Re: here's why fermentation is healthy

 Fermentation makes the foods easier to digest and the nutrients easier to assimilate. In effect, much of the work of digestion is done for you. Since it doesn't use heat, fermentation also retains enzymes, vitamins, and other nutrients that are usually destroyed by food processing.
The active cultures that pre-digest the food as part of the fermentation process actually generate nutrients. So there are more vitamins--especially B-vitamins--and minerals like iron are released from the chemical bonds that prevent them from being assimilated. In effect, the nutritional value of a food goes up when it has been fermented..
The fermentation process also preserves the food. You start with a wholesome, raw food and preserve it in a way that leaves its nutrients intact, so you have the health benefits of raw food with having to run to the grocery store every other day for more--which is what happens, unless you're lucky enough to have a garden.

Fermentation also generates various acids, such as lactic acid and acetic acid, that help with digestion, mineral and vitamin absorption, and most importantly help to kill and control pathogens such as bad bacterias and fungal Candida. It is also these acids that gives the preserving effect since again the acids control bacteria that would otherwise spoil the food.