using probiotics for recovery. This study was conducted on people having bipolar disorder and mania.
Although probiotics were proven to be beneficial, one should know that raw sauerkraut was not used in all such clinical trials, but you could assume that it could work amazingly well because similar to probiotics it is high contented with probiotics like lactobacillus. Also, it is a natural source of such probiotics making it a better fit for those who do not desire to go for supplements.
12. Anti-aging Properties Of Sauerkraut
The Health benefits of sauerkraut are not limited internally to your digestion or gut health, it has miraculous properties related to aging as well.
This helps benefit our vitality because it is highly rich in anti-aging compounds and antioxidants such as polyamines, putrescine, spermidine, etc. All these components help in promoting cell health and all the amines present help in the repair and growth of cells.
The putrescine present inside sauerkraut can help reduce the aging process and reproductive cells known as oocytes in women thus improving cellular functioning. Also, raw sauerkraut has a high content of putrescine that helps in reducing the age-related decline in memory according to some early researchers conducted in animals.
While it is not entirely possible to say that sauerkraut will show the same benefits in humans as well, it is established that food rich in antioxidants may help delay the process of aging. Isn’t it worth trying rather than using so many chemically produced cosmetics?
13. Treats Allergic Symptoms
Various Other important health benefits of sauerkraut include its ability to fight allergic symptoms. Many people often rate this dish among the top 10 dishes for reducing allergic symptoms. Sauerkraut has also been able to help with symptoms of eczema.
Immunologists believe that fermented food may help fight symptoms of allergy for over 20 years. Polyamines in sauerkraut have the ability to reduce intestinal responses and allergic lungs. Also, the rates of food allergy are also lowered in children who had a high intake of sauerkraut. If you suffer from allergies, it is recommended that you add fermented food like sauerkraut to your diet regularly.
14. Beneficial For Skin
Most people facing skin issues like dermatitis or acne of any kind are eager to do everything and anything that can help them get rid of acne, we often spend hundreds of dollars for expensive treatments and end up getting more acne. Most of you just have to care about your gut health and you will notice results unless there is another underlying condition that has caused acne or marks.
The Health benefits of sauerkraut make it an excellent option to be sued as it is related to gut health. It makes an obvious choice as it has probiotics for skin conditions as a diverse and broad-spectrum food for various probiotics. Many recent studies have shown that fermented foods and probiotics have remained helpful in treating dermatitis, acne, and healing wounds.
Adding this dish for the health benefits of sauerkraut can show surprising results to your gut health and skin as well.
15. Improved Absorption
You will be able to absorb your food faster once you start taking sauerkraut because it is rich in certain enzymes and has lactic acid. Both these can be helpful in breaking down anti-nutrients in food like oxalates and phytic acid.
When the food is absorbed better, you will start seeing various health benefits like good gut health, less gas, diarrhea, bloating, indigestion, constipation, etc.
The Health benefits of sauerkraut are tremendous, which makes it a must-try. Why not add some sauerkraut in your food as salary, maybe?
These were some amazing and extraordinary health benefits of sauerkraut that you must know to include in your diet as well.
