Your body is home to over 100 TRILLION micro-organisms, the good guys are known as Probiotics. In this post we go over the importance of them!
What Are Probiotics:
Probiotics are live microorganisms (such as bacteria) which are intended to provide health benefits when consumed, generally, by improving or restoring the gut flora.
The lactobacilli and bifidobacteria strains of probiotics are the most common that you'll find in almost all probiotic supplements.
Current recommendations are that you cycle between products that contain a variety of different probiotic strains, because once you get enough bacteria in your system and consume a sound diet with ample variety, the good bacteria will multiply all on their own.
What Are The Probiotics Benefits:
Unlike bad bacteria strains such as Salmonella and E. coli that can make you ill or even worse if they enter your digestive system in high numbers, there's a lot of good bacteria that should take up residency within your body if you want to maintain optimal health.
Consuming a variety of fresh organic fruits and vegetables can help a lot for supporting a healthy and diverse population of beneficial bacteria, and that's where your probiotic strategy should start, consuming a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.
But unfortunately, the environment you live and work in, how your body respond to stress, your lifestyle, your diet and a wide array of chemicals can diminish the amounts of good bacteria your body is host to.
Overall, probiotics may be helpful for:
Diarrhea, especially when it's linked to specific antibiotics.
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Preventing and treating yeast infections.
Preventing and treating urinary tract infections.
Lactose intolerance.
Skin conditions such as eczema.
Treating certain stomach and respiratory infections, especially in children.
Treating allergies and asthma.
Decreasing inflammation, such as from rheumatoid arthritis.
So, What Are The Best Probiotics:
Your colon and digestive system contains billions of bacteria with over 500 different species.
Probiotics that have been found to provide many of the health benefits include various strains of:
Bifidobacterium
Lactobacillus
Saccharomyces
Many probiotic supplements contain a combination of different strains within the same supplement.
Some Probiotics May Be More Effective Than Others..
Research has shown that some strains seem to be more effective than others for treating certain different conditions.
Therefore, you're more likely to get good results by taking probiotics that have been shown to achieve specific effects, such as controlling diarrhea.
In addition, it's important to consume probiotics in sufficient amounts. Probiotics are typically measured in colony-forming units (CFUs).
Generally, higher doses (higher CFUs) have been found to produce the best results in most studies.
However: some probiotics may be effective at dosages of 1–2 billion CFU per day, while others may require at least 20 billion CFU to achieve the desired effects.
Taking extremely high doses hasn't been found to cause any harm.
One study even gave participants up to 1.8 trillion CFU per day. However, taking this amount is expensive and doesn't appear to provide any additional benefits.
Warning: we do not suggest you take over the recommended dosage.