Intestinal Bacteria Is Your Friend

You typically house more than 100 trillion live organisms, representing at least 400 different species of bacteria. Some are good, some are bad, and some are indispensable.

This complex mass of bacterial life inside each of us serves several vital functions: It facilitates absorption of nutrients, protects us against absorption of toxins and disease-causing germs, digests the otherwise indigestible, and makes life difficult for harmful foreign substances. Unfortunately, beneficial bacteria, or probiotics, don’t always win out within this mix.

Infection and poor environmental conditions can tip the balance in favor of harmful bacteria. These include E. coli and related bugs, which are encouraged by a diet too rich in sugars and carbohydrates, and Clostridium difficile, usually picked up during a hospital stay.

Anti versus Pro

Antibiotics can have the unfortunate side effect of killing off good as well as bad bacteria, tipping the balance away from normalcy. The result is loss of most of the intestinal bacteria during frequent and repeated trips to the loo. One of the best strategies for preventing diarrhea is probiotics. Antibiotics kill microscopic living organisms, while probiotics promote them.

Certain probiotic species are critical to a healthy gut. Lactobacillus acidophilus (the second name means acid-loving, because they thrive in the highly acidic environment of the digestive system) is the best known. These bacteria are closely related to the organisms found in yogurt. But a handful of other bacteria are also valuable, even vital. These include bifidobacterium and other lactobacillus species.

Consider Supplements

After a case of food poisoning, a bout of intestinal flu, an internal cleanse, a round of antibiotics, or even routine health tests (like a colonoscopy), you’ll want to restore beneficial bacteria to your digestive tract. How much do you need? A typical probiotic capsule might provide several billion viable dehydrated bacteria. In this context, “viable” means that they might reconstitute into live bacteria when rehydrated.

The probiotics sold as live culture, still in the same yogurt-like mix (or nondairy medium) where they are grown, are the gold standard. These products can provide as many as 50 billion organisms per serving. While 50 billion bugs may sound like a huge dose, keep in mind that compared to the normal population of a hundred trillion intestinal bugs, this is only one part in two thousand.

Despite their efficiency at delivering the right live organisms, live culture probiotics have one significant drawback compared to dehydrated capsules: Because all the bacteria are grown in the same medium, they must all thrive at the same level of acidity (i.e., the same pH). That’s why dry capsule products can provide a mix of more different species — up to six or eight — compared to only one or two in the live culture products.

Whatever you choose, probiotics are best used near the end of a bout of diarrhea, as restocking the intestines with “good bugs” is necessary for balance to be restored. In sickness and for health, support those beneficial microscopic bugs. Give them good high-fiber and low-carb foods to digest, and don’t ask them to deal with more than the usual stream of infectious bugs. The bacteria in your intestines may be among your 100 trillion best friends.