Fermented foods other than dairy are trending, with sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, and other vegetables; kombucha; sourdough; natto and tempeh leading the pack. Yet with cultured dairy still at the forefront, there are multiple fermented dairy products that offer benefits besides the immunity support of probiotics.

Ingredients that affect gut health are characterized as prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, and newly defined “postbiotics.” Ongoing research is elucidating the mechanisms by which these ingredients confer health benefits, demonstrating how trending ingredients such as fiber affect the gut microbiome on a molecular level, by interaction with microorganisms either directly or within intestinal cells.