What’s the Deal With Probiotics?

You’ve probably been hearing a lot these days about probiotics and probiotic supplementation.
But how many of us really know what they are, how to tell if you need to supplement, and if so,
what supplement is best?

Basically, a pro-biotic is a “good” helpful biotic – “bug” or bacteria. I guess logically the opposite
would be called a “con-biotic”, but I’ve never heard that term used. We usually call the bad
one’s pathogens – pathologic or disease-causing bugs.

Sometimes referred to as our Third Brain (the first one is obvious, and the “second” is our
intestinal nervous system), this microbiome is literally a forest of bacteria and fungi covering
every surface of our bodies, inside and out, and is in large part responsible for protecting us
from invasion by disease causing bacteria and viruses, regulating our immune system,
manufacturing essential vitamins that can not be found in our diets, and even aid in maintaining
optimal weight. In contrast, pathogenic bacteria (in addition to causing outright acute
infections) are major contributors to leaky gut, chronic inflammation, atherosclerosis, obesity,
diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and many cancers, to name just a few.

Microbiota Genocide

Unfortunately, our modern lifestyle is wreaking havoc on our microbiome which in large part
explains the prevalence of all those chronic diseases we just mentioned. Particularly
responsible are –

1. Diet
The Standard American Diet (SAD), with its excess of saturated fats, refined
carbohydrates, and sugar is both extremely toxic to probiotics as well as devoid of the
essential prebiotics (fibrous bug food/fertilizer) they depend on for survival. Foods
naturally rich in both include apples, raspberries, onions, oats, asparagus, beets, and
broccoli. Fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, and unpasteurized pickled veggies
are particularly high in probiotics.

2. Stress
While there is some evidence that healthy probiotic levels can help alleviate the
damaging effects of stress, it is also true that chronically elevated levels of the stress
hormone cortisol creates a toxic gut environment. Exercise, mindfulness, prayer, and
philanthropic service are all effective measures that help restore a healthy probiotic
environment.

3. Apnea
Sleep apnea is a major cause of silent gastric reflux resulting in an acidic oral and nasal
environment which in turn kills good bugs and promotes the overgrowth of bad ones. If
you suspect that you snore too much, evaluation by a sleep doctor or dentists may be in
order.

4. Antibiotics
Despite it being common knowledge that excessive antibiotic use is a major cause of
their decreasing effectiveness, the other adverse effect of their misuse is the
annihilation of many essential probiotics.

5. Oral health
All too often the cycle of microbiome imbalance begins with poor oral health. In fact,
the presence of periodontal disease, endodontic infection, or caries is often the first sign
of systemic problems. The responsible pathogens easily pass into the blood stream and
start crowding out good bugs everywhere.

Restoration of balance

So if lifestyle is the major cause of probiotic imbalance, then it obviously follows that lifestyle
correction will be the best way to restore proper balance. Eat a prebiotic and probiotic rich diet,
practice healthy stress management, seek help as needed to control sleep apnea, avoid the
unnecessary use of antibiotics, and make sure your oral health is up to snuff.

Finally, in addition to lifestyle optimization, quality supplementation can be a valuable aid as
you are working on it or when experiencing unavoidable compromises – like antibiotic
prescription