Interested in boosting my gut health – no significant issues (I think) but probably slightly sensitive, more so as I’ve got older. Really enjoyed the process of baking sourdough so wondered about making my own Kombucha or Kefir or something similar.

Assuming it’s for general gut health, any recommendations of what to start with and any good recipes/processes for DIY?

Or am I just as well off to take a probiotic tablet daily?!

Thanks

I do yoghurt using an easiYo.
Put the kettle on. Half fill the inner flask with uht milk (saves sterilising it), add a couple of tablespoons of dried milk (more for thicker end result), a couple of tablespoons of live yoghurt (pot from supermarket to start, then take some out of the last pot you made), shake vigorously for a couple of minutes then top up the flask with more milk. Fill the outer flask to the top of the shelf with boiling water, put the inner flask in the outer flask, top on and leave for 8-12 hours, then inner flask into the fridge for 4-6 hours and the yogurt will be ready
Pour some of the yoghurt into a bowl/container
Squeeze an orange, split the juice between the yoghurt bowl/container and yourself
I believe a similar process can be used for kefir

Kimchi or Sauerkraut is really easy and you can tailor it to your own tastes with what you stick in.

I normally chuck in any firm vegetables or cabbage that I’ve brought a bit too much off with some ginger and chillies.

The wild fermentation book is a pretty good starting point.

I live my kombucha. I make it with earlgrey.

I’m also slightly scared one day the scoby will jump out and eat me.

I’ve been making Kombucha recently and have previously played around with Kefir.

The Kefir I was making was an acquired taste that I didn’t acquire. It reminded me of Kumis which wasn’t a good memory. Dead simple though. Bought some grains on ebay/amazon. Left in some milk for a while. Pour into container to keep in fridge sieving out the grains. Repeat.

Kombucha is much nicer. Some batches have been better than others and I’ve had one scoby get infected. But generally it is simple. Scoby from ebay/amazon again. Make some sugary tea. Leave for about 10 days, decant most of the liquid, top up with more tea and repeat.

Both methods are historically for preserving food in less clean environments so they are robust and simple. It will only cost you a couple of quid to give it a go so is not a big problem.

As for gut health? I’m not sure. Diet and stress control are probably the most beneficial.

The more I learn about gut bacteria the more I’m convinced that my body is just a meat space suit that they use to get around the place. e.g. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00483-5

But – I think there is minimal evidence that eating stuff changes the population significantly and even if it did, I think I’d look for another way than drinking kombucha, which is utterly vile.

I’ve got kombucha scoby to spare if you happen to be in Sheffield.

My wife suffers from UC and has found Kefir helps her a lot. Whether it will prevent another falre up is another matter but that doesn’t change the daily benefit to her toilet habits. She is losing count of the people she has suplied Kefir to who use it daily for IBS, etc and are now converts.
The latest recruit has gone from going to loo once every 4 days (must be painful surely) to a regular daily poo.

As for flavour, each morning she blends it with various fruits to make a thick smoothy and most days its nice enough, occasionally not but not so bad that you can’t drink it.

Give it a go, what have you got to lose. Plus as it keeps multiplying you can make other people happy too.

But – I think there is minimal evidence that eating stuff changes the population significantly

Yeh, even after “proper” FMT only a low number of strains seem to persist beyond maybe a year

… but there is some evidence that some probiotics alter the metabolism/interaction/behaviour of the gut flora even if they don’t actually become established, and if you continue taking the probiotic it may continue to do so

I can’t stand kombucha or kefir but I love kimchi. Can’t be bothered to make my own and a lot of the sold stuff is pasturised so loses the benefits I understand.
Morrisons do one in a sachet that has a valve in the bag so it releases the pressure that builds up which I hope means it is still fermenting.
It’s an occasional treat for me tho cos the Mrs takes all the enjoyment out of it incessantly complaining about the smell

I think I’d look for another way than drinking kombucha, which is utterly vile.

Mine is delicious. I don’t drink it for any gut benefits that it may or may not provide.

Sourdough bread has no direct affect on gut health as it’s baked. If you ate the starter it might be different.

Fairly fascinated by gut health tho. I had (and have now been treated for and cured of) H Pylori and feel so much better than a year or so ago. Even some of my hair has started growing back. Though I think it’s a bit late for a full recovery.

It’s amazing that STW can answer most obscure queries, I thought I’d look at gut health on here……

@brant – did your get rid of H Pylori with 1 dose of antibiotics or did you need 2nd line treatment?

I’ve done 1st line but it’s a persistent sod and it must really like me
🙁

1st, but everyone is different.

Thanks Brant

I make milk kefir it’s really easy and my guts are better for it i recon. Sauerkraut is fairly easy too. Sourdough will help gut flora despite being baked it’s just that the bacteria are dead and so are prebiotic rather than probiotic.

Uk fermenting friends Facebook group is really useful if you want to get into it.

I’ve given both kefir and kombucha a go. There’s a lot talked about their benefits, but really they are only dramatically effective if you already have a compromised gut biome (which I do).

My kefir always came out far too grainy, and wasn’t the most pleasant to drink, but did wonders for my digestive health. I got out of the habit though – it’s a bit of a faff.

I had been drinking supermarket Kombucha for much of last year, with similar benefits, but it gets a little expensive. I have recently got a continuous brewing kombucha setup going, and it’s far more palatable, although the scoby looks, frankly, terrifying. It’s an easier and, happily, cleaner process than kefir.

I’ve only been drinking the home-brewed stuff for a week or two, and have found myself sneezing a lot (Some people call that a healing crisis or even a Herxheimer reaction, but internet health commentators are full of misinformation and misguided confidence.).

Some people also claim that the home-brewed versions tend to have a more diverse set of bacteria than the shop-bought versions. Can’t verify if that’s true.