In addition to enhancing the population of your gut flora, evidence has shown probiotics may provide other benefits, as well:. Research has shown probiotics may be beneficial in potentially strengthening the immune system by interacting with the gut or existing microflora.
Probiotics have been shown to increase immune responses to specific antigens, or foreign invaders. Basically, your body is trained and able to fight what and when it needs to. Probiotics are known to produce organic acids in the intestine. These acids effectively lower the pH and produce bacteriocidal lethal or bacteriostatic growth preventing effects.
Many pathogenic bacteria are sensitive to acid and die in response to the intolerable environment. In turn, this keeps you healthy! Some research has shown probiotic bacteria may help close these junctions or gaps and prevent invasion. As mentioned earlier, research is still new in the area and is quickly developing based on consumer interest and health.
It is believed that each person may have different needs. Bacterial strain selection is also critical. The bacteria must be able to survive the harsh gastric environment. You need to consistently consume probiotics on a daily basis to truly see the potential benefits. While probiotics are safe for most healthy adults, check with a doctor before serving to infants or those with compromised immune systems. Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and the information offered here is meant for informational purposes only.
As you may know, bacteria are sensitive to heat and harshly acidic environments, like the stomach. This means foods containing probiotics must be carefully processed and the right strains chosen selectively; not all strains are created equal. They have also been shown to survive in the human body. Bifidobacterium lactis is another example that can withstand low pH and high bile conditions. Other factors that affect probiotics include acid content, oxygen, antimicrobials produced by other bacteria, and lack of nutrients.
Both processing conditions and shelf-life conditions may have an impact. You can see this is a lot to consider! Probiotics are often found in dairy products, such as yogurt and fermented milk. Newer offerings include juice and granola bars. There are many supplements available, as well, that allow you to choose exactly which strains are best for you. Did you know? However, keep in mind that dietary supplement claims and safety are NOT regulated by the government prior to reaching the market.
It is up to the manufacturer to ensure their product lives up to the hype and is safe for people to consume. This includes vitamins , as well. When at the grocery store, check the label. First, look for a designation that the product contains live and active cultures. The genus, species, and strain should be listed to know exactly which probiotic you are getting. For example, Lactobacillus genus acidophilus species MN5 strain. Next, look for numbers. But a study published today shows that such yoghurts have only subtle effects on the bacteria already in the gut and do not replace them.
Nathan McNulty, a microbiologist at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, recruited seven pairs of identical twins, and asked one in each pair to eat twice-daily servings of a popular yoghurt brand containing five strains of bacteria. By sequencing bacterial DNA in the twins' stool samples, the team showed that the yoghurt microbes neither took up residence in the volunteers' guts, nor affected the make-up of the local bacterial communities.
Jeffrey Gordon, the microbiologist at Washington University who led the study, was not surprised. McNulty also fed the five bacterial strains from the yoghurt to 'gnotobiotic' mice — animals raised so that the only microorganisms that their guts contain are 15 species found in humans. As with the twins, the yoghurt bacteria did not change the composition of the rodents' resident communities. However, the activity of genes that allow the native bacteria to break down carbohydrates did increase.
One of the five yoghurt strains — Bifidobacterium animalis lactis — also showed a similar boost in its ability to metabolize carbohydrates. The study, which was funded by the US National Institutes of Health and Danone Research, the research arm of the food company that makes some probiotic yoghurts, was published in Science Translational Medicine 1. Companies that sell foods with added ingredients that are intended to boost health or prevent illness are under increasing pressure to substantiate the claims about their products.
The pressure was increased earlier this year, when the European Food Safety Agency criticized many products, following an extensive three-year review. The health claims are hard to test, says Gordon, because there is so much variety in the bacteria in the yoghurts and in the people who consume them, but gnotobiotic mouse models will be vital for such studies.
