Enhance your health with probiotics

What are probiotics?
Probiotics is the term used to describe dietary factors which promote the growth of so-called "friendly bacteria" in the human gut. These friendly bacteria exist mainly in the intestines and are vital to health and well being. Among the most important and well known 'friendlies' are lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidus.

A healthy intestinal tract should contain at least 85 percent of these 'friendly bacteria' to prevent over-colonisation of disease-causing micro-organisms like salmonella and E.coli. A number of well-known fermented foods contain friendly bacteria. These include yoghurt, fermented cheese, miso, tempeh and sauerkraut (fermented cabbage). These foods have a long history of important nutritional and therapeutic benefits with most cultures around the world using some form of these foods to maintain good health. The growing weight of scientific evidence also demonstrates that fermented foods play a significant and positive role in human health¹.

Dysbiosis
Beneficial gut flora (ie, the bacteria in the gut) is essential for digestion and assimilation of nutrients and maintenance of the gut wall mucosa or the gut lining. When the balance of gut flora is disrupted and harmful bacteria start to outnumber beneficial bacteria, a condition known as dysbiosis may occur.

Causes of dysbiosis include stress (both psychological and physical), exposure to radiation, drinking fluorinated water, poor diet, alcohol, antibiotics, contraceptive pills and many other allopathic drugs². Dysbiosis is associated with increased gut permeability (leaky gut) and poor digestion and manifests in gastrointestinal symptoms such as flatulence, bloating, diarrhoea or constipation, vomiting, reflux and colic (in infants). Dysbiosis is also related to increased susceptibility to infections, allergies, and inflammatory disorders.

Other functions of friendly bacteria
Friendly gut bacteria play a major role in our health as they are intimately involved with our body's nutritional status through improving digestion and absorption of foods. They are also involved in vitamin production, and the stimulation of immune system function.

Probiotics are extremely beneficial for treating digestive problems, intestinal stomach bugs and urinary tract infections. Probiotics prevent the overgrowth of yeast and fungus making them useful in the treatment of candida and other fungal conditions (ie, tinea). Lactobacillus is used to assist with protein digestion; it is helpful for treating lactose-intolerant people and enhances the absorption of other nutrients.

Probiotic supplementation is particularly important for the prevention and treatment of antibiotic-induced conditions (candida, urinary tract infections, and diarrhoea). Antibiotics destroy friendly gut bacteria along with the harmful bacteria. Thus, taking probiotics after antibiotic therapy will restore gut flora to a healthy balance.

By promoting proper digestion of foods, friendly bacteria also aid in preventing food allergies. If digestion is poor, the activity of intestinal bacteria on undigested food may lead to excessive production of the chemical histamine, which triggers allergic symptoms.

Lactobacillus bifidus aids in the synthesis of B vitamins by creating healthy gut flora, helping to establish a healthy environment for the manufacture of the B complex vitamins and vitamin K (needed for blood clotting).

Recent research has revealed that probiotics are responsible for maintaining a crucial balance between the systemic immune system and mucosal immune system (which is our body's first line of defence against disease and illness). Provided the friendly intestinal bacteria are thriving, infectious bacteria have a hard time getting established and launching an attack on the body.

Probiotics promote gut lining defenses by decreasing intestinal permeability. Leaky gut is a result of the gut lining becoming inflamed due to food intolerances, certain drug ingestion, bacterial/viral infections, modern lifestyle and stress. This inflammation produces gaps in the gut wall which allows macro food particles and other foreign microbes to enter the body and create an immune response, resulting in allergies, further exacerbating food intolerances and possibly triggering autoimmune diseases. Probiotics have been proven to enhance immunity, improve gut infections and reduce production of toxic by-products in the bowel³.

Without normal gastrointestinal function and balanced gut flora, children may develop immune pathologies. Immune-boosting probiotics are beneficial for decreasing children's susceptibility to infections and allergies.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding
Administering probiotics during pregnancy and breastfeeding offers a safe and effective mode of promoting the immunoprotective potential of breastfeeding and provides protection against atopic eczema during the first two years of life⁴.

The colonisation of gut flora of an infant is affected by a variety of factors. The mother greatly influences the development and maturation of her infant's gastrointestinal tract. The newborn's gastrointestinal tract is primarily inoculated by organisms originating from the mother's vagina, faeces and from the surrounding environment. Stress or infection during the pregnancy can lead to dysbiosis of the newborn, as can poor gut flora status or poor dietary habits of the mother.

The form of milk that a child drinks influences the composition of their gut flora too. The micro flora of breastfed infants is dominated by bifido bacteria. Breastfeeding sets up the immune defenses of the infant, prevents increased gut permeability and provides nutrients for their beneficial bacteria to flourish⁵.

By Lisa Guy
Naturopath and nutritionist
Art of Healing
E: lisaguys@hotmail.com