Researchers Seek Your Sourdough Starter to Aid in Gut Health Study

Sourdough is perhaps thousands of years old at present—scientists begin to get insight into it now.


Sourdough bread has been baked by bakers for several thousand years. Yet, it seems that mother culture herself has been yearning for this nostalgically, delightfully fuzzy consort of bread for the last two years. Rediscovering this bread promises many more benefits for science.


Christophe Courtin, in an interview with JSTOR Daily, stated that research is being done on microorganisms responsible for the flavor of traditional fermented foods in the HealthFerM project. In the study are being involved European partners from across the continent: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, and Switzerland—hailing "an army of home bakers" joining the research.


As an aim, collect samples and microorganisms data, attempting to develop new plant-based fermented foods for human health and planetary well-being via an invitation for citizens across the entire continent to contribute their sourdough starters—that all-important concoction of flour and water that serves as the fermented base used to help the dough to rise.


The good news is that they are starting most beautifully, having had over 800 samples already collected.


Indeed, this work is very important and has been recognized. For a long time, fermented foods have been known to enhance absorption of certain vitamins and minerals "from food." Some studies report that fermented foods help with sleep; others claim that such foods may prevent depression. More, JSTOR finds a lack of overarching data in that regard, which puts a greater significance on this research—and the volunteers who engage in it.


"We do know those fatty acids, when produced in our colon, are good for us," Prof. Courtin adds, "but we don't know that they are almost as beneficial when produced in food."


They will not stop there, though. A similar sort of research will, according to its website, analyze the human microbiome and what these products do for it. For this reason, they would add five studies of human interventions, including hypothesis-driven and exploratory approaches, thus continuing to enlarge the knowledge of their effect on human health.


In the course of that will be the intervention whereby people consume either a mix of fermented foods or just one of these fermented foods, and blood and stool samples are taken for analyses as for possible effects. Surely, if those researchers went advertising for subjects to eat fried shortbread and pickles, they'd probably get quite a few Food and Wine writers and editors volunteering as tribute.