Everything You Need to Know About Probiotics

Fun fact: there are tens of trillions of tiny bacteria living in your intestines at this very moment. Don’t be alarmed these microorganisms are not there to harm you! On the contrary, they perform many important functions for your body that help to maintain or improve your overall health. These “good” bacteria, collectively referred to as our “gut microbiota,” play an essential role in helping us digest food, fight infection, produce some vitamins (like B vitamins and vitamin K), and protect the inner lining of our intestines against damage, among other things.


What does this have to do with probiotics?

Probiotics are live, “good” bacteria that are commonly found in fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, kombucha, etc., cultured dairy products such as yogurt and cottage cheese, and dietary supplements in various forms ranging from tablets to gum. You may have seen the phrase “contains live cultures” on the label of some food products—this just means the food naturally contains or has been fortified with probiotics.

Why consume probiotics?

Probiotics replace or add to the “good” bacteria that are already present in our gut.


What are the health benefits of probiotics? Studies show that probiotics may…

1) Replace or diminish numbers of “bad” gut bacteria
Probiotics help us maintain the integrity, diversity, and optimal balance of bacterial organisms in our gut, in part by preventing new “bad” bacteria from colonizing in our intestines and taking control.

2) Enhance immune defenses
Our gut bacteria play an instrumental role in immunity by providing a barrier effect against foreign invaders that attempt to enter our body’s cells through the digestive tract. Some studies have shown that probiotics consumption enhances this barrier effect and may help to prevent or shorten the duration of infections by strengthening our body’s immune response.

  
3) Enhance digestive health & function
Probiotic consumption is associated with improved digestive health, including more efficient digestion and absorption of nutrients, decreased severity and frequency of constipation, and amelioration of common indigestion and its symptoms such as bloating and gas. These benefits as well as overall improvement of symptoms have also been observed with probiotic supplementation in individuals with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

4) Support mental health
You may have heard of the “gut-brain connection” or the “gut-brain axis.” These terms refer to the connection between gut health and mental health. Disruption of the normal or healthy composition of gut microbiota has been linked to several mental health disorders, including anxiety and depression. By enhancing the composition of the gut microbiota, probiotics, via the “gut-brain connection,” can ease the symptoms of such disorders. Some studies suggest probiotics may be even more effective in treating anxiety and depression than prescription medications!


A note on probiotic supplements

Be wary of any other health claims that may be made on the labels of probiotic supplements, as there is not yet substantial evidence to support them. The research on the effects of probiotics is still very much ongoing and scientists are still working to identify the optimal bacterial strain or combination of strains and optimal doses of probiotic formulas that will provide the greatest benefits to the consumer.

If you are considering taking a probiotic supplement, keep in mind that different probiotic formulas may have different effects for different individuals due to variations in the composition of each person’s native gut microbiota. Therefore a probiotic supplement may or may not provide you with the above benefits and you may have to try a few different formulas before you find one that works for you.



Sources:
1. https://nccih.nih.gov/health/probiotics/introduction.htm