Gut Pilot January 4, 2024

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"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going." Beverly Sills

Happy New Year! As I pound away on this keyboard to the background noise of morning trash TV, an exercise guru just listed one her biggest "New Year" tips as never skipping fiber in a meal. I've just added a goal to my to-do list this year- make it on a morning show. Wish me luck.

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When it comes to nutrition, specifically gut health nutrition, I'm a huge proponent of food before supplements. It boggles my mind that there is a belief that a stack of supplements is the best place to start before a well-rounded diet. I'm not saying supplements don't have a place in the nutritional roadmap, but if that's the starting point, you might want to reconsider your approach.

For me, it boils down to a few basic reasons food is the preferred delivery vehicle before supplements:

Let me explain and I'll tailor most of my thoughts to fermented foods.

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I'm cheap. I don't do well with paying for things I think I can do better and make cheaper at home. And I really don't do well when marketers try to dupe me into paying for some meaningless benefit.

While we're on the subject of marketing mirages, don't try to fool me into paying the same money for less product.

Have you seen the size of a Reese's Cup these days? Let alone the "fun size"? Do they think we don't know the size has shrunk exponentially? When I want a candy fix, I want my money's worth. I digress.

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The cost of supplements is crazy expensive. And this is especially true in the probiotic supplement aisle. Probiotic supplements will deliver on ALL of the reasons I prefer food before supplements, but cost is the top of the list.

Most bottles of probiotics hover in the $30 range for a 30-day supply. Expect to pay more as you increase the number of strains of bacteria. A dollar a day doesn't sound like much, but if the supplement stack is large enough, $1 per day adds up quickly.

So, if a dollar a day is the measuring stick for the cost of entry, let's compare the probiotic chase with fermented foods. And I'm going to old faithful- kefir. (kefir is fermented milk for the newcomers)

$3 for a gallon of milk and I'll throw a nickel at the kefir grains since they multiply every time you make a batch.

There are 128 ounces in a gallon and if we use an 8-ounce serving size, that's roughly 16 servings of kefir per gallon at about 19.5 cents per serving. We'll discuss this in a minute but just to steal a little thunder from the diversity of strains, kefir numbers in the 50 range and most probiotic supplements have about 4 strains if you're lucky.

We could end this discussion right here on cost alone but indulge me for a few more paragraphs.

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If cost doesn't matter, then let's talk about bioavailability. It's a fancy way to say, "is my body getting anything out of this stuff?". In just about every case, food will prevail on this front too. Your body needs to be fueled and is pretty efficient at getting every last bit of nutritional value out of what we eat. That's not always the case with supplements.

If a diet is well-balanced, the quantities of nutrients is closer to what the body needs instead of an arbitrary amount made in a lab. Are there some cases where a nutrient deficiency is identified and a supplement is warranted, absolutely. But that should be a place we arrive at AFTER a well-rounded diet is deemed to be inadequate.

Fermented foods really steal the show here in my humble opinion. Not only do fermented foods deliver probiotics, but they can also enhance bioavailability of vitamins, nutrients, and phytochemicals.

But wait, there's more! Fermented foods also have the ability to reduce anti-nutritional factors that interfere with the body's ability to absorb nutrients. Think phytates, tannins, oxalates. During the fermentation process, there is a chemical breakdown of some of these roadblock substances. You probably won't see anything coming out of a bottle accomplishing this task.

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This will be short and sweet. I mentioned earlier that probiotic supplements typically contain about 4 strains of different bacteria. Aside from Greek yogurt which usually only contains a couple strains of specific, yet very effective bacteria, just about every other fermented food will overwhelmingly deliver higher quantities of diversity.

None higher than milk kefir. Easily the most studied fermented food with regard to diversity, the consensus seems to hover in the 50 range on yeast and bacteria strains. (I'll spare you the duplicate mic drop image here)

Unless there is an intolerance to fermented foods, a histamine intolerance for example, supplements are woefully inadequate in comparison. One caveat needs to be mentioned though. None of this applies in the case of medically prescribed probiotics. This usually follows testing that has identified a clear deficiency or condition that can be aided by a specific probiotic strain your doctor will prescribe.

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Not much to add here either.

It's pretty simple.

Now I'm not technically referring to the actual wild west days of old. But it's not that far of a stretch.

The supplement industry has little to no oversight which means things advertised are not always rooted in reality. This ranges from products not including what they say they do to products not working like they say they should. And everything in between.

I know that sounds pretty outlandish, right?

If cost is no issue, we don't care about how well our body can access said product, reduced diversity is of no concern, AND if the actual product doesn't contain what it says it does, why not choose supplements before food.

Choose a well-rounded diet full of fiber and fermented foods BEFORE you jump on the supplement bandwagon.

And send me your first month of savings as a tip.

Next week- big word alert- Circadian Rhythm and gut health.

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Thanks for reading,

Jeff

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