Why we should all drink kefir
How to live in a messy, diverse, ecologically complex reality that won't submit to centralised control.
The appendix is unnecessary ... at least, that's what the teachers told me in Biology. It is, they said, a vestigial organ that evolution made redundant. Well, apparently it is not useless. The appendix contains a reservoir of gut bacteria, part of our microbiome, that the body can call upon when needed and is associated with longevity in mammals.
20 years ago no one was talking about gut bacteria or the microbiome. Nowawadays it is considered the second brain and the organism that gives you a 'gut instinct'. The Human Genome Project (started 1990, completed 2003) aimed to uncover the mysteries of human life by decoding our DNA, but given that the number of cells in the microbiome (100 trillion) is three times that of the number of human cells it can only give a partial explanation. In 2007, the Human Microbiome Project was started to try and understand these bacteria and the role they play in health.
In the COVID era people are highly attuned to invisible threats. All the gallons of hand gel and cleaning spray—that have been pointlessly slathered over everything—reassure us that we are doing something to prevent infection. We increasingly live in an antiseptic world where people don't die of diptheria, yet irritable bowel syndrome and depression are endemic. Antibiotics have saved millions of lives, but they haven't come without cost. As this article from the New York Times explains:
Data from a 2016 study suggest that exposure to antibiotics in infancy can alter the gut microbiome and weaken the immune response for years to come. Other studies have linked the use of antibiotics in children to an increased lifetime risk of asthma, obesity and inflammatory bowel disease, effects thought to be mediated by the gut microbiome.
So what can we do, us people who have had appendectomies and a steady supply of antibiotics? One solution is to have a good supply of fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, and kefir. Lovely kefir.
Kefir is the name of a yoghurty milk and the viscous 'grains' that help make it. These grains are a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY), similar to a Kombucha SCOBY or a sourdough starter. I am not sure who first made the connection between the microbiome and fermented foods, but as you can see from Google Trends, the search volume for these has quintupled over the past 18 years. Kefir is fast becoming ubiquitous in supermarkets, with little plastic bottles getting their own row.
Kefir originated in the Caucasus mountains where it was prized by the people of the region for its ability to preserve and enhance milk. Kefir is still very popular in Eastern Europe and the 'Stans, gradually making its way westwards as people learn about its health benefits. These health benefits are many and include things like curing digestive problems and protecting against cancer and infections.
I first heard about kefir from my wife Laura. She had brought home an old 35mm film cannister that Rosina had given to her, apparently containing a miraculous probiotic milk. Rosina had been advised to use it to repopulate her gut flora after chemotherapy, but kefir was good for anyone who wanted to improve their health. Apparently you had to keep feeding it fresh milk and it would live forever. I was intrigued.
We decanted the liquid into a jamjar and added a bit of milk, keeping it in the cupboard at room temperature. A couple of days later we unscrewed the top and sniffed gingerly. It smelt like the ripest stilton. Never having tried kefir before we assumed this was what it was meant to smell like and downed a shot. It was revolting. Surely that couldn't be right.
Upon further research, I discovered that kefir is supposed to consist of viscous, knobbly grains. It may have been kefir milk, but there were no grains in the cannister.
By this point, I was fully versed in the science of gut bacteria and how the anti-bacterial obsession of modern civilization had overshot its limits, creating a generation who were depressed, anxious, suffering from digestive complaints, and lacking vitality.
I found a vaguely reputable kefir grain dealer on Amazon and received a tiny sealed plastic bag with milk and a tiny grain in it. The instructions were to build it up slowly with good quality milk. My little kefir grew and grew, getting stringy or flatter or rounder depending on the quality of milk and the storage conditions. I had my own production line, dividing up grains to make even more kefir. Here is a quick guide:
Get a jar full of milk with a lid, add the kefir grains, and store in the dark at room temperature. The amount of grains you need depends on how big they are - they can grow to the size of a golf ball and will naturally divide, but can be smaller than a pea. The grains grow by consuming the lactose in the milk. After 24 hours or so, the milk should be creamy and you can remove the grains with a plastic spoon into another jar of milk. Keeping the jar in the fridge will massively slow down the fermentation process. I've kept kefir grains in milk in the fridge for five weeks and they've been fine, but you can also store them in freezer for over a year. They are resilient. The fresh kefir milk can be drunk immediately or stored in the fridge for a few weeks. With a few chia seeds it can be turned into the most delicious pudding.
If anyone wants to try out kefir, I have some excess grains that I am happy to share. Let me know.
We are totally lost in the world of the microbiome and have fallen back on old solutions like kimchi, kefir, and kombucha. The era of shovelling antibiotics in our system is over. We don't live in a rational clockwork universe. We live in a messy, diverse, ecologically complex reality that won't submit to centralised control. Embrace it!