Take Care Of Your Microbiome And It Will Take Care Of You
Its important to remember that research has only studied a few strains of probiotics, among the many thousands that make up the human microbiome. Its clear that each type of bacteria causes different effects in the body. Some of these effects are contradictory some probiotics turn up the activity level of the immune system, while others turn it down. The sheer complexity of it all makes it difficult to draw any hard and fast conclusions. What is clear, however, is that having a diverse and replenished microbiome improves overall health.
The best way to take care of your microbiome is to regularly consume fermented foods rich in probiotics, and to take a probiotic supplement. Its also vital to consume foods that help to feed the probiotics in your gut. After all, friendly bacteria need to eat too. Some foods help to nourish probiotics more than others, and these foods are called prebiotics. Some of the best prebiotics to regularly include in your diet are: dandelion greens, garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, unripe bananas, barley, oats, apples, flax seeds, wheat bran, seaweed and cocoa. Prebiotics are often better consumed raw and cooked.
The best fermented foods to incorporate into your diet are:
yogurt: preferably a natural yogurt without the high sugar content of flavoured yogurt
How Does Leaky Gut Syndrome Cause Leaky Heart
The gut lining should be impermeable, meaning nothing can pass through it into the rest of the body. However, due to regular exposure to toxins, infection and a poor diet, among other factors, barrier damage occurs.
The result is that things leak from the gut into the body where they arent supposed to be. When this occurs, undigested food particles, harmful bacteria and even toxins can leak out of the intestines and into the blood causing tissue damage.
The body will classify the particles that leak out as a foreign invader and mount an autoimmune response, in which it will generate autoantibodies against itself. This results in chronic, systemic inflammation in the body.
This inflammation is the root cause of leaky heart, or heart problems. The ongoing autoimmune-generated inflammation damages heart vessels, increases blood pressure and contributes to heart rhythm disorders like Atrial Fibrillation.
Essentially, the heart muscle is attacked by the immune system and as a result Atrial Fibrillation and cardiovascular condition results. We see this all the time in the office.
Leaky gut is associated with a high number of pathogenic bacteria and a low number of beneficial types. It is also associated with the presence of these harmful bacteria products in circulation, thereby increasing risk for pathogenic bacteria to build up in vessel walls and contribute to atherosclerosis, heart blockages and chronic heart failure.
Effects Of Probiotics In High
In both animal trials and human trials, probiotics have been investigated to determine potential beneficial effects in the prevention and treatment of a wide variety of systemic conditions. These conditions include inflammatory and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis, and hepatic encephalopathy. Advantages of probiotics include the regulation of immune system function, which is often dependent on the strain of probiotic bacteria. Some strains have demonstrated stimulation of the immune response, thereby being beneficial to patients suffering from immunodeficiency . Other strains have been shown to inhibit the immune response, thereby being beneficial for patients suffering from conditions with immune activation such as rheumatoid arthritis .
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How A Healthy Gut Helps Arthritis
Probiotics seem to be everywhere these days. We cant get enough of these friendly bacteria and for good reason. A complete multi strain probiotic blend supports the natural bacteria living within your gut and promotes digestion as well as overall health.
These bacteria are important to your immune system because any imbalance can trigger widespread inflammation. And, inflammation is a major contributor to arthritis pains.
Arthritis is a blanket term used for a number of inflammatory-related conditions. Joint pain, stiffness, and restricted mobility all result from inflamed joints. Inflammation damages the cartilage and weakens joint tissues causing bones to rub together.
Swelling and pain resultsin severe cases, your daily activities can become impaired. While anti-inflammatory medications are one option, most do not realize you can help your joints through your gut.
The discovery that probiotics do more than support digestive health was important when it comes to conditions like arthritis. The collection of bacteria in your gut is responsible for telling your immune system if anything foreign needs to be eliminated. An unhealthy gut allows harmful strains to take over, which triggers an alarm for inflammation to remove the threat.
