Sauerkraut is an amazing food and
something that everyone should incorporate in their diet. First, sauerkraut is
made from cabbage, which I rank as one of the healthiest, and cheapest,
vegetables on earth. Cabbage is an all-star when it comes to cancer fighting
benefits, because of beneficial compounds called isothiocyanates. When making
sauerkraut, cabbage is fermented which results in the breakdown of glucosinolates,
which works to enhance the carcinogenic properties, making sauerkraut an even
stronger cancer-fighting food. In fact, in a study from 1998, researchers
compared the breast cancer incidence in Polish women and Polish women who had immigrated
to Michigan. The immigrants were 4-5x more likely to develop cancer compared to
the women who had stayed in Poland. The researchers explained the main
difference was the amount of cabbage and sauerkraut the women ate; with the
women in Poland eating significantly more.
In addition to the antioxidant
properties of sauerkraut, like raw cabbage, sauerkraut contains lots of fiber,
vitamins, and minerals. Furthermore, sauerkraut is a very low calorie food,
making it an excellent way to beef up your meals for very few calories. 1 cup
of sauerkraut contains about 27 calories, compared to 1 cup of cooked spaghetti at 220
calories! I have clients mix sauerkraut into their salads, pasta dishes, and
eggs to not only enhance the nutritional profile, but also to add bulk to their
meals as to dilute the calories. Sauerkraut is also a great source of healthy
probiotics, so if you aren’t a yogurt eater, this is another way to get
beneficial bacteria into your diet. Just be sure not to heat sauerkraut as
doing so can kill the healthy probiotics which are a product of the
fermentation process. For more info on probiotics, visit my previous blog on
the topic.
My
recommendation:
Begin
incorporating sauerkraut and other fermented foods in your diet on a regular
basis. Make sure you buy sauerkraut in the refrigerator section (by the pork and other meats) in bags
which say “barrel aged” or in the can – but look at the ingredients to make
sure cabbage, water, and salt are the only ingredients going into canned
sauerkraut. If there is any vinegar or acid added most likely the product is
not actually fermented and won’t contain the healthy components discussed
above. I always recommend rinsing the sauerkraut to rid it of excess sodium.
Also, try making your own! It’s not that difficult and can be a fun science
experiment. You can easily find recipes on the internet to make counter top fermented sauerkraut. Kimchi, a Korean
fermented cabbage product, is very healthy too, though tends to be higher in
sodium and very spicy, so not great for those with reflux or ulcers. So I urge
you to try to incorporate more sauerkraut, and cabbage, into your diet- just
don’t pair it with things like sausage, hot dogs, brats, and other harmful
processed meats :/.
Reference:
1. Eeva-Liisa
Ryhanen, Ph.D., research manager, MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Jokioinen,
Finland; Yeong Ju, Ph.D., researcher, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign;
Leonard Bjeldanes, Ph.D., professor, food toxicology, University of California,
Berkeley; Oct. 23, 2002, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
