Fermented food: Should patients with cardiometabolic diseases go back to an early neolithic diet?
Denise Mafra, Natália Alvarenga Borges, Lívia Alvarenga, Márcia Ribeiro, Larissa Fonseca, Viviane de Oliveira Leal, Paul G. Shiels, Peter Stenvinkel
Abstract
Fermentation has been used since the Early Neolithic period to preserve foods. It has inherent organoleptic and nutritive properties that bestow health benefits, including reducing inflammation and oxidative stress, supporting the growth of salutogenic microbiota, enhancing intestinal mucosal protection and promoting beneficial immunometabolic health effects. The fermentation of food with specific microbiota increases the production salutogenic bioactive compounds that can activate Nrf2 mediated cytoprotective responses and mitigate the effects of the 'diseasome of aging' and its associated inflammageing, which presents as a prominent feature of obesity, type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular and chronic kidney disease. This review discusses the importance of fermented food in improving health span, with special reference to cardiometabolic diseases.