Got Chronic Illness? Good Bacteria in Probiotics could be the answer

The word probiotics is a combination of Greek and Latin words meaning, "for life." These good bacteria truly mean life to us. Lining our digestive system, the sum total of more than 400 different species of living creatures outnumber the cells in our body 10 to 1 and are estimated to weigh between 2 to 5 POUNDS!

Probiotics were scientifically ‘discovered’ in the 1900’s in the fermented milk products of Bulgarian peasants. It was realized that these products actually contained organisms that lived in our bodies and could confer health benefits. Elie Metchnikoff won the Nobel Prize for his work, but 100 years later, we are just barely starting to acknowledge the health benefits of these good bacteria.

It is not coincidental that humans eat and thrive on the cultured foods that contain these beneficial organisms. It’s likely that we evolved with them until the relationship became truly symbiotic. We provide these intestinal flora with nutrients and a place to live while they provide us with multiple bodily functions that we could not live without.

Most cultures (no pun intended) around the world have traditional cultured and fermented foods that have been enjoyed since before recorded history. It’s reasonable to assume that just about every country that milked animals had a version of yogurt or other cultured milk products, and most populations have some form of cultured vegetable.

It is interesting that in the US, it seems that we have become obsessed with being clean. We classify all microorganisms as being 'bad bacteria' and this has spilled over into cultured foods as well. These foods seem to have fallen out of favor in the past decades with the advent of processed and fast food.

It’s no wonder that the health of our nation has been in decline. Lack of good bacteria may be a contributing factor in the drastic increase in chronic illnesses in western countries.

"[There is an]…invisible epidemic of insufficient
probiotics," said Gary Huffnagle, professor of
internal medicine and microbiology at the University of
Michigan Medical School. "We're not getting what we
used to [through diet], and we're destroying what's there.
As a result, the balance of our intestinal microbe
population has changed, sometimes with disastrous
effects on our immune system."

These bacteria and fungus confer benefits to us that we are just starting to learn about.

• Taking up space on the intestinal wall to prevent bad bacteria from adhering

Because of these many functions of probiotics, studies are showing that probiotics are beneficial in the treatment of many chronic illnesses that seem to have nothing to do with each other.

From gastrointestinal problems to eczema, good bacteria seem to play a major role in general immune system health.

Probiotics and the Immune System

At the very least,
probiotics are safe.
There doesn't seem to be
any downside to taking them."
-Dr. John M. Morton of Stanford University

The digestive system is actually the immune system powerhouse of the body. Up to 70% of the immune system is located in this long tube-like series of organs.

Some of these immune system functions are a result of the complex workings of the liver, but most is because of a phenomenon called Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissue or GALT.

"There is a solid theoretical basis
for why probiotics should help
prevent... and even reverse cancer.
Probiotics produce short chain fatty acids
in the colon, which acidify the environment.
Lower colon pH is associated with
lower incidence of colon cancer.
Probiotic bacteria reduce the level
of procarcinogenic enzymes...." -Michael S Donaldson.Director of Research,
Hallelujah Acres Foundation

The GALT is an extremely important part of the immune system. It's first and most important job is to neutralize bad bacteria, fungi and viruses that come into our bodies through food.

The GALT manages to eliminate most of these bad bacteria and pathogens by coating them with a protein called secretory Immunoglobulin A or sIgA. This antibody effectively eliminates pathogens in the gastrointestinal tract WITHOUT alerting the rest of the immune system.

This is extremely important. Because we ingest so many pathogens every day, our immune systems would be constantly on alert if these invaders regularly triggered a whole body response.

The GALT is also vital to a concept called oral tolerance. Oral tolerance is the method by which our immune systems learns, as infants, which foods we should digest harmlessly and which we should set up whole body immune responses to.

