Posted on SFGate by Joanne Marie, Demand Media
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/health-benefits-miso-paste-digestion-3318.html
Miso paste is a probiotic food that can help treat intestinal disorder
Miso paste is an Asian seasoning made by fermenting a mixture of soybeans, barley, brown rice and several other grains with a fungus, Aspergillus oryzae. The result of this fermentation is a smooth-textured paste with a strong, salty flavor. Often used in Asian cooking, miso is a healthy, probiotic food that helps support digestion by adding beneficial microorganisms to your digestive tract.
Intestinal Flora
Your large intestine contains about 100 trillion beneficial microorganisms from more than 500 different species. These microorganisms, called your normal flora, help you digest your food and process indigestible fiber, which you then eliminate in stool. They also protect you from pathogenic bacteria you ingest with food by maintaining a proper balance of bacterial colonies in your intestine. Mostly anaerobic bacteria that don’t require oxygen to live, your normal flora also produce vitamin K, an important clotting factor. If you contract a digestive illness or take antibiotics, some of these beneficial bacteria may die, potentially leading to diarrhea or other intestinal problems.
Probiotic Miso
Miso paste is a probiotic food that contains millions of microorganisms similar or identical to those beneficial bacteria that live in your large intestine. These microorganisms grow during the fermentation that produces miso, a process that typically takes anywhere from a few days to a year or more. The length of the fermentation process determines the flavor strength of the miso and also contributes to the number of probiotic organisms in the final paste. Nutritionally, miso paste provides mostly carbohydrate with some protein. It is also rich in several of the B-complex vitamins and contains several minerals, including calcium, iron, zinc, copper and magnesium.
Probiotic Benefits
Probiotic foods such as miso paste have a number of health benefits. In addition to contributing new bacteria to your existing intestinal colonies, miso can also help you overcome intestinal illness, including diarrhea. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, consuming probiotic foods can shorten the duration of infectious diarrhea, especially in infants and children. The Harvard website also summarizes strong evidence indicating that proobiotic foods can reduce the incidence of diarrhea caused by antibiotics by as much as 60 percent. In addition, the Mayo Clinic says that probiotic foods may also help treat irritable bowel syndrome and certain intestinal infections.
Uses
Miso paste is typically added to Japanese soup and other Asian dishes. To use miso in soup, dissolve a tablespoon of the paste in tepid water and add this to a pot of heated water containing tofu, seaweed or other ingredients of your preference. You might also spread a small amount of miso paste on crackers for a snack, keeping in mind that the paste is quite salty. Miso is also a flavorful condiment when spread on cooked corn on the cob in place of salt and butter, or as a spread on toast at breakfast. To preserve the living microorganisms in miso paste, avoid subjecting it to high heat. Instead, add the paste to dishes that have already been cooked or heated to serving temperature.
Original Article: SFGate
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/health-benefits-miso-paste-digestion-3318.html3