The problem with chronic inflammation is that the organs attacked are actually healthy.
Any disease that impacts the gut or your bacterial community can be treated with probiotics. Probiotics will help maintain health in several ways:
How Probiotics Treat Acid Reflux
While you can see how probiotics supplements are becoming so popular, what you really want to know is how probiotics help acid reflux. This is one of those areas where science is still very actively studying the results of probiotics on acid reflux, but there are some theories why this natural remedy works.
Prevent fermentation: One theory is that an overgrowth of the bad bacteria in your stomach causes fermentation, resulting in extra gas. The belief is that these gas forces open the lower esophageal sphincter, which then allows acid and other stomach contents to flow upward into the esophagus.
The use of probiotics balances out the good and bad bacteria in the body, reducing the gas and eliminating fermentation.
The stomach works faster: Probiotics may promote faster absorption and stomach emptying. Many sufferers of acid reflux report that they suffer more symptoms after overeating.
This full-stomach feeling may be emotionally satisfying but it makes it much easier for food to back up into the esophagus. When your stomach empties faster, youre closing the window on regurgitation and other GERD symptoms.
When acid reflux reaches the point of GERD, or when it continually creeps up into the esophagus, the lining is irritated and inflammation results. Probiotics have anti-inflammatory properties and can ease these acid reflux symptoms, provided you buy one with the right probiotic strains.
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How Can Probiotics Help With Constipation
Probiotics are the good bacteria in your gut that help maintain good digestion, immune function, neurotransmitter production, and more. Youre born with some probiotic bacteria, but many of the probiotics that end up in our digestive system come from our food, and now, supplements. Consuming probiotics can help improve your microbiome balance and even fight the bad bugs, harmful bacteria, yeasts, and parasites .
There is a significant and growing body of scientific evidence showing that probiotics can help to improve gut transit time and relieve constipation. Many systematic reviews and meta-analyses show that probiotics:
- Lessen bloating
- Improve overall quality of life
In the research so far, there does seem to be a difference in probiotics effectiveness in adults and elderly people versus children, with a significant beneficial effect in the former and less conclusive effects for the latter . This may be due to age-related issues like bacterial overgrowth .
Along with improving microbiome status in the gut, probiotics can lower inflammation , reduce and repair damage to the gut lining , and modulate immune system function .
Cytokines That Are Biomarkers For Inflammation And That Are Commonly Seen In Cases Of Covid
- Interleukin 6
- Tumor necrosis factor alpha
- Interleukin 1-beta
- C-reactive protein
These biomarkers also link to diabetes and atherosclerosis, as well as other age-related conditions. In cases of COVID, the cytokine storm can cause damage to the cardiovascular system, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidneys, small blood vessels, and even the eyes and brain.1
Cytokine storms often lead to admission to the intensive care unit and the need for intubation as uncontrolled production of proinflammatory cytokines can lead to organ failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome .
The tricky thing, though, is that the body produces cytokines in response to injury and invasion by viruses and other foreign organisms in an attempt to fight these off. As such, eliminating cytokines entirely is unhelpful and even harmful as this prevents a healing response and destruction of pathogens.
As with so many things, theres a balance to be found in allowing and supporting the body to defend itself, while preventing healthy immune responses from getting out of hand. Effectively, COVID-19 cytokine storms are thought to be a sign of an immune system ill-equipped to respond appropriately to infection. This is where immune-supportive nutrients, such as zinc and vitamin D, come in, as well as probiotics.
Not all probiotics are created equal: See what makes Body Ecologys probiotics stand out.
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Mechanism Of Action Of Probiotics
Probiotics have been found to affect every compartment of the gut, including the luminal microbiome, the mucus barrier, the microbe- and cell-free kill zone of the epithelium, the lymphocyte- and plasma cell-rich lamina propria, the vascular and neural elements of the lamina propria, the underlying smooth muscles which control motility, and the mesenteric lymph nodes that communicate with the systemic immune system. Probiotic-modulated local and systemic metabolites have been identified which may modify autoimmune diseases and the mechanisms are summarized in .
