Digestion & GI health

Probiotics — for life!

• How intestinal flora benefits your health
• Causes of flora imbalance
• Choosing the best probiotic

I know plenty of women who would rather not get into the interworkings of their digestion. I promise I won’t go too far! But it’s important to know that when it comes to digestion, we’re not alone. Tiny organisms, mostly bacteria, who live in our GI tract, help us to digest food, aid nutrient absorption, produce certain key vitamins, prevent disease, and much, much more. These tiny organisms actually make up three to five pounds of our total body weight!

When we’re born our digestive tracts are completely sterile, but then we start to undergo “colonization” by an amazingly diverse array of microbes. Unfortunately, some of us get started off in life with less-than-optimal GI ecosystems, and by the age of about two (unless you move to another country or make drastic changes in your diet) your flora is more or less set. For others who begin with a healthy floral balance, microbial imbalances (aka dys-biosis) can develop later on: after a particularly stressful period in life, an illness, as a consequence of prescription meds, or even by way of a junk-food or drinking habit. Imbalanced gut flora can lead to gas, bloating, cramps, headaches, joint problems and more.

The exciting news is that scientific evidence suggests several opportunities to support our beneficial intestinal flora. For starters, we can simply eat plenty of plant foods. Taking a good probiotic and some other GI-supportive supplements is another easy, low-cost, nearly instantaneous way to gently make amends for any damage our intestinal colonies may have suffered along the way.

Many women I talk with are overwhelmed by all the choices, when it comes to probiotics. So let’s take a closer look at the best way to get rapid relief from dysbiosis, and how to find the right probiotic for you.

Reaping the benefits of a friendly GI community

When patients tell me they can’t wait to get home at the end of the day to change into roomier clothes — usually something with an elastic waistband to accommodate for bloating or gas — this is my first clue that they may need digestive support. We usually find rebalancing the patient’s gut flora extremely helpful in resolving embarrassing symptoms like bloating and flatulence. And in the process, we can accomplish much more for her overall health. Here are just some of the myriad benefits of a balanced GI community:

• Digests certain sugars and proteins.
• Facilitates absorption of certain minerals, such as calcium, magnesium, and iron.
• Regulates appropriate storage of fat in the body.
• Prevents bloating, gas, and yeast overgrowth.
• Manufactures vitamin K and B vitamins sometimes otherwise in short supply.
• Deprives invaders of nutrients, secretes acids that less-friendly microbes can’t tolerate.
• Strengthens the lining of the gut to help block dangerous pathogens, toxins, and allergens.
• Stimulates immune system by increasing T-cells, producing natural antibiotics/antifungals.
• Metabolizes and recycles hormones, including estrogen, thyroid hormones, and phytoestrogens.
• Helps detoxify drugs and other harmful compounds.
• Exerts anti-tumor/anti-cancer effects.

And there are even more advantages being discovered all the time — but suffice it to say that having healthy GI flora is essential to your overall health and longevity!

Research recently published by molecular biologists suggests we acquire as newborns one of three main types of gut ecosystems. Surprisingly, these three enterotypes (“entero” meaning “inside”) appear to cluster in humans not by the country we’re from, or by our race, gender or age — but they do correlate with our genetic blueprint and dietary traditions.

So the family we’re born into determines what kinds of “bug” communities live in and on us. You might be thinking, Yuck — and I need to know this why!? But trust me: your enterotype matters a lot because it’s central to how you obtain energy and metabolize nutrients — both of which have enormous implications for your lifelong health and well-being.

How you can achieve healthy floral balance

The good news is that no matter where your imbalance stems, natural solutions are at your fingertips. My first recommendation will always be for women to eat well to restore and balance their gut flora, but choosing optimal “gut food” is not always possible — or palatable for some! Take a look at these suggestions for keeping a good biotic balance.

• What to eat. Good bacteria feast on fiber. They thrive on a generous supply of vegetables, legumes, fruits, seeds, and whole grains. Foods like garlic, green tea, and ginseng contain polyphenols, which are also helpful for fostering friendly microbes. And to keep the bad bacteria out, include some real fermented or cultured foods in your daily diet, like miso, kim chi, sauerkraut, umeboshi, tempeh, soy sauce, kefir, yogurt, and any kind of homemade pickle.
• What to avoid. Unfriendly flora love refined sugars and animal fat best of all. So use moderation with sweets, refined flours, alcohol, butter, and fatty meats, or avoid them altogether, at least for a while. You should also steer clear of processed foods and anything containing adulterants like preservatives.
• Try a probiotic supplement. If you expect to be traveling, are under lots of stress, or you’re currently experiencing GI symptoms, consider taking a good probiotic supplement to restore or maintain balance. The colonies of organisms that naturally inhabit your gut are not the same as probiotic species, though. Probiotics principally act as placeholders in your ideal intestinal “real estate,” so your native flora can get reestablished.

Different combinations and protocols work well for different people and situations. Here are three such possible scenarios:

Choosing a probiotic: what to look for

Probiotics come in a wide range of formulations, from encapsulated beads and powders to enteric-coated capsules and liquid functional foods. Most women prefer powdered probiotics in capsules that do not require refrigeration. To help guarantee the most active cultures, we recommend buying smaller quantities more frequently and keeping them in the refrigerator — unless that means you forget to take them, of course!

Bear in mind that the following guidelines are for women who are experiencing minor symptoms of gas and bloating with meals, or those who want to prevent bacterial imbalance due to antibiotics, stress, travel, and so on.

For anyone with more serious digestive disorders, it might be best to proceed more gently when it comes to healing your gut. This could mean starting with a lower-bacterial-count probiotic every other day, taken at the end of the day when the stomach is not empty. You can work up to taking it every day and/or to a higher-count probiotic. Talk with a functional medicine practitioner for more help.

Here’s what to look for when selecting a probiotic:

• Look for supplements that contain bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus species such as L. acidophilus in the billions. The number of colony-forming units (CFU’s) should be listed on the label.
• To ensure product purity, safety and quality, look for a supplement made in a GMP-compliant facility that is certified by the NSF. (These acronyms should also appear on the packaging.)

Ideally, we’d be getting all the prebiotics and probiotics we need from our diet, but this is not always possible. This is why we created our own Super Biotic for our Personal Program members, which contains 15 billion organisms per dose.

Probiotics can’t do it alone

Probiotic use is generally safe, simple, and effective, but it’s no substitute for good overall health practices. Probiotics supply the flora, but you need a solid foundation of nutrition for those microorganisms to flourish and to be able to take advantage of the potential health benefits they can provide. That’s why we recommend probiotics as part of a combination approach that includes lifestyle and dietary changes, as well as a daily, high-quality multivitamin/mineral. It’s also why we created our Personal Program for Digestive Reset, which offers a combination of probiotic support, glutamine, and an elimination diet to help heal your gut.

When used alongside a healthy diet and nutritional supplements, probiotics can make a real, sustained difference in your long-term preventive health. So take a tip from the microscopic organisms living in your own body and pay attention to the little things! Sometimes they can turn out to be the most important of all.

Personal Program for Digestive Reset Do you want to: See more about our Program? Read our 100% guarantee? Place your order?

Related to this article:

References & further reading on probiotics

 

Last Modified Date: 09/12/2011
Principal Author: Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP