Every few years, a new revival in fermented food seems to take over social media and supermarket shelves. Dr. Benjamin Bourrie’s interest in the centuries-old process extends beyond the trends and into how conditions of fermentation can affect everything from taste to health benefits.

 In a recent episode of the Office of Research Services’ Research Recast(ed) podcast, Dr. Bourrie told host Kelsie Johnston that taking a course on fermentation in his undergrad sparked an interest in the subject, and led to him joining a research project on kefir – a fermented dairy product similar in consistency to drinkable yogurt. 

The drink is fermented using lactic acid bacteria, yeast and something called a kefir grain. “It’s a mixture of what we call exo-polysaccharides,” explains Dr. Bourrie. “They're just long carbohydrates that the bacteria secrete into the environment, and it forms this little grain that looks almost like a cauliflower floret.”

In animal testing, kefir has been shown to reduce cholesterol levels, improve cardiovascular disease, lower liver triglycerides deposits and even improve allergy symptoms. These benefits, however, are less pronounced in commercially produced kefir than in traditional methods of at-home fermentation. Dr. Bourrie says these differences are likely due to different microbes being used in large-scale production.

But that doesn’t mean that the kefir found in your local grocery store isn’t beneficial. “If you're consuming fermented foods with live microbes in any way, shape or form, it's likely to have a positive impact on you,” says Dr. Bourrie.

In order to better understand what causes those impacts, his PhD research involved isolating the organisms from traditional kefir to find which combinations produce the most health benefits. That led to a post-doc study of a small group of men, where the initial health benefits seen in animal testing were replicated. Now, he’s preparing to conduct a similar study on a larger scale, and with a more diverse test group.

“Females and males, particularly when it comes to lipid metabolism, have very different outcomes,” says Dr. Bourrie. “This new trial will include more people, a better representation of the different sexes and their responses to these treatments. It will be more representative of an actual population.”

Here at MacEwan he’s working with students to study how kefir microbes interact by growing them on their own or in pairs. Eventually, he hopes this research will contribute to policy around fermented foods, and help commercial production practices improve.

“We're interested in maybe including a fermented food group to the Canada Food Guide,” says Dr. Bourrie. “But really, it’s just informing people about making more thoughtful choices about what you're consuming.” 

To hear more about Dr. Bourrie’s research into fermentation, watch his episode of Research Recast(ed) here: