What Do Probiotics Really Do for Us?
Almost everyone has heard about the benefits of probiotics, which are the good bacteria for our digestive system. We find them in fermented foods such as yogurt, sauerkraut, and the Japanese fermented soybean dish, natto. But, what do they really do for us? How do they bring us good health?
Let’s start by looking at the most common use of probiotics: repopulating our digestive tract after a course of antibiotics. When we take a broad-spectrum antibiotic, it tends to kill most of the bacteria in our system – the good, along with the bad. One way of looking at this is to compare our digestive system to a grassy field and the antibiotic to a powerful herbicide that kills grass, along with weeds. If we were to do nothing after using the herbicide and let things grow back on its own, we would soon have a field with more weeds than grass. Weeds tend to grow faster than grass; therefore, without a healthy grass root foundation, weeds will take over.
The same is true with the bacteria in our digestive system. A healthy bacterial flora keeps yeasts and other disease-promoting bacteria at bay. Probiotics actively fight off unhealthy bacteria while occupying space, making it difficult for bad bacteria to take hold. In the case of taking an antibiotic, our good bacteria population gets drastically reduced. Consequently, there is a greater risk of developing infections, such as yeast infections.
Back to our grassy field analogy, it is crucial to over-seed the ground immediately after a broad-spectrum herbicide. The same is true of our digestive system – take a good quality probiotic as soon as you finish a course of antibiotics.
Coming soon, I’ll discuss a few other interesting health benefits of probiotics, such as balancing the immune system, creating essential vitamins, and even probiotics as an anti-oxidant!
- adara's blog
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