Probiotics (“for life”) are fermented foods cultured by beneficial microorganisms. Probiotic foods such as yogurt and sauerkraut are the most familiar. There are many more, enjoyed for centuries in different parts of the world, but largely unknown in the United States. I is time to become acquainted with them and to use them for their benefits.

Fermented foods have values beyond their original states. Fermentation increases some nutrients, gives foods a tasty zing, and keeps them well without preservatives. Fermented foods support the immune system. The beneficial bacteria in fermented foods help keep the digestive tract healthy and protect against virulent pathogens that cause foodborne illnesses. The typical American diet makes the body vulnerable to these infections. The problem is compounded by our over-reliance on antibiotics and our increasing resistance to them. Unfortunately, antibiotics kill the beneficial microorganisms along with the pathogens. Probiotic foods can prevent or alleviate many health disorders—ranging from allergy and asthma to yeast infection and heart disease—that result from foodborne infections and antibiotic resistance.

In Probiotic Foods for Good Health, you will learn about the special nutritional and therapeutic features of traditional probiotic foods. You will learn about the special contributions of yogurt and other fermented milk products. Yo will become an enlightened consumer, able t choose wisely among these food products that, through commercialization, have undergone extreme modifications. You will learn about fermented foods based on vegetables, beans, and cereal grains. Yes, there are vegetables other than cabbage that can be fermented! Although probiotic supplements may be useful, this book focuses mainly on probiotic foods

Probiotic Foods for Good Health discusses in detail more than forty types of fermented foods. It provides you with practical information about reliable sources for fermented foods, at-home starter cultures, and shopping tips. Fermented foods are nutritious, add variety, and can fit easily into your daily diet. Above all, they are health promoting.

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This book ca help you avoid one of the most common sources of illness today. Outbreaks from contaminated beef, peanuts, pistachios, spinach, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, and other common foods are strking with an alarming frequency. Every year one-quarter of our population is sickened by contaminated foods, with many hospitalizations and deaths. Factory farming, imported foods,weak federal regulations and few inspections provide oppotunites for new foodborne pathogens to emerge and for firmly established ones to become more virulent. These infectious microbes can move from the gastrointestinal tract into the bloodstream and can localize anywhere, such as in the lungs, genitourinary tract, soft tissues, central nervous system, joints, bones, or heart valves, where they inflict serious damage. Drawing from government documents, scientific journals, and medical reports, Beatrice Trum Hunter profiles more than a dozen major foodborne infections and their likely sources. She identifies signs and symptoms, people at high risk, and ways to prevent these infections. A safer food supply from farm to fork involves the entire food chain, from farmers, regulators and inspectors, to distriubtors, retailers, and all food preparers, including you....