10 Health Boosting vitamins preserved or produced by fermentation

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It’s not all about intoxication

Rather fermentation is the original method of healthy food storage.  Not only does it extend the life of the food or drink but it also helps maintain a wide variety of vitamins for your bodies use.

It helps to maintain some vitamins which would normally decay with the passage of time.

There are several vitamins which we cannot produce but are produced in small quantities in our gut by our resident probiotic bacteria but the ability for our probiotic bacteria to produce enough for us is hindered by exposure to unnatural chemicals in the environment. 

• Antibiotics are everywhere.  In our food, medicine and water. 
• Industrial waste can be found in the water almost everywhere on earth. 
• Our water is treated with bacteria killing additives like chorine (bleach).

Fermentation is a way to add some of those probiotic bacteria back into our systems in a safe and cost effective manner.

Here is a list of vitamins which are either preserved or produced by fermentation and the fermented foods or drinks which contain the vitamin. 

Vitamin C

In the days of exploration there was a terrible disease which ran rampant through sailing ship crews.  It was incredibly painful made bones soft and bendable thus causing the victims to become misshapen and usually die.  It was called scurvy and was one of the reasons why navies were limited in size and scope in the middle-ages. 

Of course we all know that scurvy is simply a deficiency in vitamin C and it was the English who developed their navy to a formidable size by the requirement that each of their crew members eat a lime every day. 

This is where the term for the English seaman “limy” came from.

Eating a lime every day provided enough vitamin C to stave off scurvy while crews were at sea.

For the long journey taken by Captain Cook and his crew the vitamin C was provided by the barrels of sauerkraut which he took along.  The sauerkraut did not produce any new vitamin C but it did preserve it throughout the trip.

Ferments which contain vitamin C:

• Sauerkraut
• Friendship fruit
• Fermented Salsa (tomatoes are high in vitamin C)
• Fermented Lemons

Vitamin B12

B12 is needed for proper bone repair, cardiovascular health, eye health, maintaining energy levels and is also important for cognitive health.  It has been shown to help with depression, dementia, and Alzheimer’s. 

Although we do not have the ability to produce our own B12 we do have a limited amount of yeasts in our digestive track to provide us with a small amount of B12.  This amount is effected by our diets and the amount of exposure to antibiotics, which adversely impacts our digestive system.

It is one of the vitamins which is produced by the yeasts which are used by the beer industry as well as the yeast used for baking bread. 

Various yeasts can be found naturally occurring on all fruit and  Each with different characteristics. they all have unique flavors and arealso found in beer, wine and kombucha cultures.

Kombucha has a wide variaty of B vitamins including vitamin B12 .  It also exists in kefir due to the wide spectrum of probiotic cultures present in the kefir grains. 

Ferments which contain vitamin B12:

• Kombucha
• Kefir
• Tempeh
• Kimchi

B9 (folate)

Vitamin B9 comes in two forms.  Folate which occurs naturally in foods like asparagus, avocados, Brussels sprouts, and leafy greens like spinach and lettuce and folic acid which is the synthetic form of B9.

Both folate and folic acid cannot be used immediately by the body but are converted into their active form in the liver. 

Folic acid needs to undergo additional conversions in the liver to be useful and the conversion of folic acid is dependent on an enzyme which is limited in its availability.

You may have high amounts of folic acid in your bloodstream which has not been metabolized.  This is due to the amount of folic acid which is added to industrially produced foodstuffs.  It is mandatory in several countries to add vitamin B9 to foods which normally do not contain it.  This can mask vitamin B12 deficiency which is prevalent in older populations.  

The best form of vitamin B9 is folate.  It can be converted into its active form quicker the liver making it easier to assimilate into your system.  It will not build up in the bloodstream and if there is any extra in your system it is deposited into the small intestine to be used as food by the probiotics which are in residence.

 Vegetable sources of B9 leafy like lettuce, collard greens and spinach are all vegetables which have a short lifespan in a fridge and also are victims of pesticide spraying.  It is recommended that all leafy vegetables be washed and dried before use and consumed shortly after purchase. 

Fermentation helps to reduce the amount of industrial chemicals on our food but also extends the storage time.  There are several ways to ferment leafy greens including making lettuce pickles, kvass and provide added texture to kimchi. 

Gundruk a ferment made in India and Nepal. It is made from fermented mustard greens and provides a good vitamin boost during the winter months when nothing fresh is available.

Fermenting leafy greens may not sound like a typical method of preserving lettuce but it can produce some of the most interesting pickles, kvass or provide added texture to a kimchi or mixed vegetable relish.

Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 is used to maintain the myelin which is the cover of your nerves.  Without myelin the electrical impulses, which is the method of communication of your nerves, will not work properly.  This causes various nerve related diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s. 

