100 Trillion Bacteria in Your Gut

[Guest guest]

Dear Group,

 

Along with diet, the use of antibiotics is one of the main cause of disruption

in the natural flora.

 

What has worked best for me is the use of homemade kefir to restore it.

 

Frank

 

 

http://mercola.com/2003/oct/18/bacteria_gut.htm

 

 

100 Trillion Bacteria in Your Gut: Learn How to Keep the Good Kind There

 

 

 

By Dr. Joseph Mercola

with Rachael Droege

 

 

 

You probably don't think about your gut very often but this may make you

start--the bacteria in your bowels outnuber the cells in your body by a factor

of 10 to one. This gut flora has incredible power over your immune system,

which, of course, is your body's natural defense system that keeps you healthy.

In other words, the health of your body is largely tied into the health of your

gut, and it's hard to have one be healthy if the other is not.

 

One of the reasons why your gut has so much power has to do with the 100

trillion bacteria--about three pounds worth--that line your intestinal tract.

This is an extremely complex living system that aggressively protects your body

from outside offenders.

 

However, if you are eating as many sugars as the typical American (about 175

pounds per year) then you are feeding the " bad " bacteria, which are more likely

to cause disease than promote health, rather than promoting the " good " bacteria

that help protect you from disease. Exposure to chemicals will also contribute

to this disruption in your gut microflora, and over time the imbalance will lead

to illness.

 

A large part of the influence of the " bad " bacteria is on the intestinal lining

(mucousal barrier) that is over 300 square meters, or about the size of a tennis

court.

 

Beneficial bacteria in your gut can help to boost the immune system, prevent

allergic inflammation and food allergy, clear up eczema in children and heal the

intestines from a variety of ailments.

 

 

 

Fortunately, you can influence the composition of the good and bad bacteria in

your gut by optimizing your diet and supplementing it with a high-quality

probiotic, or good bacteria. As written in a report in the October 2003 American

Journal of Clinical Nutrition, “probiotics can act as partners of the defense

system of the intestine.”

 

 

 

The typical American diet is so full of sugar and grains that--although I don’t

often recommend supplements--nearly everyone can benefit from probiotics. You

should look for a high potency, multi-strain variety, which can be found in most

health food stores. Since the best type of probiotic to use can become highly

specific, you may want to discuss the varieties with an experienced health food

store employee.

 

 

 

I recommend probiotics to nearly all of our new patients, as it is a helpful

start for their health recovery. This is not a lifetime recommendation, however.

Once you are eating the right foods it is generally possible to maintain a

healthy bacterial balance in your gut without the use of probiotics.

 

 

 

On a side note, probiotics are especially helpful when you are traveling in the

event you get an infectious diarrhea. Typically, large doses of a high-quality

probiotic--about one-half to one full bottle in one day--are quite useful for a

rapid resolution of the diarrhea.

 

 

 

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