January 12, 2016

Colon Cancer Prevention with Probiotics

Science is starting to understand the major role our gut has in our overall health and well-being.  Now we’re starting to see a direct correlation between a healthy gut and cancer prevention.  Across the world, colon cancer strikes more than 1 million people each year, and over 500,000 die from it.  The World Health Organization estimates that by 2030, there will be 17 million deaths, 27 million new cases on cancer and 75 million people living with the disease. Let’s look at how introducing a probiotic into your vitamin regime can help prevent it.

colon cancer prevention using probiotics


It’s all about the microbes

Your body houses trillions of bacteria.  They live everywhere, but the largest group is in your colon.  In fact, they contribute to about 95% of the cells in your body, making your color a very metabolically active organ.

Your intestines are home to a host of thousands of different types of bacteria.  Most of them are there to help you.  They control the population of harmful bacteria, help you digest your food, prevent digestive tract and yeast infections, and keep your immune system healthy.

One of the most common reasons people start taking a probiotic is to rebuild the good bacteria after taking a course of antibiotics.  Most antibiotics don’t discriminate.  They will kill off the good bacteria along with the bad.  If too many of the good ones are killed, then the bad bacteria take over and you start experiencing a wide array of health problems as a result.  This can include symptoms such as diarrhea, constipation, heartburn, and many others.


Learn Prevention

Various studies have shown that diet plays a big role in causing and preventing cancer throughout the body.  In fact, it contributes 20-40% in overall cancers.  But when it comes to colon cancer, diet contributes 50-90%!

While you can’t control genetic factors – you can control your diet.  Which means that you can play an active role in keeping yourself free from colon cancer.

Colon cancer happens when the cells in your colon get damaged or mutated on the DNA level.  Some studies are shown that fermented milk products like yogurt, cheese, and kefir work to prevent these mutations.

Probiotics work to alter the growth process of tumor cells and Prebiotics provide food for the bacteria in the probiotics.  Prebiotics are consumed in carbs like oatmeal and ferment in the colon and work to prevent these mutations as well.


Steps you can take

Now that you know more about what’s going on in your gut, let’s take a look at some changes you can make to your diet to get more probiotics in your system!

  • Incorporate more buttermilk, sour cream, and yogurt into recipes in place of milk or cream.
  • Experiment with Kefir.  It includes over 10 strains of probiotic bacteria as well as the prebiotic food they need to live.
  • Eat more oatmeal and bran cereals to feed the bacteria.
  • Eat sauerkraut that contains live active cultures due to the fermenting process.
  • Incorporate miso paste into your diet.  It’s high in probiotics and B vitamins and low in calories.

Most importantly, add a probiotic to your vitamin regimen.  I believe Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotic from Essential Formulas is the number one probiotic on the market today to help jump start our lagging gut ecosystem.  It is the only fermented probiotic on the market and 6.25 times stronger then any other probiotic!   That’s why I stock it in my store.

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