The Many Health Benefits of Probiotics in Your Digestive System

The ideal ratio between the bacteria in your body is 85 percent "good" and 15 percent "bad." That's right – you need FAR more beneficial bacteria (probiotics) than you might think (85% good bacteria, 15% bad bacteria)

This ratio is essential for:

The proper development and function of your immune system, protection against over-growth of other microorganisms that could cause disease, breakdown of food and absorption of nutrients, production of vitamins, absorption of minerals and elimination toxins.

As you can see, probiotics perform a wide variety of functions, which makes them useful and beneficial for a number of health concerns, including:

Food and skin allergies in children, vaginitis, premature labor in pregnant women, inflammatory bowel disease, recurrent ear and bladder infections and diarrhea. They can also help ward off allergies and infections by training your immune system to distinguish between pathogens and non-harmful antigens, and to respond appropriately.

Your Gut's Microflora Affects Your Weight!

One study found that the bifidobacteria (a probiotic) counts taken from infants at the age of 6 months and 12 months were twice as high as those who became overweight. This finding may help explain why breast-fed babies are also at a lower risk of obesity, as bifidobacteria flourish in the guts of breast-fed babies. Two other studies found that obese people had about 20 percent more of a group of bacteria known as firmicutes (bad bacteria) than lean people. Firmicutes help your body to extract calories from complex sugars and deposit those calories in fat, not a good thing!

How to Increaes Probiotics in Your Gut

It's not as hard as you may think! One of the best things to do is to stop consuming processed and sugary food and limting your consumption of grains, which quickly turn into sugar in your body. 'Bad' bacteria thrive on this sugar and this can lead to an imbalance. On the flip side, a healthy, diverse diet low in sugar helps your beneficial bacteria flourish!

Keep in mind that if you or your kids need to lose some excess weight, balancing your gut bacteria is only one part of the equation. Regular exercise and good nutrition are very important.

Unfortunately there are more factors that influence your gut bacteria. Antibiotics, chlorinated water, antibacterial soap, agricultural chemical and pollution can all destroy your good bacteria. It is a very good idea to "reseed" your body with good bacteria from time to time by taking a high-quality probiotic supplement or eating fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, or plain organic yogurt. For more information on how to improve your health, give me a call for your free 20 minute intial consultation! You can reach me at 513-505-7817.