Probiotics & Immunity: A Beautiful Partnership

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The best probiotics are the brands you need to refrigerate. They have the

live bacteria. The ones that are OTC- dried powder pills or capsules are not

as effective or healthy.

 

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bestsurprise2002

03/11/09 20:58:26

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<< >> Probiotics & Immunity: A Beautiful

Partnership

 

Probiotics & Immunity: A Beautiful Partnership

by Dr. Brenda Watson, ND*

March 3, 2009

_http://www.prohealth.com/ME-CFS/library/showArticle

cfm?libid=14361 & B1=EM0311

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(http://www.prohealth.com/ME-CFS/library/showArticle

cfm?libid=14361 & B1=EM031109C)

 

 

**When you keep the gut well supplied with probiotics, you make an

invaluable contribution to your present and future health.**

 

If you want to stay well, you need a strong immune system to protect you

against disease and keep you from getting sick. Your gut acts as a huge

immune

organ, your first line of defense against infection, so you need an ample

supply of probiotics - beneficial bacteria that live in the intestinal tract

and

help guard it.

 

Your immune cells depend on their partnership with probiotics to help them

shield the body from harm.

 

Billions of Immune Helpers

 

While your body consists of about ten trillion cells, the bacteria that live

 

within us add up to close to a hundred trillion cells. The vast majority of

these bacteria live in the digestive tract. Accompanying them are most of

your immune receptors, which patrol the digestive tract, destroying invaders

 

that could make you ill.

 

Along with probiotics and immune cells, the mucous membrane lining in the

digestive tract protects the body from invaders. When bacteria or other

microbes contact this wall, immune cells determine whether it is a desirable

 

probiotic - or an undesirable intruder.

 

-- If accredited as friendly, the immune cells leave them alone. In fact,

friendly bacteria even get fed – your sticky mucous membranes incorporate

sugars that probiotics use for nutrition.

 

-- But if the bacteria or microbes are seen as potential sources of trouble,

 

the mucous ensnares them, and passes them through the intestines where they

are eventually excreted.

 

Barrier Defense

 

Research on probiotics demonstrates that they have multiple functions that

help mucous membranes and immune cells protect against infection.

 

For example, a study in France found that strains of Bifidobacterium:

 

-- Helped decrease harmful bacteria,

 

-- Kept them from invading cells

 

-- And killed off some types of Salmonella, a bacteria that frequently

causes food poisoning (Gut, Nov 2000; pp 646-652).

 

In Germany, when scientists gave a group of people a probiotic supplement

for three months, they found that they suffered colds that were, on average,

2

days shorter than those caught by other folks (Clinical Nutrition, Aug 2005,

 

pp 481-491). These researchers found that after only two weeks of

supplements, the probiotics helped activate defense cells in the immune

system.

 

Wiping Out Infection

 

Probiotics can help immune systems fend off invaders, but new research

[also] shows their potential in keeping wounds free from infection. Applied

to

wounds infected with Staphylococcus aureus, probiotics seem to keep the

bacteria

from binding to the human cells.

 

More studies are necessary, but current results show how probiotics may be

used against antibiotic-resistant infections. [see for example _a recent

Swedish study involving Clostridium difficile incidence in ICU patients_

(http://www.prohealth.com//library/showarticle.cfm?libid=14084) .]

 

Probiotics Deficitis

 

Because the immune system depends so heavily on the help of its probiotic

partners, anything that threatens these helpful little friends also

threatens

our health.

 

Changes in the American diet and lifestyle during the past few decades have

not made life easy for beneficial bacteria, and may be one important reason

our health overall has suffered.

 

As Gary B. Huffnagle, PhD, points out in _The Probiotics Revolution_

(http://www.amazon

com/gp/product/0553804928?ie=UTF8 & tag=prohealth-20 & linkCode=as2 & cam

p=1789) (Bantam):

 

**During the past forty or fifty years, Americans have inadvertently

performed a massive experiment by making two significant lifestyle

modifications:

 

-- Greatly increasing our use of antibiotics

 

-- And substantially changing our diet.

 

Together these changes have produced an invisible epidemic of insufficient

probiotics.*** *

 

Fifty years ago, Americans used to eat plenty of whole grains with fresh

fruits and vegetables. But our more recent reliance on processed foods,

which

contain little of the fiber that probiotics need to feed on, has favored the

 

growth of yeast and harmful bacteria, and gradually starved out many of our

beneficial organisms.

 

Meanwhile, our use of antibiotics has also wiped out much of the probiotic

bacteria in the gut.

 

Promoting Immunity

 

The beneficial probiotic bacteria in our digestive system have several

crucial functions that help prevent pathogenic microbes from making us sick.

 

 

-- Probiotics take food from pathogens. By consuming nutrients available in

the gut, probiotics deprive disease-causing organisms the fuel they may use

for reproduction. A fiber-rich diet helps those probiotics thrive.

 

-- Probiotics occupy prime real estate. By attaching to cells in the walls

of the digestive tract, probiotics deny pathogens access to important

gastrointestinal property. Deprived of a place to live, they are more easily

passed

through the digestive tract for excretion.

 

-- Probiotics make their own antibiotics. Probiotics can make natural

substances that hinder the spread of disease-causing organisms. Plus,

probiotic

byproducts can make the digestive tract more acidic, which disrupts

pathogenic

reproduction.

 

Fermentation Benefits

 

In the colon, probiotic bacteria make important fatty acids from the cell

walls of fruits and vegetables. Vadivel Ganapathy, a professor at the

Medical

College of Georgia, believes that eating dietary fiber provides necessary

food

for the bacteria to survive.

 

Research shows the fatty acids made by probiotics help keep immune cells

vigilant. If the probiotics decline, so does the supply of the fatty acids,

and

possibly your overall health.

 

The body*s defenses are centered in the digestive tract where immune cells

and probiotic bacteria team up to resist infection. Whenever we are exposed

to

harmful bacteria, yeast or parasites, our immune cells in the digestive

tract can shield us. Probiotics aid this process by boosting the

effectiveness

and activity of these immune warriors.

 

That*s why, when you keep the gut well supplied with probiotics, you make an

 

invaluable contribution to your present and future health.

____

 

* Dr. Brenda Watson is a much-published world authority on nutrition and

healthy digestive function. The founder of Renew Life, Inc., she is a

Naturopathic Doctor (ND) and Certified Nutritional Consultant (CNC). The

information

presented here is reproduced with kind permission of the author from the

February 2008 issue of Dr. Watson’s free e-newsletter, Healthy Living.

 

* * See also ** Probiotics – Our Silent Partners for Good Health **

_http://www.prohealth.com//library/showArticle.cfm?libid=13107_

(http://www.prohealth.com//library/showArticle.cfm?libid=13107 )

an excerpt from Dr. Huffnagle*s book.

 

Note: This information has not been evaluated by the FDA. It is generic and

is not intended to prevent, diagnose, treat or cure any illness, condition

or

disease. It is very important that you make no change in your healthcare

plan or health support regimen without researching and discussing it in

collaboration with your professional healthcare team.

 

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