The future of fermentation

BY LOUISA SMITH, AGRICULTURAL COMMUNICATION & MARKETING, BS '25

Sauerkraut and kimchi are household staples, but did you know organic fermented vegetables may have health benefits? The microorganisms in fermentation have been shown to have a positive effect on gut health, but recent research conducted by University of Minnesota associate animal science professor Andres Gomez and Augustana College postdoctoral researcher Kylene Guse suggests organic fermented vegetables have greater health benefits compared with conventional sources.

Gomez’s lab studies the factors that influence microbial communities in humans and animals and their influence on physiology and health. Guse was a PhD student under Gomez whose research focused on the microbial ecology of plant-based fermented foods and their potential effects on human and public health.

The team studied three different vegetables, — carrots, peppers, and radishes — under conventional or regenerative growing systems to determine microbial differences and potential health benefits.

Growing vegetables using regenerative agriculture, or organic practices, serves as an alternative to conventional growth practices. Regenerative agriculture aims at stimulating soil microbial diversity including no till, cover cropping, and livestock grazing practices.

“Recent research suggests public health issues may be a result of the ultra-processing and industrialization of our food system,” Guse said. “[This] includes frequent use of herbicides and pesticides in agriculture. These processes are thought to be associated with depletion of microbes in soil and in the vegetables we eat, which may impact the nutritional quality of these foods and potentially human nutrition and health.” 

The team studied fermented vegetables grown in either conventional or organic farms. Soil and plant microbes, including bacteria and yeast considered as probiotic, play a key role in driving the fermentation process. The microbe communities resulting from these processes and that remain live in fermented foods may have health benefits with increased consumption. 

The results of the study showed the microbiomes of regenerative and conveniently fermented vegetables were substantially distinct. 

“This finding indicates pesticide and herbicides may affect the microbiome of the soil, the plant and potentially the microbes and nutrients found in fermented vegetables produced conventionally, " Guse said. “We also found that gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which is a critical neurotransmitter associated with optimal mental health and that is typically produced by a group of bacteria called acid lactic bacteria during the fermentation process, was significantly higher in the regenerative fermented vegetables, compared with their conventional versions.”

An increase in GABA in regenerative fermented vegetables is an important finding, as the “gut-brain axis” is a growing area of research proposing dietary resources to tackle mental health issues, by modulating the gut microbiome.

Looking to the future

In the future, Gomez hopes to replicate this study using vegetables from multiple organic and conventional farms. 

“The main caveat of our study is that we used vegetable sources from one organic and one conventional farm,” Gomez said. “We also need to prove the potential health benefits of more GABA production in organic versus conventional ferments by feeding them to animals and/or humans and measure the extent to which consumption of organic or conventional vegetable ferments positively impacts brain function and/or behavior.”

The researchers hope that future experiments show that GABA is more abundant in regenerative ferments from multiple farms in Minnesota, and ultimately, that consuming vegetable ferments from regenerative farms is more beneficial for brain health compared to those from conventional farms.