Under certain circumstances, treatment with probiotic lactobacilli could yield metabolites in the SCFA pathway that may be harmful. In the setting of short bowel syndrome, infants have been reported to develop D-lactic acidosis , because of the low abundance of the anaerobic microbiota capable of lactate utilization and a dominance of lactobacilli in the feces .
Constipation And Gut Dysbiosis
Making better food and lifestyle choices can help some people fix constipation and restore the digestive system. Eliminating processed foods from your diet, adding more high-fiber, whole fruits and vegetables, and drinking plenty of water may be enough to kickstart motility.
However, for others, fiber can make constipation even worse by feeding gut dysbiosis. Gut dysbiosis occurs when harmful microorganisms overpower the good bacteria in your gut, causing gastrointestinal and often other symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, and mood issues.
Fiber feeds all bacteria in your gut it doesnt distinguish between good and bad. So, when you consume a bunch of fiber with an imbalanced gut, symptoms like constipation, abdominal pain, and bloating may actually get worse .
Once dysbiosis occurs, a vicious cycle of slow motility leading to further dysbiosis and so on can perpetuate indefinitely. This happens because the waste matter sitting in your digestive tract ferments and produces more harmful bacteria, yeasts, and toxins, creating further constipation. From there, leaky gut may develop, causing additional symptoms like brain fog, eczema, and fatigue.
Fortunately, probiotic therapy can help break this cycle and speed up gut transit time.
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Microbial Ecology Human Evolution Immune System And Inflammation
People living in todays urban environments have access to calorie-dense food, minimal physical activity, and high energy balance moreover, hygiene regimens have decreased, by large, the extent and severity of microbial exposition . Certain bacteria, called old-friends such as lactobacilli, have been a species of microorganisms that have become part of the human ecosystem for centuries and are usually regarded as harmless to their hosts and in the last decades we are losing our old-friends. The immune system evolves and operates in an ecosystem that is an integral part of its natural environment and a dramatic shift of this environment, such as that we are experiencing today, may alter a millennial balance of co-evolution causing a mismatch responsible of an increase of a disease state.
We have evolved in condition with suboptimal nutritional status and significant levels of microbial contact, while today, we are an over-nourished, under-infected industrial population . Given the crucial significance of new environments in shaping the development and functioning of the human immune system, the make-up of the intestinal microbiota plays a significant role in its training. Emerging literature indicates significant variability in human immune growth and function, and the process of microbial colonization starting at birth and consolidated in the first thousand days is an essential determinant of individual immune responses.
Probiotics + Prebiotics = The Ultimate Gut Health Combination
Probiotics are most definitely superheroes when it comes to rebalancing your microbiome and reducing lipopolysaccharide levels.
But probiotics trusty sidekick, prebiotics, can help push the process along, too.
Prebiotics are essentially food for your good bacteria. And if your good bacteria eat well, they grow in numbers.
Feeding your good bacteria prebiotics will help your probiotics accomplish their tasks — up your good bacteria count, cut your bad bacteria count, and reduce inflammation.
Prebiotics come in natural forms in certain types of foods. But they can be concentrated into supplement form for extra strength too.
Sunfiber is one of the most effective and best studied prebiotics out there. We highly recommend getting your hands on some if you want to strengthen your good bacteria.
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What Is Acid Reflux
Acid reflux is when acid and other stomach contents come back up the esophagus. This can cause heartburn, chest pain, and regurgitation. If your acid reflux symptoms occur more than twice a week, you may have progressed to having a condition called gastroesophageal reflux disease, otherwise known as GERD.
If your acid reflux has reached this level you may encounter more symptoms, such as:
Bloating
Coughing
Dysphagia, narrowing of the esophagus
If you have acid reflux or feel that youve progressed to GERD, its important to see a medical health professional.
