Lactobacillus Plantarum are awesome! Not only do they taste great in fermented foods (and yes the flavour of your ferments will change depending on which bacteria you have chosen to use) but they have so many studied benefits. Of course in this article we cannot address everything but we will go for today’s top five.

1. Lactobacillus Plantarum have been shown to reduce topical infections. This is when applied topically. There are many skin creams coming out that say they have fermented ingredients and most of the time these are actually fancy preservatives (Myth busted!!!) so this is not what I’m talking about. Professional cultures of Plantarum not too dissimilar to what you could make at home with a yogurt or a kraut, when applied topically have been shown in several studies to reduce topical infections. There are actually many benefits to using your own non-dairy yogurt as a facial treatment and I have no doubt that L. Plantarum provides many of those benefits.

2. Lactobacillus Plantarum have been shown to decrease intestinal permeability. In several studies supplementation with L. Plantarum has been shown to actually heal the tight junctions of the digestive system. This is good news!

3. Lactobacillus Plantarum have been shown to reduce oxalate levels in the kidneys. Again, really good news for anyone who struggles with oxalates. There are several bacteria that can reduce oxalates. L. Plantarum is a very powerful species so would be good to use sparingly at first especially in any kind of dysbiosis situation.  They DO produce D lactic acid so they aren’t the first one to try with small intestinal imbalances.

4. Lactobacillus Plantarum has been shown to increase liver enzymes for digestion. This is of course awesome for digestion and detox, bring it on!

5. Lactobacillus Plantarum has been shown to decrease the risk of post-surgical infections. If you do find yourself facing this kind of intervention it can be easy and helpful to make sure to take some high quality probiotic supplements or make yourself some coconut kefir or anything you like before and after your surgery.

As one of the lactobacillus strains, Plantarum are transient. This means they can thrive in the digestive tract but do not take up permanent residence unless they are continually consumed. This means that in order to maintain a good amount of these bacteria they must be included as a regular part of the diet. This is easy to do if you are consuming a variety of fermented foods that have not been pasteurized.

You can find L. Plantarum in pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi, wild fermented vegetables, olives and a variety of fermented foods from around the world. L. Plantarum is also present in the digestive and reproductive systems of many ruminant animals and thus when people started culturing dairy products naturally this was one of the prevalent bacteria. Fortunately now with our knowledge and availability of probiotics and culturing we are able to have the benefits of Plantarum with practically any ferment and not be reliant on dairy products to experience their benefits. Interestingly Plantarum is being used commercially to develop many products including antibiotics and immune modulating cancer therapies.

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