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Just as we were coming around to keto diets and intermittent fasting, terms like digestive wellness and probiotics caught us off guard. Experts suggest they are here to stay. Though probiotics have made a recent comeback as a wellness trend in food and health, their benefits have been talked about since the beginning of the 20th century.
Nobel Prize winner Russian scientist Élie Metchnikoff had a theory that yogurt-loving Bulgarian and Russian farmers lived longer. Way back in 1907, he suggested that the balance between the beneficial and harmful bacteria in the gut could be changed and used for improving longevity and digestive strength in people. Each year about 22.4 million people visit doctors with digestive complaints, according to Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. As the burden of digestive disorders increases, people are looking at everything that digestive wellness has to offer. It involves taking care of our gut health by improving our intake of probiotics and prebiotics. It is no longer limited to just yogurts and sauerkraut—probiotics have found their way into juices and the dessert aisles and the industry is expected to grow to a $50 billion market this year.
Bacterial strains can be either good or harmful for the body. Probiotics (meaning ‘for life’) are the good microbes, the ones that are friendly to our guts and bodies. These are live microorganisms that when consumed can benefit our digestive health and help in treating other disorders as well. As the world of medicine tries to test and confirm the efficacy of probiotics, a question that usually pops up at this point: consuming edibles with live bacteria—how risky can it be?
When it comes to consuming natural sources of probiotics, there is nothing to worry about simply because our bodies—especially our guts—are already full of both good and bad bacteria. There are about a trillion microorganisms that reside in our bowel. Probiotics are the friendly bacteria that help improve the balance in favor of the good bacteria.
There are two main species of bacteria that are categorized as probiotics—lactobacillus and bifidobacterium.
Lactobacillus produce lactic acid and lactase that process lactose enzymes. We need this lactic acid to control the bad gut bacteria. It is also needed for muscle growth and to assist the body in absorbing minerals. Lactobacillus is found in our mouth, small intestine, and in the vagina.
Bifidobacterium are found in dairy products and are said to be good for the immune system. They also balance the growth of bad bacteria in the intestines and help digest lactose for the body’s nutritional needs.
Genetic Subtypes
There are also genetic subtypes of the two main species we mentioned above. When you check the label of store-bought probiotic foods or yogurts, you will find the probiotic strains mentioned in the form of main species followed by the name of the particular strain; B stands for Bifidobacterium and L stands for Lactobacillus. For example, you may find L.acidophilus mentioned on the food label, where L is Lactobacillus and acidophilus is the probiotic subtype. Some of the commonly found probiotic subtypes include B. animalis, B lactis, B.longum, L. acidophilus, and L.reuteri.
Cultures such as the Europeans, Indians, and Japanese have been consuming probiotics as part of their native diet for centuries. It is only now that the scientific community is beginning to examine the range of benefits probiotic rich foods have for the body—particularly for gut health. In the science of Ayurveda, our gut is also considered to be the seat of digestive fire, or agni. Ayurveda places a lot of importance on the role of agni in controlling vital functions of the body and the metabolism. Intake of probiotics can help aid life-supporting agni.
Treatment and Prevention of Diseases
Intake of probiotics has shown promising results in treatment of ulcers, digestive disorders, urinary infections, and vaginal diseases, as well as
Bouts of diarrhea can leave us feeling exhausted, nauseated, dehydrated, and weak. Research has shown a strong correlation between probiotics and treatment of diarrhea. Controlled trials have proven that particular probiotic strain Lactobacillus GG can reduce the duration of diarrhea in babies and children. Probiotics have also shown to reduce diarrhea caused by antibiotics by 60%.
In cultures of the Indian subcontinent, when a child would fall sick with symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome or any other digestive condition, mothers would feed them probiotic foods like yogurt or buttermilk to alleviate the symptoms. Because of the potential side effects and fears about the long-term complications of heavy antibiotic dosages, more people are giving probiotics a shot in treating these one-off digestive conditions. Apart from soothing the symptoms of IBS or irritable bowel syndrome, probiotics have been reportedly useful in treating the inflammation of the digestive tract and resulting abdominal pain, fatigue, weight loss, malnutrition, and severe diarrhea of Crohn’s Disease. Probiotics can also resist the recurrence of certain types of cancers. Scientists are probing further into these benefits and applications.
Urogenital Health
Probiotics have also been found to be useful in maintaining the microbiota in the intestinal tract and vaginal lining, which have very sensitive microbial ecosystems. The restorative value of probiotics can help deal with conditions like vaginosis, urinary tract infections, or yeast infections.
Prebiotics are what feeds probiotics. In other words, probiotics are the good bacteria and foods rich in probiotics deliver them into gut microbiota; prebiotics are the compounds that support the growth of probiotics. Particularly in the gastrointestinal tracts, prebiotics can help improve the balance of good bacteria. Plant-derived carbohydrate compounds like fructans and galactans are good sources of prebiotics. Foods like dark chocolate, bananas, honey, artichokes, garlic, leek, whole-wheat flour, onion, and asparagus are rich in prebiotics. Benefits of prebiotics may include
