Probiotic-Rich Foods and Digestion

By Bonnie Jenkins, Advanced Natural Medicine

If there was ever any doubt that modern life disrupts digestion, just look at the number of ads for heartburn remedies, laxatives and diarrhea relievers. The typical American diet, lack of exercise, out-of-control stress levels and sheer speed of life today can keep our stomachs in a constant state of turmoil.

But there is something we can do to fortify our defenses against these tummy troubles. And it couldn’t be easier.

Bacterial Buddies

Eating live bugs sounds like something a child might do on a dare. But a growing number of grown-ups are deliberately supplementing their diets with armies of these little critters, beter known as probiotics. Unlike the creepy-crawlies that swarm the garden, these microscopic bacteria help you maintain healthy digestion and prevent toxic invaders from taking over your intestines.

Our gastrointestinal tract is home to more than 400 different species of bacteria that perform very important functions in our body - from the mouth all the way down to the rectum. Probiotics is a Greek word meaning “for life,” and it’s used to describe the living beneficial bacteria that support digestion as well as vaginal and urinary tract health. Probiotics also promote the body's overall immunity, support healthy liver function and increase the absorption of nutrients.

But their best known role in good health is the protection they offer against harmful bacteria, fungi and viruses. Probiotics produce organic compounds that increase the acidity in your intestines. This helps to prevent the “bad” bugs from reproducing. Probiotics also produce bacteriocin, natural antibiotics that kill harmful micro-organisms.

Low levels of these beneficial bugs have been linked to a number of common digestive disorders, including constipation, Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel syndrome. They’ve also been implicated in jock itch, vaginitis and yeast infections. And surprisingly, some natural health practitioners suspect waning levels of beneficial bacteria contribute to gingivitis, psoriasis, eczema, migraines, urinary tract infections and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Bug Killers

With everything that these beneficial bugs do for us, it’s in our best interest to be a good host. But there are a number of things that can put them in peril. Antibiotics are probably the best known threat to good bacteria. Antibiotics indiscriminately kill off bacteria – both the bad ones causing your condition and the good ones that help keep us healthy.

Stress, aging, poor diet, chemical additives and environmental toxins can also destroy our friendly flora. When this happens, harmful bacteria can run rampant, multiplying like wildfire and ultimately causing disease.

Fortunately, you can fortify your army of beneficial bugs with probiotics. These beneficial bugs are sold as powders, liquid, capsules and tablets – many of which need to be refrigerated. The minimum dose to prevent common illnesses is one billion live organisms a day. While that might sound like a lot, it’s actually about the same amount you’ll find in a cup of yogurt. But when it comes to probiotics, more is better. In fact, it isn’t uncommon to take two to six billion organisms a per day in divided doses.

If popping a pill full of critters doesn’t sound terribly appealing, you can stock up on probiotic-rich foods. Yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese, sauerkraut and acidophilis milk contain various amounts of live beneficial bugs, including Lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidobacteria. Check the label to see which types of bacteria are in a specific food.

One Last Thing ...

When it comes to the care and feeding of beneficial bacteria, it’s important to provide them with a hospitable home. And, like any houseguest, you have to feed them. Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), which are found in many vegetables, provide the food bacteria need to thrive.

Sometimes called “prebiotics,” FOS are naturally occurring carbohydrates that can’t be digested or absorbed by humans. They support the growth of bifidobacteria, one of the beneficial bacterial strains. Due to this effect, some doctors recommend that if you’re taking bifidobacteria, you should also take an FOS supplement. Several trials have used 8,000 mg. of FOS per day, but there is some evidence that 4,000 mg. may be enough to significantly increase the amount of bifidobacteria in your digestive tract.

This Just In ...

First they told you your once-normal cholesterol was too high – even though your numbers hadn’t changed. Then they targeted your blood pressure.

For years, doctors considered 120/80 to be ideal – anything under 140 was still healthy. But in 2003, doctors got new advice from a government-sanctioned medical panel called the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure.

According to the panel, systolic blood pressure as low as 120 could be unsafe. And people with systolic pressure between 120 to 139 were dubbed to have “pre-hypertension.” What to do? The panel recommended that millions more people should take hypertension drugs to save their lives.

Thanks to these new guidelines, nearly half of the world's population is now classified as hypertensive or pre-hypertensive, including three-quarters of all seniors.

More recently, “expert” panels from prestigious medical-research organizations like the World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health have joined the chorus, calling for lower blood pressure thresholds. But behind each of those panels were giant pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the new and expensive hypertension drugs. In fact, among the 11 the NIH panel members that recommended a broader use of hypertension drugs, nine had ties to the drug companies.

The only problem is that a study - funded solely by the federal government – concluded that the newer blood-pressure drugs are less safe, usually no more effective and far more expensive than decades-old drugs such as diuretics. More serious, however, was that the study, known as ALLHAT (Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial), also discovered that lisinopril and amlodipine, two of the new hypertension drugs, were downright dangerous.

According to the Feds, lisinopril was linked to 60 percent higher frequency of strokes. Amlodipine, not only boosted the risk of having a heart attack by 38 percent, it increases the rate of suicide and depression among its users.

If you’ve been diagnosed as pre-hypertensive, don’t blindly buy into the new guidelines. There are plenty of safe and effective alternatives that can help you bring those numbers down. Studies show that supplementing with 100 mg. of Co-Q10 can significantly lower blood pressure. Fish oil, rich in DHA and EPA, also eased hypertension in 31 studies. In one of these trials, researchers found that that DHA had greater effects on blood pressure than EPA or mixed fish oil supplements.

Changes in your lifestyle can also lower high blood pressure. Smoking, being overweight and stress can send your blood pressure skyrocketing. What you eat also plays a role, especially if you use a lot of salt or consume caffeine on a regular basis. Unless your blood pressure readings are dangerously high, you may be able to take control of borderline hypertension with these safe and simple lifestyle changes.

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References:

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Mori TA, Bao DQ, Burke V, et al. “Docosahexaenoic acid but not eicosapentaenoic acid lowers ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate in humans.” Hypertension. 1999;34:253-260.

Singh RB, Niaz MA, Rastogi SS, et al. “Effect of hydrosoluble coenzyme Q10 on blood pressures and insulin resistance in hypertensive patients with coronary artery disease.” Journal of Human Hypertension. 1999;13:203–208.

Vijaya Kumar SG, Singh SK, Goyal P, et al. “Beneficial effects of probiotics and prebiotics on human health.” Pharmazie. 2005;60:163-171.

Wright JT, Dunn JK, Cutler JA, et al. “Outcomes in hypertensive black and nonblack patients treated with chlorthalidone, amlodipine, and lisinopril.” Journal of the American Medical Association. 2005; 293:1595-1608.

Xie F, Petitti DB, Chen W. “Prescribing patterns for antihypertensive drugs after the Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial: report of experience in a health maintenance organization.” American Journal of Hypertension. 2005;18:464-469.