A new social media trend among senior Trump administration figures centers on fermented foods, especially sauerkraut. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has adopted the diet, along with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Vice President J.D. Vance. The regimen is associated with Dr. Shawn O'Mara, who advises his well-known patients to eat fermented foods such as sauerkraut and kimchi, alongside free-range beef steak, while avoiding alcohol and high-sugar foods.
O'Mara claims the diet reduces visceral fat, the hidden fat around internal organs linked to diabetes, heart disease, and metabolic syndrome. He also says it improves the microbiome and helps digestion. Dr. Maya Rozman examines whether those claims hold up, starting with what pickled and fermented vegetables actually are.
Rozman explains that before industrial vinegar and home refrigeration, vegetables were often preserved with salt and natural fermentation. In true fermentation, salt draws out liquid, the vegetables are kept away from air, and lactic acid bacteria turn some of the vegetable sugars into lactic acid over several days. That process creates the sour taste and helps preserve the food. By contrast, quick pickling in vinegar adds acidity from the outside, often with salt and sometimes sugar, and usually does not involve significant fermentation. True sauerkraut, fermented pickles, and kimchi fall into the fermentation category.
On sugar, Rozman says homemade quick pickles often include it, but there is no consistent way to calculate how much is absorbed because it depends on the recipe and the vegetable. Based on packaged products and homemade batches, she estimates about 5 to 15 calories per 100 grams of drained vegetables when the brine is not eaten. She says fermented vegetables are generally the healthier choice, especially if they were not pasteurized and still contain live bacteria, but the probiotic benefit is limited in pasteurized, shelf-stable products. The main downside of both types is usually high sodium, which matters for people with high blood pressure, kidney disease, or salt restrictions. She also cautions that not every live bacterium in homemade ferments qualifies scientifically as a probiotic.
The article closes with Rozman sharing a recipe for roasted bell peppers in vinegar: six peppers roasted at 200 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes, peeled, then dressed with garlic, sugar or sucralose, salt, hot water, vinegar, lemon juice, and olive oil before chilling for several hours.
