Research
Mixed
Consumption of fermented foods is associated with beneficial effects on weight management, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and mood/brain activity.
Include fermented foods like yogurt in your diet. Observational studies link regular consumption to better weight management, lower risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, and improved mood. While not a cure-all, these foods are a low-risk addition to a healthy diet.
LimitedQualifiesLOW confidence
Several observational studies have been performed to support this hypothesis and have linked the consumption of FFs (mostly yogurt) with beneficial effects on weight management (Mozaffarian et al. 2011), cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes (Chen et al. 2014; Tapsell 2015). Moreover, a link between FF consumption and mood and brain activity is also emerging (Tillisch et al. 2013; Aslam et al. 2018).
Why this rating
Based on observational studies, not RCTs.
Source
The food-gut axis: lactic acid bacteria and their link to food, the gut microbiome and human health
Francesca De Filippis et al. · FEMS Microbiology Reviews · 2020
DOI 10.1093/femsre/fuaa015
narrative_reviewCited 297×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Consumption of fermented foods containing live lactic acid bacteria (LAB) delivers high loads of viable microbes (up to 10^9 CFU/g or ml) to the human gastrointestinal tract, contributing to the transient gut microbiome and offering health-promoting properties via metabolic activity.Moderate
- Lactic acid bacteria in fermented foods produce bioactive metabolites (postbiotics) such as biopeptides, vitamins, and GABA, which confer health benefits even if the bacteria themselves are not alive at consumption.Moderate
Related findings · Mixed
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