How does sourdough support the immune system and help reduce inflammation?

At The Sourdough School, we support our immune response by limiting breads that can exacerbate inflammation, and by increasing consumption of high fibre and high polyphenol ingredients such as rye bread that has be shown to help with inflammation and that helps the immune system to work properly. Inflammation is the way your body responds to and defends itself from injury, infection and even foods that are a threat. The lining of the gut is called the epithelium, and this acts as a barrier to prevent pathogens and harmful substances entering your bloodstream. It is coated in a protein mucus layer, which is supported by maintaining a healthy and diverse microbiome. The epithelium has little gaps between the cells that are just big enough to allow water and nutrients through. However, some health conditions can cause these gaps to become larger, which can result in harmful substances like bacteria, poorly digested food particles and toxins getting through. As a potential threat to the body, these substances can trigger an immune reaction that leads to inflammation.

Inflammation is an essential part of your system body’s ability to protect itself against damage, but long-term or chronic inflammation can be incredibly dangerous, and can lead to a range of non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease, auto-immune disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Integrating healthy eating habits and lifestyle choices can decrease your risk of developing a chronic inflammatory condition, which is why we teach you to bake sourdough in a way that can become part of a healthy lifestyle and help reduce inflammation.

Many people choose to eliminate gluten from their diet despite less than 1% of the population suffering from coeliac disease. Unless you are in this 1%, the inflammatory effect of gluten can be reduced by baking long, slow-fermented sourdough bread, as the fermentation damages the gluten structure through acidification and enzymic activity to result in a lower gluten load, meaning people with non-coeliac gluten sensitivity may find they are able to tolerate sourdough. Consuming wholegrains has also been shown to reduce inflammation. 

Our approach at The Sourdough School is to follow the way we bake – Baking as Lifestyle Medicine, which support the gut microbiome and help reduce inflammation. As part of a symbiotic meal and to boost immune health, we add healthy fats to our diets, for example low-mercury fish like anchovies, salmon and sardines, which help deliver vitamin C and vitamin D, as well as lots of variety and diversity of fibre and colour.

To learn more on how to make sourdough and to access recipes that can boost immune health and help reduce inflammation, join The Sourdough Club. or Join the Sourdough School Diploma of Professional Training in Baking as Lifestyle Medicine.