Cure for the common bird flu may turn out to be sauerkraut

By Aussiegirl

Sauerkraut fans of the world unite!! You have nothing to lose but your bird flu! No lie, fermented cabbage has a bacteria which kills the bird flu virus in infected fowl. Calling all Ukrainians -- get out those kapusta (sauerkraut) recipes of your granny's, it turns out that's why grandpa and granma lived to such a ripe old age (that is unless Stalin or famine got them first).

There is really a lot to this health food business, and many foods have great healing properties, especially, it turns out, the foods our ancestors ate.

I can't help but notice that in our own Ukrainian communities it is the old people who adhered to the old ways of eating (plenty of cabbage, sourkraut, potatoes, vegetables, herring and borscht) who live the longest, many into their nineties and even over a hundred. Our small parish in Washington alone has several centenarians, a number of people in their nineties and the ones in their eighties still cook in the kitchen, tend the church and run the bingo hall. Most of the younger generation who are approaching and reaching middle age are dropping like flies from cancer and heart disease in their fifties. Borscht, anyone? Or sauerkraut and bratwurst?

The Sun Online - News: Bird flu: Sauerkraut cure

SAUERKRAUT may cure bird flu, scientists claim.

They believe the German pickled cabbage dish contains a bacteria that fights the disease.

Eleven out of 13 chickens infected with avian flu were fed fermented cabbage — and showed signs of recovery within a week.

Professor Kang Saouk made the discovery in Seoul, South Korea.

He said: “The feed helps the fight against bird flu and other flu viruses.” Experts reckon the vital bacteria is created during the fermenting process — and this gives the dish its health-boosting qualities.

The findings are set to lift sales of sauerkraut, which has been the butt of jokes by Brits for decades.

Sauerkraut’s properties are also thought to help foil cancer.