It also may help the cardiovascular system by preventing arterial plaque and improving blood flow.

Vitamin B6 can be found in carrots, spinach and sweet potato.  Fermenting carrots is as simple as making carrot pickles, sweet potato makes a good base for a tonic called sweet potato fly.

Spinach can be made into kvass, fermented with salt like sauerkraut or added to other vegetable ferments.

Vitamin K1

Vitamin K used to be considered one group of vitamins which all have the same effect on the body.  The main one was coagulation.  Now it is known that this group of vitamins can be broken down into two groups.  Vitamin K1 and vitamin K2.

The sources of these vitamins are completely different and their uses in the body are also just as different.

Vitamin K1 is used to produce blood clotting proteins which protect you from excessive bleeding.  It also helps to reduce inflammation which can lead to cancer, heart disease and other chronic diseases.

There are even some indications that it can reduce the chances of developing type two diabetes which leads to all sorts of complications.

It can be found in green leafy vegetables like kale, collard greens and parsley.   Since it is not destroyed by fermentation using any green leafy vegetable which is high in K1 will add this valuable vitamin to any fermentation.  Try making kale kvass or add parsley to your fermented salsa or fermented Italian tomato sauce.

Vitamin K2

Vitamin K2 is needed for proper bone and teeth maintenance.  It helps the calcium in our blood to be deposited into our bones.  Without it we cannot absorb the calcium which we ingest.  Instead it would be deposited in our soft tissues which complicates cardiovascular health, arthritis and gout conditions.

K2 can be found in high fat dairy products like hard cheeses, high fat yogurt.

It can be found in high amounts in natto, a traditional Japanize breakfast.  Natto is made by fermenting soya beans with Bacillus subtilis and is the only known source of vegetable based K2. 

Vitamin D

Known as the sunshine vitamin because our skin makes it with exposure to UV light.  It is an important vitamin which has psychological effects.  Improving mood, emotional stability and cognition. 

Vitamin D production is dependent on our exposure to the sun and is therefore hard to get enough in winter time when there is not as much sunlight.  Those who work indoors also find it difficult to get enough sunlight and as we age our ability to produce vitamin D drops, making it prone to deficiencies.

Fortunately there are natural ways to boost our vitamin D consumption. 

Sources of vitamin D from fermented food include hard cheeses, high fat yogurt or kefir, brined mushrooms. 

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is used throughout the body.  It is known for aiding eyesight but it also helps maintain skin and gut tissues by improving the replication of surface tissues. 

It also helps to produce the mucus which protects the surface of tissue in the lungs and gut.  This helps to prevent bacterial and viral infections as the mucus acts as a line of defense capturing pathogenic bacteria and depositing it in the stomach where it cannot survive the acidic environment.

It comes in two basic forms from two types of sources. 

• Animal sources such as eggs, liver and milk
• Vegetable sources such as green vegetables, carrots and sweet potato

The animal sources are the active sources of vitamin A and can be used immediately by your body.  The plant sources can be stored and converted to the active versions when your body needs them.

You can get both types of vitamin A form fermented foods. 

The active source can come from fermented dairy products like cheese, kefir and yogurt.

The inactive sources can come from fermented vegetables like brined carrots, sweet potato fly and apricot chutney.  

Vitamin E

Vitamin E has been well researched.  It has had many clinical trials which involve supplementation of varying amounts of vitamin E in its most absorbable form. 

The result of these trials is that it is best to get the vitamin E you need through the food you eat.

So does this mean that you shouldn’t worry about getting enough vitamin E? 

On the contrary.  Vitamin E is a necessary vitamin which is used by the body to tame free radical activity in the body.  It helps to slow aging by reducing free radical damage of the skin, helps cardiovascular health by preventing the blood platelets from clotting unnecessarily and can help the liver from suffering from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. 

But since supplemental vitamin E can have no or detrimental affects you should get your vitamin E from natural sources like nuts, seeds and leafy vegetables.

All of which can be fermented.  In fact fermented nuts and seeds are healthier for you then raw and fermented vegetables are safer to eat then fresh (unless you are eating certified organic produce which is grown in your geographical area and you wash and dry it to prevent bacterial infections from organic fertilizer).

Fermentations like soaked nut or seed kefir, lettuce kvass and kimchi which contains green leafy vegetables.

Fermentation is a healthy food choice

As you can see fermentation is a healthy method of food storage with the added bonus of great taste.  It is the way we stored food prior to refrigeration and canning and is much more environmentally friendly then either of them. 

Why not try fermenting some of your own health boosters.  You can start with a simple recipe like carrot pickles, sauerkraut or get some kefir grains and make some kefir. 

Checkout the collection of fermented food recipes here and don’t be shy about adapting them to your tastes or dietary needs.