Using the mice, he can examine the effect of probiotic foods under tightly controlled conditions, with "defined communities where all the actors and genes are known". The mouse models "provide a foundation for critically evaluating the claims from manufacturers of functional foods and probiotics", he says. The gut is also known as the gastrointestinal tract. It starts at the mouth and runs through the body and ends at the anus. The gut involves several organs all essential to the digestion process, including:.
Muscle contractions and enzymes are also crucial to the digestion process. Most beneficial nutrients are absorbed by the small intestine. Any food that cannot be digested or is classed as a waste substance is expelled from the body in faeces. This includes potentially damaging germs or bacteria. For example: things that you accidentally consume.
Therefore, its primary function is digestive, but it also helps your body to know what it is dealing with in terms of being able to manage content that comes into your intestine.
The key is to think of it as a balance of bacteria rather than particularly good ones or bad ones. Certain patterns of bacteria or fermentation can result in bad things happening. There are numerous factors that have the potential to influence the bacteria in the gut. Our diet, use of antibiotics, environment, general health and genetics all play a part in our gut microbiome this term refers to the microorganisms found in a particular environment.
It has a function in how it controls your appetite. So, is it possible to find out if we are harbouring the right balance of bacteria in the gut? Unfortunately not. What we do have is essentially bacteria which we know are potentially helpful; and so we can say these can make a difference. However, it is something that is currently being pursued and forms part of the research agenda in the area of gut health.
There has been increasing interest in gut microbiome testing, but in its current stage, it is unlikely to provide any significant data that will have a direct impact on your gut health.
Due to the individual nature of the gut, it is better to think of the gut microbiome as a spectrum. Therefore there should be no one size fits all approach. Those looking to improve their gut health may have heard of prebiotics and probiotics. Various food brands have picked up on these scientific terms and now include them when referring to their food products.
According to a National Institutes of Health survey, the number of adults in the U. The popular frenzy surrounding probiotics is fueled in large part by surging scientific and public interest in the human microbiome: the overlapping ecosystems of bacteria and other microorganisms found throughout the body. The human gastrointestinal system contains about 39 trillion bacteria, according to the latest estimate, most of which reside in the large intestine.
In the past 15 years researchers have established that many of these commensal microbes are essential for health. Collectively, they crowd out harmful microbial invaders, break down fibrous foods into more digestible components and produce vitamins such as K and B The idea that consuming probiotics can boost the ability of already well-functioning native bacteria to promote general health is dubious for a couple of reasons.
Manufacturers of probiotics often select specific bacterial strains for their products because they know how to grow them in large numbers, not because they are adapted to the human gut or known to improve health. The particular strains of Bifidobacterium or Lactobacillus that are typically found in many yogurts and pills may not be the same kind that can survive the highly acidic environment of the human stomach and from there colonize the gut.
Even if some of the bacteria in a probiotic managed to survive and propagate in the intestine, there would likely be far too few of them to dramatically alter the overall composition of one's internal ecosystem. Whereas the human gut contains tens of trillions of bacteria, there are only between million and a few hundred billion bacteria in a typical serving of yogurt or a microbe-filled pill.
Last year a team of scientists at the University of Copenhagen published a review of seven randomized, placebo-controlled trials the most scientifically rigorous types of studies researchers know how to conduct investigating whether probiotic supplements—including biscuits, milk-based drinks and capsules—change the diversity of bacteria in fecal samples. Only one study—of 34 healthy volunteers—found a statistically significant change, and there was no indication that it provided a clinical benefit.
Despite a growing sense that probiotics do not offer anything of substance to individuals who are already healthy, researchers have documented some benefits for people with certain conditions. In the past five years, for example, several combined analyses of dozens of studies have concluded that probiotics may help prevent some common side effects of treatment with antibiotics. Whenever physicians prescribe these medications, they know they stand a good chance of annihilating entire communities of beneficial bacteria in the intestine, along with whatever problem-causing microbes they are trying to dispel.
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