Long COVID has become one of the biggest medical mysteries of our time, affecting roughly 1 in 10 people who’ve had COVID-19, and leaving them with lingering symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, and weakened immune function. There’s no standard treatment, and for many, answers have been in short supply.
But promising new research from Monash University in Australia, featured in a recent Nature article, suggests a natural solution might be sitting on our plates: fermentable fiber.
Fermentable fiber, including inulin and resistant starch, is a type of dietary fiber that isn’t fully digested in the small intestine. Instead, it’s fermented by gut bacteria, producing short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, compounds already known to influence immune responses and gut health.
What’s exciting is that researchers are now exploring whether this process could help ease long COVID symptoms.