The Pros of Probiotics

Historically, until about five years ago, probiotics were considered only within the realm of complementary and alternative medicine. As our understanding of the immune system and how it works has expanded, so has the understanding of the importance of probiotics and probiotic microbes in the gastrointestinal track in regulating the immune system.

Today, the world of probiotics is emerging on the cutting-edge of mainstream medicine.
Antibiotics and probiotics.
We inadvertently kill off the good microbes in our body with antibiotics. Since antibiotics are necessary for killing the bad microbes that cause some diseases, they are important for helping to keep people healthy. However, the side effect to taking antibiotics is the elimination of the good microbes within our body along with the bad ones.

We’re now finding that eliminating all the good microbes from our body results in a weaker immune system, which we believe is leading to problems such as increased incidence of chronic disease, including allergies like asthma. Once you take antibiotics as your physician prescribed, follow it with some form of probiotic supplement to get the microflora in your gut back to where it should be. Your recovery and your health will be much greater.

Since probiotic microbes do not cause disease, there’s no such thing as having too much of them.
New products are coming on the market to specifically support probiotic health. Typically, these are fermented dairy products in which companies have added one or two types of highly concentrated probiotic bacteria.


Many diseases have an immunologic basis, so we want to understand the good communication that goes on between the microbes and the immune system,” he says.

Probiotics and obesity.
Another emerging topic of research examines a possible link between probiotics and obesity, and a number of researchers around the country are starting to look at this connection.

Probiotics and the gut microflora play a role in metabolism – it’s a connection that’s been known in the agriculture industry for years.
Agriculture experts quickly note that sick livestock gained weight when dosed with antibiotics. Which lead to the industry practice of routinely rotating various low-dose antibiotics in livestock feed. The antibiotics actually change the metabolism of the animals, creating something called “enhanced feed efficiency” – an improved ability to retain fat.

We take the antibiotics to recover from a microbial illness, but the trade-off is that fat we eat may be staying with us instead of being metabolized and converted to energy.

Antibiotics are important for fighting disease and should always be taken according to physician recommendations. However, making a point of eating dairy products rich in probiotic microbes and foods that provide nutrition for the probiotics will help these microbes prevent immune system and metabolic problems. To your health!
Graham

http://gillfinn.mionegroup.com