As well as supporting a healthy gut, probiotics could have additional health benefits
Bacteria are often associated with illness or poor health, but some bacteria are so good for you, your body actually needs them. These types of friendly bacteria are known as probiotics.
What are probiotics?
Probiotics are live micro-organisms which, when consumed in adequate amounts, are beneficial to us. The concept of probiotics has been around since the 1900s when Eli Metchnikoff, a Russian scientist, noted that Bulgarians consuming fermented milk products had a prolonged lifespan. As a result of this observation we now have a diverse supply of live probiotic products available. However, the question is… do they work?
What are their benefits?
Probiotics have been linked to a broad range of health benefits. These include protecting against bacterial and viral infections, promoting the immune system, improving digestive health and bowel habits, preventing inflammatory and allergic diseases, as well as the symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression.
Probiotics and our immune system
Bacteria are clearly of benefit to human health and wellbeing. We have evolved over millions of years with diverse bacterial populations living on and in our bodies. The human gut, which is responsible for our body’s immunity, is the “natural” home to trillions of diverse bacterial species. Without bacteria in the human gut we would not have an immune system. Hence, gut bacteria are vital for the proper function of the immune system.
However, in both developed and developing societies, the prevalence of immune diseases, such as allergies, atopic diseases and autoimmune conditions is increasing dramatically. This escalation in disease is thought to be due to a range of factors, but environment and the loss of important gut bacteria, are top of the list of potential causes. Scientists believe the human population in the Western world has become ‘too clean,’ mainly through a preoccupation with hygiene and the widespread use of antibiotics.
Bad bacteria
Not all bacteria are good but through vaccination we have eradicated many of the serious bacterial pathogens that cause numerous debilitating and sometimes lethal human diseases. However, in doing so we may have contributed to the increase of other human diseases so we urgently need to identify new ways of restoring balance to the human immune system.
The future for probiotics
The best way to promote healthy immunity is to use the agents that are most effective at regulating it. Here, certain bacteria provide the key. The goal for scientists involved in probiotic research is to identify those beneficial bacteria that can actively help our immune system to function optimally and in the way nature intended.
In the last ten years, major scientific progress has advanced our understanding of the bacteria that live in the human gut and, more importantly, has begun to decipher how bacteria can benefit human physiology.
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