Japan has some of the highest life expectancy rates in the world—and that’s no doubt thanks in part to the country’s healthy eating habits. “The typical Japanese diet—as characterized by plant food and fish as well as modest Westernized diet such as meat, milk, and dairy products—might be associated with longevity in Japan,” a recent examination in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition explains.
Something similar happens in South Korea, which boasts higher average life expectancy rates and lower obesity rates than many other countries—including the United States, France, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom. “Generally, a traditional Korean diet is considered healthier than a Westernized diet,” one study notes, adding that the traditional South Korean dietary pattern includes “consumption of vegetables, kimchi, eggs, legumes, and seaweed.”
Although there are obviously many factors that influence these circumstances, there is a common dietary habit across both countries: the regular consumption of fermented foods. Fermented vegetables (which are generally pickled in vinegar and salt or sugar) are an ever-present accompaniment during most traditional Japanese and South Korean meals. “They are key for providing special probiotics to the diet,” nutritionist Cristina Barrous recently explained to Spanish Vogue.
“Growing evidence suggests that fermented foods change the metabolic activities in the gut, acquire new characteristics, and increase benefit in age-associated changes,” states still another study. “A series of relevant benefits associated with fermented foods in healthy aging and longevity have been reported that includes preventing allergic reactions, gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity, and improving metabolic function and neuroendocrine effects.”
Pickled foods for longevity
Adding fermented, pickled foods to meals is a healthy option because they contain helpful bacteria that support intestinal functioning. They improve digestion, helping nutrients to be better absorbed while reducing the accumulation of toxins.
They are also extremely satiating. As the chemical engineer and nutrition expert Marta León explains in her book The Perfect Balance, fermented foods have a satiating effect due to the chewing they require. “Foods such as kimchi, sauerkraut, fermented vegetables, and traditionally-pickled olives not only provide prebiotic fiber to our dishes, but also add a large amount of polyphenols. If you also take a small portion of them before a meal, their enzymatic action will help your digestion.”
Pickled foods for a healthy microbiome
Not all pickles are created equally—and not all pickles are fermented. “Unfortunately, most of today’s commercially available pickled products are pasteurized and ‘dead’—that is, they lack the beneficial bacterial cultures,” integrative health expert Dr. Andrew Weil explains. “Instead, all you get is a lot of salt. Most ‘pickles’ on supermarket shelves are simply cucumbers canned in a vinegar solution and are not fermented. Live pickles need to be refrigerated; the lactic acid that makes them sour has a different taste from the acetic acid in vinegar.”
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