Do Probiotics Live Up to the Hype?

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Saturday, August 22, 2015

Erin Brockmeyer, GoLocalWorcester Natural Health Expert

Probiotics are everywhere these days: there are extra probiotics being added to yogurt, beverages, even infant formulas. They are being touted as the next best thing for your gut and your immune system. Are they really that big of a deal?

Your Gut 

To answer this questions, it helps to understand the basics of your gut. Believe it or not, the tube that runs from your mouth all the way through your digestive system to the exit is really not “inside” your body. It is a self-contained unit, kind of like your skin, and one of its main jobs is to protect you from things that could be harmful if they do get truly inside. Your entire digestive tract is full of bacteria, and it is especially populous in your small intestine and in your colon where you will find as many as 10 to the 12th (that’s 1 trillion) organisms per gram of content. These organisms work hard at protecting you from infectious agents that are introduced every day via food and drink. 

These organisms are constantly under siege, and can be decimated by some of the following:

• Antibiotics, corticosteroids, birth control pills, and NSAIDs
• Diets high in refined carbohydrates, sugar and processed foods
• Diets low in fermentable fibers
• Diets high in inflammatory or allergenic foods
• Chronic stress
• Chronic infections 
• Use of antibacterial/antimicrobial cleansers

Why Does it Matter? 

Martin Blaser, Director of the NYU Human Microbiome Program writes in his book Missing Microbes that one course of 5-7 days of antibiotics can cause years of alterations to the gut environment, and in some cases, it may never be the same. People with low diversity in their gut organisms, and/or with low overall numbers of organisms are found to have higher risk of infection, auto-immune disease, diabetes, arthritis, mood disorders, obesity, and more.

“Our intestines contain more immune cells than the entire rest of our body,” says Dr. Natalia Shulzhenko, physician in the OSU Department of Biomedical Sciences. Research is showing that the root of treating many common diseases may lie in repopulating the gut with the right variety of probiotics.

Fixing a gut imbalance is not as simple as eating a few cartons of Activia. Probiotics need to be able to survive their trip to the stomach and small intestine in order to interact with your gut, and the yogurt you find on the store shelves are going to have a very low effective rate.

The Fix 

To truly and adequately repopulate your gut with the correct organisms, you should seek out a trained health professional who can diagnose your imbalances and suggest the correct strains for re-inoculation. One thing that you can all do, however, is to begin adding fermented foods into your daily diet.

Fermented foods are high in naturally occurring probiotics that will make it all the way to your lower digestive tract, and they also help to keep levels of stomach acid high, which in turn allows us to properly digest our food. Adding any one of the following three foods to your daily d!iet will be a great start to repopulating your gut and improving your health:

1. Raw, unpasteurized fermented veggies

Think sauerkraut and kimchi. They must be unpasteurized, as pasteurization will kill the bacteria you are attempting to introduce. You can find this form of sauerkraut and kimchi at grocery stores, but it is also fairly simple to make it yourself. Homemade sauerkraut recipe. Aim for 2 forkfuls with each meal.

2. Milk Kefir 

The probiotics in milk kefir can actually help digest the lactose in your belly, so often even those who are lactose-sensitive can ingest this product. If you cannot have dairy, coconut milk kefir is an good substitute. The kefir you can buy at the grocery store will not have nearly as many benefits as a kefir you make out of traditional milk (not water) kefir grains store. There is also a great coconut kefir drink sold at Whole Foods called Inner-Ecco Probiotic Kefir. Drink 1/4 cup per day.

3. Miso

This staple of sushi restaurants is a great gut healer, and also helps increase protein assimilation in your body. Traditionally made with soy beans, miso can actually be made out of any type of bean. The key is that the miso must have been fermented for at least 6 months, and not longer than 2 years for you to get the benefits of the probiotics. Add 1 Tbsp of miso paste 1-5 times/week to your diet. 

If you think that you need a more comprehensive plan to repopulate your gut, contact a health professional who is knowledgeable about which probiotic supplements would be best for your specific needs. In the meantime, adding fermented foods to your daily diet can be a delicious way to boost your immunity and to potentially treat illness. 

Erin Brockmeyer, LAc, is owner and acupuncturist at Solstice Natural Health in downtown Portland, Oregon.  She creates custom health plans for patients to help them tackle their most complicated health concerns, including infertility, prenatal care, fibromyalgia, thyroid conditions and chronic and acute pain conditions. Visit her website www.solsticeacupuncture.com for more information and to download her free e-book 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Health Today.  

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