Healthy Gut 101 - Probiotics for Beginners

Hi! Let’s talk about one of those buzzwords I know you’ve heard tossed around in recent years: probiotics. Scientific understanding is always evolving. In the 20th century, we cured many diseases that plagued humanity with the development of antibiotics. We gained the ability to suppress bacteria that could ravage our bodies, leaving us crippled or even dead. This scientific achievement was rightly heralded as one of the most significant advances in medicine since the invention of the stethoscope. 🙂

For several decades science emphasized the benefits of fighting the ‘germs’ that surround us. Anti-bacterial soap, hand sanitizer, pills for the common cold, etc. In the last few decades, scientists have begun to understand the critical roles that ‘healthy bacteria’ play within our bodies. In accordance with this new understanding, we discuss today some of the basic things we now understand about healthy bacteria and some of our options to support them.

First mind-blowing bacteria fact: The bacteria inside your body outnumber your cells 10:1. Most of these bacteria reside in your gut and they are mostly either helpful or at least harmless. The sheer size and scope of bacteria will slow down the development of our scientific understanding of this topic. In many ways, we have only barely begun to scratch the surface.

We describe this collection of bacteria within a person’s gut as the ‘biome’, or ‘gut flora’. Research has shown that having the right strains of bacteria within our biome can aid weight loss, digestion, immune function, hormone production, mood, and reduced risk of contracting a variety of diseases.

It may sound icky, but scientists have experimented with swapping elements of the gut biome between mice. (Yes, this means a poop swap…the scientific term is ‘fecal transplant’). The amazing thing is that scientists can first induce a mouse to become obese (through environmental influences as well as distorting that mouse’s gut biome/hormone production). They can then do a fecal transplant from a skinny mouse to an obese mouse and they have observed a follow-on effect where the obese mouse reverts back to a skinnier mouse.

A word of caution before you go asking your skinny friend for a really awkward favor…The sheer scope and complexity of the bacterial composition of each biome are staggering, and our own understanding and control of this bacteria are so rudimentary that these sorts of experiments pose tremendous risks to both donor and recipient.

As a less drastic measure, you can easily find probiotic products in your local health food store. Probiotics are living microorganisms that, when ingested, have been shown to provide numerous health benefits. Essentially, these are substances that can support the ‘good’ bacteria in your biome, often improving your quality of life.

The two primary ways of ingesting probiotics are as either supplements or by eating foods prepared by bacterial fermentation. That said… please don’t just run off and go buy the nearest probiotic or even the most expensive probiotic off the shelves. Many supplemental (as in pill or manufactured drink) probiotics don’t necessarily survive the transition from the mouth all the way through your acidic stomach and into your intestines. Additionally, when probiotics are eaten from naturally fermented foods, such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kombucha, or kimchi in your diet- they are also paired with the natural enzymes that help them get where they need to go. That said… if you truly have concerns about replenishing the good bacteria in your gut with a supplement in addition to your fermented foods, it is important to find a supplement that is encased in spore form or a capsule designed to make it past the stomach. Work with your physician to determine the best path forward… otherwise, you’re just wasting your money.

One of the strongest links revealed by research so far is that probiotic foods and supplements can help to cure antibiotic-associated diarrhea. If you’re unlucky enough to have a health condition that requires an extended course of antibiotics, by the time the infection has been cured you’ve likely decimated the healthy natural bacteria within your gut that typically aid in digestion. By supporting the surviving natural bacteria, probiotics can help to restore proper food digestion and elimination.

We have begun to find links between the gut flora in our biome and the function of several key systems within the body. Hopefully, as scientific research progresses we will refine our understanding of how to improve our health using the bacteria in our bodies. Some of the other benefits observed with the introduction of probiotics to the diet are:

• Reduction of system inflammation
• Reduction of the symptoms of depression and anxiety for those with diagnosed clinical depression
• Modest reductions in blood pressure
• Improvements in skin health, especially in regard to acne, eczema, and other skin disorders

A word of caution. If you have a severely compromised immune system, probiotics can lead to dangerous infections when the growth of ‘dangerous’ bacteria is fueled without an immune system to keep it in check. So please work with your physician or a professional medical provider when incorporating probiotics into your routine. It is so important to make sure to work with your body to support it in every way possible, and do so with a designated team of experts to support you! Here’s to winning with probiotics!