How Probiotics Improve Your Health

No doubt you’ve heard of probiotics but you may not be so sure about how they could benefit you.

Probiotics are live strains of microorganisms that can even out the balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut. They consists of various types of bacteria that line your digestive tract and support your body’s ability to absorb nutrients and fight infection. Your body contains about the same number of gut bacteria molecules as it does cells in your whole body. Sometimes we think of bacteria as harmful “germs;” however, probiotics may improve your health by supporting healthy bacteria that actually helps the body function properly and is found to be extremely necessary for optimal health.

Your diet, general health, stress and antibiotic usage can all upset the delicate balance of gut bacteria and this can lead to health problems. Having an imbalance of good and opportunistic bacteria is referred to as dysbiosis. When this imbalance starts to take over, it’s likely that you’ve noticed some of the effects in your health and well-being.

The bacteria in the microbiome (gut) is extremely complex and is affected daily by the choices we make. Some of the top culprits for destruction of our healthy gut bacteria are:

Overuse of antibiotics
Inflammatory (gluten) foods and GMO foods
Excess sugar
Medications/Drugs
Excess alcohol
Too much or too little exercise
Poor sleep
Emotional stress
Smoking
Over-sanitation (this kills healthy microbes needed in the gut)

Probiotics + Immunity

Tired of getting sick all the time? According to research, taking probiotics may improve your health and boost your immunity. This may be because they can help your body to produce more natural antibodies. If you get sick with colds on a fairly regular basis, it might be worth seeing if you can improve your immune function through probiotics.

Some studies have suggested that probiotics can reduce urinary tract infections (UTIs) in women by as much as 50%. If you suffer from UTIs regularly, you might want to try probiotics and see if it helps to cut the amount of infections you get.

70-80% of our immune system is located in the gut. The balance of good and opportunistic bacteria is vital to our immunity. The immune-boosting benefits of probiotics have far and wide benefits within our bodies, and assists in protecting our gut microbiome, along with their ability to support tight junctions in the gut lining. Without tight junctions between the enterocytes, the intestinal lining becomes permeable, allowing molecules to enter the bloodstream that should be contained in the GI tract. This intestinal permeability, is also known as “leaky gut” and can cause enough damage in the intestinal tract that may predispose one to autoimmune disease. It truly is a domino-effect.

There is so much to learn about how our immune system functions, read here about how wonderfully complex it is designed.

Probiotics + Heart Health

Some studies have suggested that probiotics may improve your health by reducing some of the markers associated with cardiovascular disease.

A few small scale studies have shown some great early potential for reducing both total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, if it is an issue for your health.

One study also showed an increase in “good” HDL cholesterol, although it didn’t show much difference with LDL or total cholesterol.

When it comes to cholesterol, that is another complex subject to understand. Cholesterol is extremely important to our health and we need LDL. It is all about a balance and not necessarily low numbers. Too low LDL can be extremely harmful for many aspects of our immune system and also plays an important role in on our neurological health. Many factors come into play in determining what is the healthiest ratio of total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, and others. For now, just think appropriate balance.

Some studies involving probiotics have also shown a small decrease in blood pressure.

There’s still a fair way to go before we can definitely say that probiotics can definitely help to keep your heart healthy. The theory is that they can break down bile in the gut and stop it from being reabsorbed. This means that less bile enters the bloodstream as cholesterol.

Probiotics + Digestive Health

If you’ve ever taken antibiotics and suffered from loose stools afterwards, you’ll know exactly how they can affect your digestive system for the worse! This is because they kill off a lot of the good bacteria in your gut, which paves the way for the bad bacteria to run riot.

It’s not that uncommon for loose stools to carry on for quite a while after you’ve finished a course of antibiotics due to the imbalance. According to some studies, probiotics may improve your health by balancing the microbiome to allow the good bacteria to keep flourishing and populate.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is another area of digestive health that probiotics may be able to help with. A lot of the uncomfortable symptoms of IBS can potentially be relieved with probiotics, including constipation, diarrhea, bloating and gas.

Ulcerative colitis can also be improved with some probiotic strains, especially if the symptoms are fairly mild. The Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus strains have shown the most promise for this. Another study found that a probiotic called E. coli Nissle can be useful in keeping ulcerative colitis symptoms in remission.

There is also some evidence that probiotics can fight back against Helicobacter pylori, which is a common culprit for stomach ulcers.

Probiotics + Skin Health

If you suffer from eczema, rosacea or acne, probiotics may be able to help. Inflammatory skin conditions can also be improved, including atopic dermatitis. It’s another area that needs more investigation to say for sure but acne in particular looks as though it may respond positively to probiotics. If your skin is irritated, the culprit most likely is in the gut flora!

Probiotics + Mental Health

Gut health is strongly linked to mental health and an influx of bad bacteria could be a factor that makes you more likely to develop mental health issues.

In a review of 15 human studies, supplementing with the Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus strains of probiotics over a 1-2 month period helped to improve symptoms of anxiety, depression and even OCD.

In another study of patients with depression, supplementing with probiotics for 8 weeks reduced their symptoms.

If you’re struggling with your mental health, it might be worth experimenting with probiotics to see if they make any difference to your symptoms.

Probiotics + Weight Loss

There hasn’t been a huge amount of research into whether probiotics can help with weight loss but this is another area that is showing some promise. One study looked specifically at the Lactobacillus gasseri strain and its effects on belly fat. Over 12 weeks, participants lost 8.5% of their belly fat. And when they stopped taking the probiotics, they put it back on again within a month. The benefits of Lactobacillus is extremely important to our health and in this study it lists many of the areas of benefit. Always consult with your healthcare practitioner before beginning a probiotic to get correct dosing. It is not a one-size-fits-all; it is always bio-individual.

Spore-based Probiotics

Also known as “soil-based organisms”, spore producing bacillus bacteria species live in the top soil, and have been ingested by humans over the course of time. People would harvest tubers and other veggies from the ground, and eat them fresh to consume the beneficial bacteria. Bacterial spores are dormant and can persist in a dehydrated state indefinitely. When taken as a probiotic, they germinate and briefly colonize the intestine. Consider including a spore-based probiotic, especially if you need extra intestinal barrier support. Here is a study on a spore-based product supportive of metabolic activity.

A high-quality spore-based probiotic supplement can support the following:

Healthy gut pH
Microbial diversity
Short-chain fatty acid production
Growth of health-promoting commensal bacteria (the “good-guys”)

Steps to Get More Probiotics in Your System + Reap Their Benefits

Eat More Sour Foods-sauerkraut, kimchi, kvass, apple cider vinegar, or any fermented vegetable!
Consume More Probiotic-Rich Foods-keifer, yogurt, kombucha…best if the dairy is from a raw, grass-fed source
Consume Pre-biotics to Feed Your Good Probiotics-organic fruits and vegetables, sweet potatoes, chia seeds, flaxseeds; pre-biotic powders work well too
Take a Quality Probiotic Supplement-taking a quality probiotic supplement is a great way to improve your gut microflora as well

As you see there is so much you can do to improve the quality of the health of your gut and in turn, your overall wellbeing. Work together with a licensed practitioner to discover the health of your gut and for professional recommendations! Once you begin to make small lifestyle changes and add quality foods and probiotics in your diet, the benefits will leave you feeling physically and mentally strong and balanced!

Grab a complimentary copy of my Immune Boosting Foods guide here.