There are more than 100 trillion bacteria living in your body.1 In fact, you have These bacteria can be responsible for a wide range of health issues from diarrhea to food poising to tuberculosis. Your body might be overloaded with harmful bacteria for a variety of reasons like poor diet or lack of sleep. Antibiotics are a common method for dealing with these types of bad bacteria and the health issues that they create. Unfortunately, antibiotics target all bacteria, so they kill off the good bacteria in your body as well as the bad.
This can be a serious problem because good bacteria (known as probiotics) aid in digestion, strengthen the immune system, and help to keep those harmful bacteria in check. These good bacteria and your general gut balance are so important to your overall health that approximately 60-70% of your body’s immune system surrounds the gastrointestinal tract in order to help prevent harmful substances from gaining access to the rest of your body and causing illness.2 Research recommends that your body wants to maintain the ideal ratio of 85% good bacteria to 15% bad bacteria.
What happens if this balance is out of whack?
Nothing good! A gut with too many bad bacteria means more opportunities for negative health conditions. These issues can be minor, like bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, or stomach cramps. They can also be very serious. It has been noted that children born prematurely are at increased risk for conditions like Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) and rotavirus. These conditions have been found to be more prevalent in people without enough healthy bacteria such as those born prematurely. Poor bacterial balance can also make lactose and fibers more difficult to digest.
So how is this balance maintained?
The balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut is maintained through something called competitive adhesion. This means that when molds and other bacteria are passing through the gut, they must latch onto cells in the intestines before they are able to cause any harm. If they can’t attach, they’ll just pass on through without doing any damage. Several kinds of probiotic bacteria latch onto these same cells so that they bad bacteria can’t. In a healthy gut, most of the intestinal cells will have healthy bacteria attached to them. This means that there are significantly fewer cells left, if any at all, for bad bacteria to grab onto before they’re swept out of the gut. Keeping a healthy balance of bacteria is very important for balancing the body’s immune system functions and
That sounds important, so how can I get the right amount of good bacteria?
Thankfully, there’s a simple answer to that question. Supplement with probiotics! Probiotic supplements are an easy solution to restoring and maintaining the natural bacterial balance that your body craves. Probiotics can help to inhibit the growth of bad bacteria, promote good digestion, reduce toxins, and boost immune system functions. Your body NEEDS good bacteria, and you can meet that need today with a good probiotic.
1https://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(01)96140-8/fulltext
2https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9849357/
Additional Sources
Tannis, Allison. Probiotic Rescue: How you can use probiotics to fight cholesterol, cancer, superbugs, digestive complaints, and more. John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. 2008 pg. 11
People who liked this blog also read these:
- Did You Know: Different Probiotic Strains Do Different Things
- Video Series – Truth #1: Your Body Needs Good Bacteria
- B. bifidum – A common probiotic strain
