Is all the hooplah about “probiotics” a new fad, or is it based on reality?

No doubt you’ve heard “probiotics” mentioned on radio or TV, or seen something about it in print. What’s the truth? What can you reasonably believe?

Claims are made that probiotics (dietary supplements containing beneficial bacteria) can help to restore and maintain health. True or false?

Let’s have a look.

First, face the fact that your body is loaded with bacteria – about 100 trillion of those tiny single celled forms of life. Most are beneficial for your health; many are harmful. In every moment of your life there rages a struggle for predominance between the beneficial and the harmful – the good and the bad, the heroes and the villains.

The truth is that your health and ultimately your very life depends on a wide range of functions performed by your beneficial bacteria. Some of these functions are food metabolism, digestion, absorption of nutrients into your bloodstream, detoxing your body, and strengthening your immune system. Obviously these functions are crucial for maintenance of good health.

Most health practitioners agree that challenges to health begin mainly in the intestinal tract, and that’s where solutions must begin as well.

Fortunately, scientists have for many years been studying bacteria – isolating and assigning names to an array of good and bad bacteria. A large number of bacteria have been discovered and named by microbiologists, who have also identified multiple strains of bacteria within many of the major categories.

Names like lactic acid bacteria, bifidobacteria and bacteroides are beginning to find their way into the vocabulary of people who care about their health.

Some key questions are:

1. Which bacteria are the most effective in enhancing digestion, absorption and immunity – and promoting general health?

Answer: multiple strains of lactic acid bacteria

2. Do these bacteria perform best singly or symbiotically (working together, mutually)?

Answer: Their effectiveness is increased when they work together, each improving the effectiveness of the others.

3. How can they best be introduced to the body?

Answer: They are easily introduced to the intestinal tract (mouth, stomach, duodenum, small and large intestines) simply by swallowing them as supplements in the form of powders, liquids or capsules.

4. Does the quantity of “Probiotic” bacteria that are introduced to the intestines make a difference?

Answer: YES! Intake of Probiotics in quantities ranging from 5 billion to 100 trillion or more is possible, and scientific studies have concluded that the larger quantities are decidedly more beneficial for health restoration and maintenance.

Conclusions:

Probiotic science has stated and sustained its case overwhelmingly. The science of probiotics is far more than a fad that will fade away.

The wisdom of Probiotic supplementation is rooted in decades of science and demonstrated performance verified by double blind studies and reported in numerous prominent scientific journals.

Claims of the value of probiotics for health maintenance are evidence based, credible and most certainly reliable.

NOTE: Including excellent Probiotic supplements in your health maintenance program is a very good idea, because it has been proven that Probiotics strongly support digestion, absorption, and the immune system.

Discussion?
What are your thoughts? Contributions? Questions? We have been studying Probiotics in depth, and we would love to hear from you.

Dr. H. Edward Rowe

Green Valley, Nevada

702-454-0015