Everything You Need to Know About Probiotics

What comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘bacteria?.’ You will imagine that something negative as many health conditions that are faced by human beings today are attained to bacteria. But that is only one side of the coin!

Some bacteria are imperative to perform a few of the key functions in the body but have limited recognition. Another astounding factor is that every person’s bacteria are so unique and often compared to their fingerprints. Probiotics, also known as friendly bacteria, can be quoted as the best example for the goodness of bacteria.

What are Probiotics?

The term probiotics is derived from the following two words from Latin. The term pro refers to before and another term bio refers to life. These friendly bacteria play a crucial role in the digestive system by helping it to digest the food and extract the nutrients.

In addition, even though human digestive system is one of the sophisticated mechanisms in the universe, it could not digest few food components and these friendly bacteria, aka probiotics, help in digesting effectively.

How Exactly Probiotics Help in Digestive Function?

Human body is complex and it houses both good and bad bacteria. However, good bacteria comparatively (fortunately) stronger than the bad bacteria and they displace the bad ones.

And, the good bacteria do not stop there. The way these tiny friends of ours function influence, directly and indirectly, our overall health. They play a significant role in the function alike metabolism, body composition and improving the immune system.

Here are other important functions in the body that are performed by probiotics.

• They are essential in enhancing the gastrointestinal function 
• Plays a crucial role in synthesising the vitamin B and K
• Produce cell signaling molecules aka cytokines
• Regulates the blood flow to viscera
• Prevents the growth of pathogens
• Helps in producing short-chain fatty acids

How Probiotics are Formed?

Probiotics are created through the method called fermentation. Friendly bacteria are abundant around us and the process of fermentation gives these bacteria a perfect ground to grow and flourish.

Benefits of Fermentation

Not just helping the good bacteria grow but fermentation helps other functions such as producing vitamin B12, ensuring the food contain additional minerals and proteins.

How Probiotics Survive?

The survival of probiotics will be determined by the prebiotics. Prebiotics, again, are a type of organisms and the common prebiotics are inulin and fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS).

However, our body does not contain any prebiotics and it takes them through the food that we consume. If you are a person who consumes a lot of legumes, wholegrains and fruits, you have increased chances of growing probiotics abundantly.

What to Eat for Increased Probiotics?

The concept of deliberately eating bacteria may sound alien but the food that you need to eat for them is not alien. In fact, you can grow healthy bacteria by consuming the delicious food.

The main food sources for probiotics are dairy yoghurts, buttermilk, cheese (bacterially fermented), soy sauce, wine and miso.

You need to take at least one of these food sources on a daily basis to ensure good amount of good bacteria in your gut.

You can also get probiotics as supplements based on your doctor’s recommendation. Be prepared that you might feel not so good after taking the probiotics as supplements as they release toxins after reaching your gut.

Takeaway

Your gut needs probiotics as much as your body needs food. Probiotics are common medication in digestive problems treatment. You might have to face issues such as diarrhea and oral thrush after consuming probiotics but trust them for your own good.

Consult your nearest gastro care doctor  if you are feeling any gastrointestinal issues.