25/07/2026
Fermented Foods Reduced Inflammation. Fibre Didn't...
A fascinating Stanford University study compared two diets in healthy adults over 10 weeks:
A high-fibre diet
A diet rich in fermented foods (such as kefir, yoghurt, kimchi and fermented vegetables)
The results were surprising:
- The fermented food group showed a reduction in all 19 inflammatory markers that were measured.
- The high-fibre group did not show the same reduction in inflammation during the study.
Before anyone says, "So fibre is bad..." — that's not what this study found.
The high-fibre group did improve their gut bacteria's ability to digest fibre, but these changes didn't translate into reduced inflammation over the 10-week study.
What was fascinating was that participants eating fermented foods developed new bacterial species that weren't even present in the foods themselves.
Rather than simply adding bacteria to the gut, fermented foods appeared to create an environment where beneficial microbes could thrive.
As a GAPS Practitioner, I find this really interesting. One of the principles of the GAPS approach is that before we focus on feeding the microbiome, we first work on restoring the gut environment. While this study wasn't testing the GAPS protocol, these findings raise some interesting questions.
Traditional cultures rarely relied on fibre alone. They regularly ate naturally fermented foods alongside nutrient-dense whole foods—a practice that has been part of human diets for thousands of years.
🥛 Do you include fermented foods in your diet?
👇 I'd love to know your favourites.
Reference: Wastyk HC et al. (2021). Gut-microbiota-targeted diets modulate human immune status.