Should I Take Probiotics? Are They All They’re Cracked Up to Be?

by Jim Harris

If you watch any television, you know that probiotics are being promoted in certain processed foods. Is this just a current “buzz” word to attract attention? Or is there truth to what Jamie Lee Curtis says in her commercials?

Probiotics are required
for healthy gut microbial balance
and therefore also for good general health.”

What they’re talking about in the TV commercials is the balance of good and bad organisms in the gut.

Two things are commonly found when cultures are grown from gut organisms.

✧   there is an abundance of bad bacteria (or “bad bugs”)

✧   there is an absence of good bacteria

When there is an abundance of bad bacteria and few good bacteria in the gut, this is called gut dysbiosis. It is not a sign of good health.

5 Things that Can Mess Up Your Gut

Here are some key causes of this unhealthy imbalance:

1.   Stress ~  stress causes a change in gut pH which negatively affects the growth of good gut bacteria
2.   Low Fiber Diet ~ good bacteria feeds on fiber. if you don’t have enough fiber, you starve the good guys
3.   Sugar-Laden Diet ~ sugar feeds bad bacteria!
4.   Trans-Fats ~ a diet high in trans-fats and hydrogenated oils will reduce bile flow. this helps regulate gut pH and food transit time needed to support the growth of good gut bacteria
5.   Antibiotics ~ antibiotics (which can come from a prescribed pill or from commercially prepared meat like chicken, beef or pork) may kill off the good gut bacteria

The majority of people I see in my practice have some sort of digestive issue. Healthy probiotics have been shown to improve digestive function!

Probiotics and the Benefits of a Balanced Gut

A healthy balance of gut bacteria has these additional benefits:

• improves or modulates the gut immune system
• reduces the number of bad or unhealthy bacteria
• helps to maintain a healthy gut mucosal lining. this assists in blocking unhealthy organisms and foreign bodies from crossing into the blood stream
• helps to improve liver function

probiotics

It is my belief that all of us need to go on a periodic re-seeding of the beneficial bacteria with a high quality probiotic. Consideration must also be given to supplying the required food for these good bacteria in the form of a prebiotic. For those with a large imbalance of bad to good bacteria, I institute a weed-and-feed program. The weed is to kill off the bad bacteria. The feed is to re-populate the gut with the good bacteria.

Probiotics is not just a “buzz” word used to promote commercial food products. Probiotics are required for healthy gut microbial balance and therefore also for good general health.

Jim Harris is a Naturopath and Nutritional Consultant assisting people all over the world through his virtual practice at The Art of Wellness Center. Jim is a graduate from the American Naturopathic Medical Institute and recognizes that our bodies have the innate capability for self-healing — especially when the correct information and energy is supplied in combination with the correct food, supplements and herbs.

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