What Probiotics are and what they are for
Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that live in the intestine and improve the overall health of the body, bringing benefits such as facilitating digestion and absorption of nutrients, and strengthening the immune system.
When the intestinal flora is not in balance, which usually occurs after the use of antibiotics or when there is no healthy and balanced diet, the intestine ends up being populated by bad bacteria, which do not help the immune system and leave the organism susceptible to diseases.
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What are the probiotics for?
The main benefits of probiotics are:
- Combat and prevent intestinal diseases such as colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease and intestinal inflammation;
- Fight diseases such as cancer, candidiasis, hemorrhoids and urinary infection.
- Improve digestion and combat acidity;
- Combat constipation and diarrhea, regulating intestinal transit;
- Increase the absorption of nutrients , such as vitamin B, calcium and iron;
- Strengthen the immune system , by increasing the production of defense cells called macrophages;
- Prevent the proliferation of bad bacteria in the intestine;
- Help digest lactose , especially in people with lactose intolerance;
- Prevent problems such as obesity , high cholesterol and hypertension;
- Prevent allergies and food intolerances.
A healthy intestinal flora rich in probiotics begins to form from birth, especially when the baby is born by normal delivery and when breastfed exclusively during the beginning of life.
How to take probiotics
There are two main ways to ingest probiotics: the first is done through the increased consumption of foods with natural probiotics, such as yogurt or kefir, for example, and the other is through the use of supplements with probiotics.
1. Probiotic foods
Foods rich in probiotics are:
- Natural yogurt: they are the main and easiest source of probiotics on the market, but there are also versions of flavored yogurts that keep the beneficial bacteria alive;
- Kefir: is a product fermented with yeast and bacteria, similar to yogurt, but has a higher amount of probiotics. See more about kefir ;
- Fermented milk: they are special products that generally contain Lactobacillus added by the industry, being the Yakult the most famous;
- Kombucha: it is a fermented drink made mainly from black tea. See more about this drink here ;
- Oriental products based on soybeans , legumes and vegetables such as Miso, Natto, Kimchi, which can be purchased in specialized stores.
To maintain a healthy intestinal flora, it is advisable to consume at least 1 source of probiotics per day, especially after the use of antibiotics that end up destroying the healthy intestinal flora.
2. Probiotic supplements
In addition to food, probiotics can also be consumed in the form of supplements in capsules, liquids or sachets, which must be diluted in water or natural juices to be consumed. Some examples are the Lacteol Fort, Liolactil, Lactipan Pediatric, Vavig, Floraplus Eptavis, Glutapak R, Microbiot and Pro-T-Flor, and can be found in pharmacies and stores of nutritional products.
There are several types of supplements, which include between 1 to 10 different types of probiotics. The most important are usually:
- Bifidobacteria animalis : helps to strengthen the immune system, in addition to facilitating digestion and fighting the bacteria transmitted by the ingestion of contaminated food;
- Bifidobacteria bifidum : are present in the small and large intestine, helping in the digestion of dairy products;
- Bifidobacteria breve : they are present in the intestine and in the vaginal tract helping to fight infections by bacteria and fungi;
- Bifidobacteria longum : is one of the most common types of probiotics in the intestine and helps eliminate toxins from the body;
- Lactobacillus acidophilus : is perhaps the most important type of probiotics, since it helps in the absorption of several nutrients, in addition to fighting infections and facilitating digestion. L. acidophilus are also present in the vagina, helping to fight infections;
- Lactobacillus reuteri : are present especially in the mouth, in the stomach and in the small intestine, being important against H. pylori infection;
- Lactobacillus rhamnosus : are present in the intestine and can help to fight quickly cases of diarrhea, especially when traveling to other countries;
- Lactobacillus fermentum : help to neutralize products and toxins released during digestion, improving the environment for the growth of the intestinal flora.
The greater the diversity of probiotics, as well as the number of bacteria within each tablet, the better the supplement will be, as it will facilitate the balance and the faster development of a healthy intestinal flora. Ideally, probiotics should be ingested before or after a meal, so that the foods help the bacteria to survive the gastric acid and reach the intestine, where they can multiply more easily.
It is important to remember that in addition to the consumption of probiotics in the form of supplements or foods rich in these bacteria, it is also important to maintain a healthy diet rich in fibers, since fibers are the main foods for probiotics, favoring their survival in the intestine .
Difference between Prebiotic and Probiotic
While probiotics are healthy bacteria that inhabit the intestine, prebiotics are fibers that serve as food for probiotics and that favor their survival and proliferation in the intestine.
Some examples of natural prebiotics are oats, onions, garlic, green plantains and green plantain biomass.
Probiotics incorporated into daily life. How to choose them?
To be able to talk about probiotics we must introduce the concept of functional foods from the perspective of nutrition and the prevention of some diseases derived from the alteration of the intestinal flora; that is to say, of all that amount of microorganisms that cover us the digestive system without which we can not survive, which is acquired in an innate way from the moment we are born and that will accompany us throughout our lives.
The digestive tract (TD) is populated by at least 800 different species of bacteria and yeasts, most of them not yet identified, representing a total of approximately 100 trillion (1014) of microorganisms and form the intestinal microflora (MI), the that exerts nutritional, metabolic and defense functions essential for the guest, while this one gives him nutrients and creates favorable growth conditions.
The digestive tract of the human fetus is sterile during the gestation period and begins to be colonized at the time of delivery. The child born vaginally is colonized by bacteria acquired orally, which come mainly from the fecal and vaginal microflora of the mother. When children are born by caesarean section, colonization is slower and the microorganisms involved are different, since they come, in part, from the hospital environment and from the health personnel in contact with the child.
