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Foundation for research
raw fermented milk products
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RAW FERMENTED MILK PRODUCTS
Background
Western society feels heavy pressure to control the many lifestyle diseases. Healthcare costs are rising dramatically in the aging population. The core of the problems seems to converge on the development of low-grade inflammatory symptoms, which affect immunity. There is a decrease in the quality of life. Chronic diseases such as asthma, eczema and allergies, tooth decay, diabetes-2 or psoriasis are largely determined by our lifestyle. The quality and degree of processing of food plays an important role within lifestyle.
Traditional foods are characterized by a certain simplicity, and also the low degree of processing. To preserve food, applications have traditionally been found in lactic acid fermentation, which we know in sourdough, cheese, sauerkraut, yogurt and kefir, but also wine and beer. Lactic acid fermentation means the conversion of milk sugar into lactic acid, which involves numerous bacterial species and strains.
Since the beginning of this millennium, increasing attention has been paid to the significance of raw, fermented and raw-fermented foods and their significance for good and lasting well-functioning immunity. Immunology-supporting nutrition is of great importance, both at the start of life and in older people.
Following Weston A. Price (1870-1948), animal nutrition plays an important role in human health. Natural peoples were generally fond of animal products, but animal food was almost always available in limited quantities. The healthiness of traditional food was therefore much more due to the consumption of raw and raw-fermented products, both of vegetable and animal origin.
Research
Studies among farm children show that early consumption (from the end of the first year of life) contributes to training the immune system. The immune system, as it were, relaxes in such a way that it knows how to deal with new immunological challenges from nutrition and the environment. The unchanged nature of the whey proteins appears to play a key role in the development of, for example, milk allergy or asthma. As soon as milk undergoes a heat treatment, whether or not in combination with homogenization of the milk fat, there is an increased risk of an allergic response upon consumption.
Adults benefit from a regular intake of micro-organisms and their metabolic products. In principle, the intestinal flora becomes less complicated with increasing age (decreasing bio-diversity), which can cause problems in the intestine itself, the skin, but also the brain.
Purpose of the Foundation
Knowledge about nutrition, the composition and treatment of foods or the composition of our diet lags behind when it comes to supporting positive health. Positive health is defined as a body that responds resiliently to nutrition or micro-organisms and is able to maintain itself in changing circumstances without constantly becoming ill. This is reflected in the concept of 'resilience'. An important part of positive health is determined by a well-built and well-functioning immune system.
The aim of the foundation is to promote and initiate research into raw milk products such as kefir, butter or farmer's cheese. This research concerns the interface between product quality of unpasteurized dairy products and the immunological health support of people. This involves preventive health care and resilience, which can arise through the consumption of fermented and unprocessed foods of organic origin.
Resources
To achieve its goal, the foundation collects and distributes acquired funds with which research can be initiated and supported.
The foundation's financial resources consist of grants, legacies, donations and gifts.
Website
The Foundation for Research Raw Fermented Milk products manages this website, where the public is informed about funded, ongoing and completed research.