Although these are complex processes and scientists are not exactly sure how they occur, studies show that good bacteria are essential to both of these GALT functions:

• "Intestinal colonization with commensal bacteria is critical for the establishment of oral tolerance." -Weiner 1997

• "...commensals (good bacteria) act as an important non-specific antigenic stimulus for the maturation of GALT." Cebra et al., 1998

Another Reason NOT to take antibiotics

The price that we are paying for our overuse of antibiotics for the past century is the development of bad bacteria that are resistant to most of the current antibiotics.

Pathogenic organisms like MRSA, VRE (Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus)and Tuberculosis are examples of deadly drug resistant organisms that have developed in recent years.

Another unintended consequence of using antibiotics even sparingly is that they kill off our native intestinal flora along with bad bacteria that make us sick.

And when we kill off the good bacteria, it leaves room for other organisms to settle on the spaces that have been left. Like a weird game of musical chairs, microorganisms that can harm our health often settle in their place.

Organisms like Candida Albicans, the organism that is predominant when we have a yeast infection. This is the reason why women sometimes get vaginal yeast infections, particularly after taking antibiotics.

Often, we don't get obvious symptoms like a vaginal yeast infection after taking antibiotics. But there are complex dynamics occurring in the gut that we are only starting to learn about and have definitely NOT learned to appreciate.

Entire cities living in our belly??

There is truly an amazingly complex and intelligent ecosystem that lives inside of us, totally without us being aware of it.

The bacteria and fungi that live in our gut actually form cooperative communities that collectively create structures for specific functions. The name for these collective structures, no matter what form they take, is 'biofilms'. And biofilms are crucial factors in our health - and in our illnesses.

These complex 3-dimensional structures can take the form of pillars, mushrooms and channels and they perform specific functions such as preventing invasion by other bacterial species or routing specific nutrients to the bacteria inside.

Biofilms are not such exotic creatures either. We are intimately familiar with them every day in the forms of plaque and tartar on our teeth! Good bacteria as well as bad bacteria and fungi form biofilms. These slimy cities act in coordinated ways performing biologic warfare while competing for space and nutrients against their competitors.

They also have developed complex defenses against environmental toxins and medications, such as antibiotics.

"Bacteria really like to grow in communities,
covered in slime,"
biofilm expert J. William Costerton

Biofilms have been implicated in the formation of antibiotic resistant organisms such as MRSA, as well as in the general difficulty we have in treating infections with antibiotics.

Yeast Infection in the gut

The medical literature shows little evidence of the existence of yeast overgrowth infections in the gut, but logically it seems as though this would be a distinct possibility. There are, however, a growing number of medical practitioners - western and alternative - who believe that this is actually the problem in many chronic illnesses. These practitioners are actively treating yeast overgrowth gut infections based on the patient's history and presenting symptoms alone.

This condition has been called Chronic Systemic Candidiasis, Chronic Unresponsive Candida Overgrowth or Candidiasis Hypersensitivity Syndrome by different researchers and physicians.

Reputable practitioners have seen great improvement and even cures from chronic illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia by treating for presumed candida overgrowth infections.

Too little evidence for probiotics?

Western medical doctors still claim that there is too little evidence to start recommending probiotics on a regular basis.

• Reduction of infection rates in abdominal, pancreatic and transplant surgeries

Even though these good bacteria have shown good results in studies on many illnesses probiotics may act in many different subtle ways that positively affect the immune system and general health in ways that we have yet to understand.

When people in almost every country in the world have used good bacteria and yeasts to improve general health since before the written word, it's a good bet that they are right.

I predict that the future of medicine will go back to using simple proven remedies, like probiotics, to treat and to heal the many chronic illnesses that plague our society.

Probiotics are not a magic bullet that eliminates chronic illnesses. But in many cases, the immune system and digestive system can be improved in subtle ways that may make a big difference in your health over the long run.

Return to Top of Good Bacteria and Probiotics Page

Go to Home Page

Good Bacteria in Probiotics are the Prescription for Your Good Health

Probiotics and the Immune System

Another Reason NOT to take antibiotics

Entire cities living in our belly??

Yeast Infection in the gut

Too little evidence for probiotics?

Good Bacteria in
Probiotics are the Prescription for Your Good Health