Take a Look at How Probiotics Work to Improve Gut Health
Probiotics have been very popular in the natural health and wellness community for a while now. If you’ve been taking them regularly, you’ve probably already noticed that adding a quality supplement to your daily regime can help you with a whole host of problem. But the benefits are proving to be so substantial, that even the medical community is taking notice and more doctors are recommending them to patients.
What are probiotics? How do they work? And how do you know which ones work best? Let’s take a look!
What Are Probiotics?
Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that are good for your health, especially your digestive system. We usually think of bacteria as something that causes diseases. But your body is full of bacteria, both good and bad. Probiotics are often called “good” or “helpful” bacteria because they help keep your gut healthy. WebMD
While they can be found naturally occurring in your body, you will awesome consume them in certain foods and supplements that you take as well. This is because people started figuring out how important these good bacteria were to our digestive system around the mid-1990’s.
Since then, we’re seeing more doctors recommending them to patients for a variety of digestive upsets and problems. We’re seeing them show up in everything from drinks, to yogurts, to chocolate.
How Do They Work
The bacteria that are commonly found in probiotics work to help keep the bad bacteria in your gut in check as well as working to help you break down the foods that you eat.
Your digestive tract is designed to move food through and break it down, but the bacteria works on a microscopic level to reduce the food to nutrients your body can absorb. This means you are able to absorb more of the nutrients from the foods that you eat.
Your gut is also home to bad bacteria that come in on the foods and drinks that you eat as well. Left uncontrolled, these bacteria can disrupt your ability to absorb nutrients, and can even attack and overrun the good bacteria. This is why it’s important to make sure you keep a steady supply of good bacteria “reinforcements” coming into your system.
Why Do I Need a Supplement?
This is one of the biggest questions I hear from people. “If they are naturally occurring inside of me, then why do I need to take them as a supplement.”
Unfortunately, the answer really does come back to the preservatives and packaging of most food items that we get today as well as how frequently we use antibiotics to treat illnesses. To find these good bacteria in nature, you would have to look to fruits and vegetables, in fermented foods, and in yogurts.
Most fruits and vegetables are grown in environments designed to reduce waste and crop damage. This means pesticides, greenhouses, and other less-than-ideal environments. By reducing the likelihood of bugs, diseases, and mold, they also make it hard for the probiotic bacteria to thrive.
Yogurts suffer the same fate during the pasteurizing process. When dairy products are pasteurized to kill bacteria, the good are wiped out along with the bad. Then they add sugars, dyes, and other sweeteners that actually provide food to the bad bacteria that live in your gut.
Fermented foods like sauerkraut, tempeh, natto, kim chee, and kefir are some of the best sources of naturally occurring probiotics, but they are an acquired taste for most people.
And finally, antibiotics are the most common reason that you need a supplement. When you take an antibiotic, it doesn’t discriminate. It will attack good bacteria along with the bad. This is the primary reason that people experience digestive and gut problems like constipation, diarrhea, and other issues while taking them. You need to rebuild your colonies of good guys when are you taking an antibiotic.
What Makes a Good Probiotic?
Once you set out to find a probiotic, you will quickly find that you have a lot of options, and they are far from equal. The prices will vary drastically. Some will be refrigerated and liquid, while others will be in pill or capsule form. Everybody will say they have the best, but there are a few things to look out for…
- Look at the specific strains and how many strains are included in the bottle.
Specifically, look for ones that contain Lactic Acid Bacteria and Lactobacillus strains. - You also want to look at how the product is packaged and delivered into your gut.
The bacteria needs to stay alive and healthy through packaging, shipping, sitting on a store shelf, and finally needs to bypass your stomach acid and get to your gut so it can help you. In general, you want packaging options that protect the bacteria from too much exposure to light, heat, and moisture. - Look for the Expiration Date!
The supplement industry doesn’t require expiration dates, so if the manufacturer chooses to include one, they are guaranteeing that the bacteria will remain alive and potent at the levels listed on the bottle until that date.
And of course, if you aren’t sure, then that’s ok. I’ve already done the research for you and I firmly believe in Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotics from Essential Formulas as the best product on the market that’s also cost-effective. That’s why I stock it in my store.