The Importance of Probiotics in Your Diet
There are bacteria that can make us ill, but there are some bacteria that can actually improve our health. Probiotics are one of these bacteria that are beneficial to our health and body.
According to many studies, probiotics support digestion, help in cases of type 2 diabetes, they are very useful for children and they help in the fight against depression because they encourage the production of so-called hormones of happiness in the brain.
Probiotics are actually live microorganisms which, taken in sufficient quantities, have beneficial effects of the human body by enhancing the properties of the natural microflora of the digestive system.
In most cases, people use lactic acid bacteria of the genera Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus as probiotics. These bacteria are found in the human stomach and intestinal microflora. They are involved in the fight against harmful and dangerous bacteria which causes different diseases.
Microflora of the stomach is prone to changes caused by stress, unbalanced diet, aging and antibiotics which destroy both good and bad bacteria which means that they should be renewed. This is something that can be achieved by taking certain foods and supplements.
Antibiotics are destroying good and bad bacteria
In order to restore the balance after taking medications, such as antibiotics, you will often hear the advice to take probiotics. During treatments that involve antibiotics, every bacterium (both good and bad) that are sensitive to a particular antibiotic are destroyed and in this process the digestive and intestinal flora suffers the most. In addition, the bacteria found in the oral cavity which protect us from viral infections is destroyed too and people very often feel that they are getting ill after taking an antibiotic. This is very common in cases of urinary tract infections, for example. There is flora in the bladder which we are accustomed to and which doesn’t cause any problems. When the antibiotics destroy this flora, the bad bacteria known as Escherichia coli can increase their colonies and cause a bladder infection.
The importance of probiotics
Probiotic bacteria, specifically LGG, reduce the risk of respiratory and intestinal infections in children. Accord to one study, children who received LGG were less prone to upper respiratory tract infections and intestinal infections compared with children who took fermented milk mixture without probiotics.
Probiotics in the daily diet and products
You are probably aware of the fact that probiotics can be found in yogurt, but this is not the only source of these good bacteria. You can include sauerkraut (but not preserved or pasteurized) and fermented cheeses (cheddar, Parmesan or Gouda) in your diet. If you still haven’t tried you can also include this food in your diet. Miso is a product of the fermentation process of soybeans.
You can also compensate by using high-quality products that can bring back and keep the balance of digestion and metabolism in a natural way. When selecting products, you should make sure that you are buying products that guarantee that the probiotics will reach the large intestine through the stomach and duodenum because this is where their activity is most important. It will provide you with gastro-resistant layers that will prevent stomach acid to dissolve the probiotics prematurely.