Why is it important to have this flora and of good quality?
One of the main functions of the microflora is the recovery of energy from undigested food or absorbed in the small intestine, making it available to the host and preventing its loss recover in the colon constitute the so-called colonic energy rescue and correspond to the non-digestible carbohydrates, mainly resistant starch and the poly and oligosaccharides that form the soluble fiber present mainly in fruits and vegetables.
The fermentation processes release water, gases (carbon dioxide [CO2], hydrogen [H2], methane [CH4]) and volatile fatty acids (VFA), mainly acetate, propionate and butyrate). Another important nutritional function that fulfills a good flora is the production of some vitamins (K, B6, B12, B9), which can be absorbed and used by the body.
MI also exerts a barrier effect against the multiplication of opportunistic pathogens, because it competes in a very efficient way by the adhesion sites of them to the mucosa and nutrients. On the other hand it can inhibit the growth of these negative bacteria. It also contributes to the maturation of the immune system of the newborn, especially stimulating the development of oral tolerance to diet and bacterial antigens and the production of small intestine secreting immunoglobulin A (IgA).
What does the term probiotic mean and what is its history?
Probiotics are microorganisms (bacteria or yeast) alive, non-pathogenic, that resist normal digestion to reach the colon alive, and that being consumed in adequate amounts have positive effects on the health of the human being, at any age.
Although probiotics are currently a "fashionable" topic, they are not new. More than 2,000 years ago, the Roman Plinio recommended fermented milk for the treatment of acute gastroenteritis. The term "probiotic" (meaning "pro-life") was used for the first time in the 1960s, although the effects of certain bacteria have been observed for more than a century. In 1906, Tissier, a leading scientist noted that a significant colonization of bifidobacteria depositions was a protection against the possibility of developing diarrhea in children.
Throughout the world, "traditional" kitchens contain foods or beverages fermented by different microorganisms. They are usually products based on milk, but they can also be found in other foods (kimchi (fermented cauliflower) in South Korea, sauerkraut or sauerkraut in Germany). The number of products marketed and publications about probiotics under different conditions has exploded literally in recent years.
Over time, consensus has been reached about the probiotic concept that was finally defined by a WHO / FAO Expert Committee and described as "live microorganisms that, when ingested in adequate numbers as part of a food, bring benefits to the guest health ". This definition emphasizes the concept that for probiotics to exert their positive effects they must be ingested in high numbers that must exceed a certain threshold.
What is special about these bacteria?
They are different from the rest of those that we consume and eliminate daily and that could cause some damage in the organism (infections) and must satisfy certain requirements that make them harmless:
- Be of human origin (although some species come from plants or dairy products).
- Being able to resist the effects of gastric acidity, conjugated bile salts and intestinal and pancreatic enzymes found in the small intestine just to help prevent the growth of other microorganisms, in addition to their effects on nutrient absorption .
- To be able to survive in its transit along the digestive tract and
- Exert favorable effects that are demonstrable by clinical studies.
During the last years a considerable number of bacteria have been evaluated to determine if they possess any property that represents a possible probiotic that is going to be used in humans for purposes of health or therapeutic prevention.
It is important to say that the effects they produce are strain-specific; that is, different strains of the same species may have different, even antagonistic, functional capacities.
Which probiotics do we use most often, especially in foods?
At present, most of the probiotics marketed belong to the genera Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium. There are also non-lactic microorganisms that are used as probiotics, such as some strains of Escherichia coli or yeasts such as Saccharomyces boulardii , the latter isolated from the skin of a tropical fruit in China, where it was used to cure diarrhea, especially in children. as home treatment.
In general those that are added to certain foods such as yoghurts, cultured milks, formulas for infants, milk drinks etc. they are very well studied and correspond to the genus of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, with their respective studies carried out with specific subspecies.
A good example is Lactobacillus reuteri, which due to its effects on infant colic, both in treatment and prevention, is used in drops from the first days of life and also in formulas for infants in the first year of life. Another good example is Bifidobacteriun lactis Bb12, which is also added to infant foods for its properties to prevent acute diarrhea and associated with antibiotics, since in this period of life children are highly subjected to the use of antibiotics and also exercise a stimulating effect of the production of secretory IgA in the small intestine of children, improving the immune response.
Another good example is the use of Lactobacillus johnsonni La1 in small, collectable milk drinks that has an effect in helping to maintain the eradication of Helicobacter pylori in the intestinal mucosa. Another probiotic often used in yogurts and milk drinks is Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and DR20, both with a very important effect in diarrhea, stimulation of the immune system and recurrent abdominal pain.
Every day the applications and uses of these beneficial microorganisms increase in different foods of daily and massive consumption, all of them based on clinical studies with proven results in their effects and where it has been totally innocuous in its use in humans from the moment of birth. So much so that breast milk contains different microorganisms that are considered probiotics, a good example is L. Reuteri, which was isolated for the first time from breast milk, with much needed effects on the development and maturation of the immature digestive system of the newborn .
Probiotics used in foods (especially children) are approved by the US FDA and are considered GRAS (generally considered to be harmless to humans). It is also very important that they are certified by reliable entities, that the foods that contain them comply with the regulations of each country and have a defined minimum of CFU (Colony Forming Units) per ml of product at the end of the expiration date of the product. indicated in its labeling and obviously highlight what is the probiotic that is being used and what are its benefits. Other benefits of these probiotics are due to their beneficial effects on general immunity, and this is how it has been seen that they reduce the intensity of the cold and shorten the duration of time of upper respiratory infections, collaborate in the management of allergic rhinitis and have a known effect in Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). All this is valid to have the scientific support necessary for each strain individually.