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ProbioticsThe Friendly Bacteria Friendly bacteria? What’s this all about? Why should I care? Yes, you should be very concerned because many serious illnesses begin when your friendly bacteria or, more scientifically speaking, your Probiotic bacteria have been killed off and never replaced. So what is there about them that make them
friendly? We have no scientific evidence that suggests that
they invite their friends over for dinner or play soft music
or have any social senses whatsoever. Yet, we have labeled
them as being “friendly” or “Probiotic.” Here’s why: Our friendly bacteria are very busy converting the dark, toxic recesses of our intestines into an environment loaded with enzymes and many freshly created nutrients that our body finds to be most appetizing. These little guys also make up an army of many billions, secreting substances that kill most invading bacterial strains that they identify as being their enemies. It just happens that their enemies are usually our enemies as well. They are busy protecting us against a long list of diseases as we go about on daily lives and as we sleep without us being aware of their labors. Hard to imagine, isn’t it? As we work our way down through our intestines to the colon we find some other interesting things going on. There we have another group of friendly bacteria called the facultative bacteria. In addition to providing enzymes and such nutrients as vitamin B12, the facultative bacteria, like Lactobacillus acidophilus, secrete small amounts of hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide releases oxygen, turning the colon into an inhospitable place for many oxygen-fearing disease organisms that would love to set up housekeeping. As infants we acquire our Probiotics from our mother’s milk. Then we seem to set out to kill them all. (That is the Probiotics, not the mothers.) We walk into the doctor’s office and say aaahchooo, and in doctor speak that translates to trick-or-treat. The doctor then says, “Ho ho ho, we must kill the evil disease causing bacteria.” (Doctors often get their holidays mixed up. Notice, they wear masks a lot even when it’s not Halloween.) Doc reaches in the goody bag and comes out with antibiotics rather than candy. Why? Thanks to the drug companies, that’s what they learned in medical school. Now, thanks again to the drug companies, we have not only killed the bad bugs but we have killed our friendly bacteria as well – never mind the MRSA. This loss of friendly bugs can make us vulnerable to a very long list of diseases. Let’s compare that with the possibility that, after a regimen of antibiotics that wiped out your friendly bugs, you wait for the ambient organisms to fill the void. Oh, they will it with something! Unless you live in a sterile bubble, a bunch of bugs will move in. The only question is what kinds of organisms they it be? Will they make you sick or just a little tired all the time? Let’s look at the odds. There are far more ambient organisms around us. There’s over 20,000 strains identified so far. Perhaps 50 or so have been identified as being Probiotic or friendly. If you are able to replace your unfriendly bacteria from ambient sources, yea, okay, that’s quite possible. If you are able to replace your Probiotic bacteria from ambient sources, then your luck is unbelievable. You should seriously consider a major investment in your state’s lottery. Otherwise consider taking a good Probiotic formula following any regimen of antibiotics. Since most of our meats are laced with antibiotics and many other foods are laced with preservatives, it is a good idea to take a booster dose of Probiotics every few days, just to be sure that you have the protection that most of us had as infants. If the subject of Probiotics is of interest to you beyond the very incomplete overview presented above, we invite you to examine the more scholarly sources below. Just a decade ago, a deep search of the scientific literature would have required many long days in a good university library, scouring the reference materials to locate a few dozen research papers on the subject of Probiotic bacteria and the related diseases caused by their absence and cured or avoided by their use. Today it takes just an instant with the click of a mouse to bring hundreds of thousands of pages from thousands of universities from around the world to your screen. To those of you with a more technical interest in the subject, we invite you to search the literature and make your observations known to us. We would like to know what you have found so you can share your views with others. In all fairness, the medical schools are now
teaching restraint in prescribing unnecessary antibiotics.
Well-informed physicians are, for the most part, heeding the
warnings against over-prescribing. Unfortunately, most medical
schools have yet to take seriously the extreme importance
of Probiotics in the prevention and treatment of a large number
of diseases that begin in the gut. The result is that in most
cases where antibiotics are prescribed, the physician seldom
prescribes Probiotics as a follow-up measure. Fortunately,
his trend is changing in favor of the Probiotics as the new
research pours in. Would your mind enjoy a more technical look at the subject? Cyberspace is waiting for you. Just click below. Onset autism and the intestine connection nccam.nih.gov/health/probiotics/ http://genomebiology.com/2005/6/7/225 Probiotic eye-drop treatment in patients with vernal keratoconjunctivitis Probiotic and prebiotic influence beyond the intestinal tract Probiotics for necrotizing enterocolitis New frontiers in probiotic research The prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea The application of probiotics in cancer Amino acid uptake from a probiotic milk in lactose intolerant subjects National Institute of Health online library
Try the same searches on Google, Yahoo and other search engines. If your mind likes the life sciences, you will have a wonderful time.
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