Good Bacteria in
Probiotic Supplements
Are the Prescription for Your Good Health

The word probiotics means, "for life", and probiotic 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!

Probiotic supplements 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, like Kefir, 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 such as the Benefits of Sauerkraut provide.

It makes sense because foods like Kefir Milk and Cultured Vegetables like Sauerkraut really just 'make themselves' if we leave them alone. You can even Learn to Make Kefir Milk easily and safely in your home.

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.

Among their many functions are:

• Lowering the intestinal pH

• Controlling growth of pathogens like the H Pylori Bacteria and Intestinal Candida

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

• Production of essential nutrients like Vitamin B12 and Omega 3 Fatty Acids

• Regulation of the levels of IgE and IgG antibodies in immune responses

• Binding and metabolizing Environmental Toxins

• Regulation of intestinal motility

• Mucus production

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

It's not there simply to digest food.

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. Along with high amounts of stomach acid, this antibody effectively eliminates pathogens in the gastrointestinal tract WITHOUT alerting the rest of the immune system.

These features are 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. And, in fact this may be one of the problems with autoimmune disease- which in turn is why it's important not to take antacids due to what you think is Too Much Stomach Acid. Stomach acid is of vital importance in reducing the amount of pathogens in the intestinal tract and assisting the GALT in its important work!

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

• Probiotics increased IgA antibody responses in several different studies

Another Reason NOT to take antibiotics

But nothing comes without a price.

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, C Difficile Infection 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 and contribute to conditions such as C Difficile Infection and Intestinal Candida Symptoms. Like a weird game of musical chairs, microorganisms that can harm our health are free to settle in their place.

Often, there are no obvious detrimental effects to the body 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??

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, and the C Difficile Infection mentioned earlier.

Yeast Infection in the gut

The medical literature shows little evidence of the existence of Intestinal Candida in the gut, but there are a growing number of medical practitioners - western and alternative - who believe that Candida infection contributes to many chronic illnesses such as the a href="http://www.easy-immune-health.com/early-symptoms-of-fibromyalgia.html">Symptoms of Fibromyalgia. 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 Intestinal Candida Symptoms by different researchers and physicians.

Too little evidence for probiotics?

Western medical doctors still claim that there is too little evidence to start recommending probiotics on a regular basis. But studies have shown that probiotics have benefits for:

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

• Prevention and treatment of eczema in children

• Decreasing and even eliminating the H Pylori Bacteria from the stomach

• Mild to moderately severe ulcerative colitis

• Infectious diarrhea and Antibiotic Side Effects

• Reducing the recurrence of urinary tract and vaginal infections in women

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 and knew the Benefits of Sauerkraut and other foods 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.

You don't have to wait until medical science 'proves' alternative medicine right or wrong on this subject. Kefir milk, yogurt, sauerkraut and other fermented foods are excellent and tasty additions to your diet that you can find in most health food stores (make sure that they are NOT pasteurized as that kills the good bacteria) or Learn to Make Kefir Milk yourself at home.

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. Next, find out the effects that a 'Leaky Gut' can have on your digestive tract- AND your entire body....

Next--->
Leaky Gut Syndrome

Body Ecology's Kefir Starter- While you can 'start' a batch of yogurt with another batch, you MUST have Kefir Grains to start a batch of Kefir!

Veggie Starter Kit- Make your own Cultured Vegetables (Sauerkraut and more) with this veggie culture starter from Body Ecology.

Dr. Mercola's Ultimate Probiotics

Prescript Assist Probiotic- If you MUST take antibiotics or have taken them frequently in the past, prescript assist can help you to restore healthy bacteria in your digestive tract.