What are the
properties of a “fermented” product which make it
desirable? Isn’t “fermentation” a way to create alcohol?
Isn’t a fermented product dangerous? Won’t a fermented
product spoil more quickly? In this essay I’ll provide you
with the answers to these and many more questions as well as
give you good reasons to choose a fermented greens product,
such as Bio 88+ (Plus),
to help insure better health through better nutrition.
Historically, fermentation is a very natural process and
naturally occurring simply given time. When it was first
“discovered” by humankind and “consciously employed”
as a preservation method for foods would be virtually
impossible to discover. But that it was “discovered and
subsequently employed” is historical fact.
What were some of the examples of fermentation being
“discovered” and subsequently employed? And just where in
the world did this take place?
The simple coconut will produce, under proper circumstances,
naturally fermented “milk” with an alcohol content, and
such is treasured, because it keeps both the milk and the
solid of the coconut from “going bad”. Primitive peoples
quickly learned to use this fermentation process in order to
preserve the coconut. Of course this is limited to tropic and
sub-tropic locales where the coconut is prevalent.
In Mediterranean and middle-Eastern lands where grapes were
harvested for their juice and the juice placed into skins and
containers (usually Amphorae), fermentation naturally took
place. People probably noticed at first that their juice, so
carefully stored, had changed. God only knows how long it took
to discover that the resultant product was edible and
pleasant, but that it was also nourishing and was
self-preserving. But it was discovered and fermentation was
widely employed as a method of preservation. We have examples
of recovered Amphorae used to ship wines throughout the
Mediterranean, taken from ships which were sunk in storms,
preserved and still drinkable more than 2000 years later.
The practice perhaps originating in times of great stress or
danger or even of surplus, excess foods were buried in skins.
When the people returned weeks or even months later the food
was preserved, by fermentation, and both edible and nutritious
as well as in a completely new form. Modern examples of this
are sauerkraut (ascribed to the Germanic peoples), a fermented
cabbage and prized ingredient in several dishes and kimche, a
fermented vegetable mix from Korea. Two possible other
examples of what probably were originally fermented foods are
Haggis (originating in Scotland) and Lutefisk (originating in
Scandinavia). In all cases, this is a way of preserving
the food, just as is salting it in a different day and age.
In point of fact, natives of North America used the
fermentation process in their nomadic way of life very
effectively. They would make a pemmican mix of meat, fruits,
nuts and berries, place the excess into skins designed for the
purpose, and bury the mix in a known location on their
migratory route. When they returned, perhaps 6 months to a
year later, they had a nutritious food source awaiting them
until they could restock their larders.
In layman’s terms the fermentation process actually does two
things. It converts sugar to alcohol, but it also changes the
form of the food and, if there is no sugar, it converts the
food to another form. It breaks down the cell walls of the
foods so changed and makes the nourishment of the food much
more readily available. To a nomadic people, such a
nutritional blessing would almost seem to be a gift of the
Gods. You have been following the food. All of a sudden, from
a season of plenty, you have run out of game and fruits,
berries and nuts, all at the same time. You are, as a group,
short of food but you are headed back to your wintering
location and on the way you get to stop at your cache of
pemmican mix. You are saved, and you are saved by a food which
is actually more nourishing and more readily digestible than
it was in its original state.
The food craze of the 80’s and on is “greens”, or
“digestive enzymes”. Greens are a natural digestive aid
and generally have little to do with “being green” or
“having a green origin”. It comes from the first major
product, blue-green algae, marketed as a drink and a digestive
aid. See my articles on enzymes
in another location for more information on greens products,
digestive enzymes and just what they are all about.
In October of 2004 along came a new “greens” product, Bio
88+ (Plus), which was produced from 88 traditional,
natural and organic, grains, fruits, vegetables and herbs
(100% vegetarian based) and contained 15 proprietary
pro-biotics. It was made from these 88 natural ingredients by
employing the ancient native North American fermentation
process in its creation. In fact, it is “double
fermented”, a process which breaks down the cell walls of
the original foods into the nitty gritty essence of goodness
– the basic building blocks of life, all ready as enzymes to
do their nutritional job and also to aid in our digestion, by
speeding nutrition directly to our cells and by supplementing
our bodies natural enzymes
The forestomach of ruminants and large intestine of caudal
fermenters are magnificent, continuous flow fermentation
systems containing enormous numbers of microbes. What do these
microbes and the process of fermentation provide the
herbivore? Basic fermentation chemistry the microbes that
digest cellulose and other substrates also provide at least
three other major services:
Synthesis of high quality protein in the form of microbial
bodies. Caudal fermenters cannot take advantage of this
service, but in ruminants, bacteria and protozoa are
constantly flowing into the abdomasum and small intestine,
where they are digested and absorbed. All vertebrates require
certain amino acids which their cells cannot synthesize (the
“essential amino acids”). Fermentative microbes can
synthesize the amino acids and thereby provide them to their
host.
Synthesis of protein from non-protein nitrogen sources.
Fermentative microbes can, for example, utilize urea to
synthesize protein. In some situations, ruminants are fed urea
as an inexpensive dietary supplement. They also secrete urea
formed during protein metabolism into salive, which flows into
the rumen and serves as another nitrogen source for the
microbes.
Synthesis of B vitamins. Mammals can synthesize only
two of the B vitamins and require dietary sources of the
others. Fermentative microbes are able to synthesize all the B
vitamins, and deficiency states are rarely encountered.
The Products of Fermentation
Fermentation occurs under anaerobic conditions. As a
consequence, sugars are metabolized predominantly to volatile
fatty acids (VFAs). Additional major products include lactic
acid, carbon dioxide and methane.
The principle VFAs are acetic, proprionic and butyric acids,
which collectively provide for the majority of a herbivore's
energy needs. The ratio of these VFAs vary with diet, although
the majority product is always acetate. On a diet high in
fiber, the molar ratio of acetic to proprionic to butyric
acids is roughly 70:20:10
As described above, proteins are also important substrates for
fermentation. In caudal fermenters, much of the dietary
protein is digested and absorbed prior to the large gut, but
in ruminants, all dietary protein enters the rumen. The bulk
of this protein is digested by microbial proteases and
peptidases. The resulting peptides and amino acids are taken
up by microbes and used in several ways, including microbial
protein synthesis. However, a large quantity of amino acids
ingested by fermentative microbes are deaminated and enter
some of the same pathways used for carbohydrate metabolism.
The net result is that much of dietary protein is metabolized
to VFAs.
Similar
benefits, created very differently, accrue to other mammals
from the fermentation process. Non-ruminants do not have the
internal capacity to create the fermentation process during
the digestion process.
The fermentation process breaks down the cell walls of the
foods acted upon, making them more easily digestible. In this
case, the double fermentation process used in the manufacture
of Bio
88+ (Plus) breaks them all the way down to the basic
nutritional, vitamin, mineral and enzymic levels where they
are most effective in aiding the digestive process and
speeding basic nutritional needs, vitamins and minerals and
energy, directly to our cells where they are most needed.
Disclaimer:
This article in no
way should be taken as “medical advice” on any product,
condition or course of action, nor does it constitute in any
way “medical advice” endorsing any specific product,
specific result, nor any possible cure for any condition or
problem. This article is meant as a source of information upon
which you may base your decision as to whether or not you
should begin using any vitamin, mineral and/or herbal
supplement for better health, or begin using a “greens”
product as a dietary supplement.
If in doubt, or if you have questions,
you should consult your physician and, if possible, consult a
second physician for a possible different opinion. The author
does not bear any responsibility for your decisions nor for
the outcome of your actions based upon those decisions.
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