Ways To Improve Gut Health & Reduce Inflammation
In your small and large intestinesthe human gutyou host trillions of microbial cells. These microorganisms make up the microbiome, the bacterial community that affects how you digest food, process nutrients, and interact with every aspect of the physical world. For everyone, but especially people living with chronic metabolic conditions like Gaucher disease, the gut microbiome plays a crucial role in managing inflammation.
Lori Fish Bard, MS, HHC, is a clinical nutritionist and board-certified integrative health counselor. She develops personalized, highly supportive blueprints to help individuals and families identify and accomplish their health goals. Through her practice, Healthy Heartbeet, she uses a holistic, functional, and integrative approach to help people develop sustainable habits to live healthy, nourished, and balanced lives. She spoke with us about how gut health affects our overall health, especially for people living with Gaucher disease and other chronic conditions.
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Benefits Of Probiotics For Acne
Probiotics offer both internal and external benefits, and one method of use may yield better results than another for each person.
- Calms internal inflammation: Taking probiotics is the best bet to keep the lining of your digestive tract smooth and robust. “Acne-causing bacteria promote inflammation in the skin, leading to acne breakouts,” says Zeichner. “The theory behind the use of probiotics for acne is that it can normalize the balance of healthy bacteria on the skin to reduce inflammation.”
- Inhibits production of Propionibacterium acnes: Probiotics applied to the skin consistently led to fewer instances of the P. acnesbacteria that causes acne, according to an article in the International Journal of Women’s Dermatology.
- Protects skin from environmental damage: Fighting off external sources of irritation or infection is easier when probiotics bolster your skincare. “Probiotics can create ‘holes’ in bad bacteria and kill them,” Engelman elaborates. “Similar to the way antibiotics work in the treatment of acne and rosacea, probiotics can help fight harmful bugs from triggering that inflammation in the first place.”
- Strengthens skin’s natural moisture barrier: If you’ve scrubbed too vigorously with cleansers and other products, probiotics help restore the skin’s natural barrier function, which is vital to banishing redness, sensitivity, breakouts, and irritation.
Immune System And Gut Bacteria
We lived in a bacteria world and developed a symbiotic state with our bacteria that may raise safety issues. The large bacterial population in the lower intestine are in close contact with human structures, and to separate the inside from the outside, there is just a single cell layer on a vast surface. This close contact with bacteria, if not controlled, can give rise to threatening health complications. Therefore, the immune system has put in place mechanisms to maintain a symbiotic bond between its guests. The need to maintain a homeostatic relationship with the microbiota has been a driving factor force in the evolution of the human immune system and to keep the gut microbiota for its essential role in host metabolism and functions .
This alliance was reached by a fine-tuned contact modulation between gut bacteria and intestinal epithelial cells and by limiting the possible entrance of bacteria trough the mucosal layer. In case of an occasional breach in the gut barrier, microorganisms can infiltrate the intestinal epithelial cell and evoke an immune response guided by mucosal dendritic cells able to induce a defensive secretory Immunoglobulin A response .
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Screening Of Probiotic Bacteria
The researchers screened more than 20 different probiotic species for their ability to tighten the TJ barrier.
They tested the bacteria in cultures of a human cell line called Caco-2, which scientists often use to model the intestinal epithelium.
Only LA1 caused a rapid, strong tightening of the TJ barrier.
The bacteria appeared to achieve this by activating a protein in the membrane of the cells, called a Toll-like receptor.
Toll-like receptors , part of the bodys immune defenses, recognize patterns on the surface of microbes.
Similar to ringing an intruder alarm, when the bacterium bound to the receptors, it triggered a train of events inside the cells that tightened the TJ barrier.
To test whether LA1 would have the same effect in a live animal, the researchers administered it orally to mice.
LA1 rapidly enhanced the TJ barrier in the animals, which then protected them against chemically induced colitis.
The bacterium also promoted healing of the intestinal barrier in mice with colitis.
In mice, the same Toll-like receptors mediated these enhancements of the TJ barrier.
