Do fermented foods contain probiotics?

Fermented food has long been part of Thai cooking, but calling all of it probiotic is not correct by the definition.

Where is the difference?

Fermented food is food that has been through a fermentation process. A probiotic, by the scientific definition, has to be a live microorganism, identified to strain, with evidence behind it at a defined amount.

Many fermented foods therefore fall outside the term, even though they genuinely were fermented.

Which Thai fermented foods contain live microorganisms?

It depends mainly on the process. Products heat-treated or pasteurised after fermentation have no live microorganisms left.

Cultured milk drinks and yoghurts that state live cultures on the label are the group you can verify from the label directly. Pickles and traditional fermented foods vary with how they are made and stored.

Can yoghurt replace a supplement?

They are different things. Food brings other nutrients with it, such as protein and calcium. A supplement states strain and count more precisely.

The choice follows from what you want, not from one being superior.

What should you watch out for?

Many fermented foods are high in sodium, pickles, fermented fish and shrimp paste in particular. Flavoured cultured milk drinks and yoghurts often have added sugar.

The nutrition panel shows both sodium and sugar, and is worth reading alongside.

What does it add up to?

Fermented food has a place in everyday eating, but grouping it all as probiotic is misleading. What you can verify is whether the label says live cultures.

Dietary supplements are not intended to prevent, treat or cure any disease.