Probiotics are defined as live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, offer health benefits to the host. Our body normally contains a whole mess of bacteria and other weird things that are both good/helpful or bad/harmful. Maintaining a balance between the good bacteria and the bad is necessary in order for you to achieve optimal health.
Probiotics help us in two ways. The first is the role that they play in our digestive tract. We know that our digestive tract needs a healthy balance between the good and bad bacteria, so what gets in the way of this? It is our lifestyle.
Many of us, myself included, may have a tendency to eat poor food choices or perpetuate bad health habits such as having a lack of sleep, emotional stress, antibiotic overuse, other drugs, and environmental influences can all shift the balance in favor of the bad bacteria.
An imbalance is called dysbiosis, and this has possible links to diseases of the intestinal tract such as:
- Ulcerative colitis
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Celiac disease
- Crohn’s disease
- Breast cancer
- Colorectal cancer
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Autoimmunity
- Metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and gestational diabetes
- Other neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease
- Plus many other conditions and diseases with linkage still emerging, such as chronic venous insufficiency
You probably don’t want any of this.
When the digestive tract is healthy, it is able to facilitate the digestion process effectively. It functions to reabsorb fluids and process waste products from the body and prepare for its elimination.
It plays the vital role of eliminating things such a harmful bacteria, toxins, chemicals, and other waste products. The healthy balance of bacteria assists with the regulation of gastrointestinal processes and maintenance of gut barrier function. Research has shown some benefits for the use of probiotics for:
- Infectious diarrhea
- Antibiotic-associated diarrhea
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Abdominal pain
- Bloating
- Ulcerative colitis
- Helicobacter pylori infection
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
- Necrotizing enterocolitis
The other way that probiotics help is the profound impact that they have on our immune system. Some believe that this role is the most important as our immune system is our protection against germs and other foreign antigens.
When it doesn’t function properly, we can suffer from allergic reactions, autoimmune disorders (ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis), and infections (infectious diarrhea, H. pylori, skin infections, and vaginal infections). The hope would be to prevent these ailments by maintaining the correct balance.
Research into the benefits of probiotics has also been linked them to supporting the health of the reproductive tract, oral cavity, lungs, skin and gut-brain axis, and the prevention and treatment of obesity and type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Check out this video to grasp a better understanding of probiotics!
Are Probiotics Safe and What Are Their Side Effects?
Most experts and medical organizations consider probiotics to be very safe and advocate for its various health benefits. Probiotics have become so widely used that they could be found in food items and advertised as such. Probiotics also have been available as supplements for decades.
As probiotics have become more commonly used throughout the years, the number of studies in regards to probiotics have increased as well. None of these studies have shown any serious drawbacks to probiotic use in relatively healthy individuals.
Due to their many health benefits, more research is being conducted on probiotics each and every day! Many experts are seeking how probiotics can treat specific diseases and to see how different strains and probiotic combinations affect different people.
Currently, the only reported side effects of probiotics use is gas and bloating, both of which are usually temporary. Given all this, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about whether probiotics should be used by children, the elderly and the very sick. In those cases, it’s best to speak to your doctor to see if probiotics make sense.
Sincerely,
James Kim
