“Good” bacteria are essential for good health –in fact, they’re essential to life itself as beneficial bacteria are so essential to our body’s ability to function that you’d actually die without them. Life isn’t aseptic. “Good” bacteria interact with your immune system. In an interesting theory called the hygiene hypothesis, researchers have discovered that an overly sanitary home, birth and environment (i.e. lack of exposure to microbiota) may contribute to autoimmune disease. In effect, beneficial bacteria actually train your immune system to recognize true threats, but their benefits venture beyond interacting with your immune system to your benefit.
Beneficial bacteria also plays a critical role in your body’s ability to fully absorb the nutrients you eat. They break down potentially negative components of your diet like oxalic acid, manufacture natural vitamins, and perform numerous other duties that keep you well and healthy.
As time goes by, more is being heard about the “good” bacteria in our intestinal tracts, and that eating yogurt and other fermented foods, or also taking supplements, would aid in maintaining this “good” bacteria. Advocates for natural health and nutrition have known about them for decades and with the help of television and commercials, even more, people are becoming aware. At the 2012 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association, researchers announced that taking probiotic supplements may actually help prevent heart disease.
The studies suggest that taking twice-daily doses of a probiotic can cause “bad” cholesterol levels (the kind that clogs arteries) to plunge and make the total cholesterol count healthier.
This is an important study for two reasons. One is that it involved a double-blind study using humans. The second reason is that it showed that a natural substance can do something that Big-Pharma’s statins (known to have many side effects) can’t do, and that is to lower “bad” cholesterol without any potential harm.
Earlier studies showed strains of live probiotic microorganisms (Lactobiotic reuteri) lowered blood levels of LDL (“bad” cholesterol). In the newer studies, investigators checked to see if the same probiotic would also additionally reduce the molecules of cholesterol attached to fatty acids, also known as cholesterol esters. A greater risk of heart disease had been found with the combination of elevated cholesterol esters plus high LDL, causing dangerous plaque buildup in the arteries.
The study was composed of 127 adult subjects that all had high cholesterol levels. Half of the subjects took the probiotics twice a day while the rest were given placebos. After 9 weeks, the subjects who were taking probiotics had 11. 6 percent lower LDL levels than those taking placebos. Their cholesterol esters were also decreased by 6. 3 percent and cholesterol ester saturated fatty acids dropped by almost 9 percent when compared with the group given placebos.
Researchers also noted that the group taking probiotics had no side effects. The probiotic strain L. reuteri has been known to have a long history of safe use.
Breakthrough research in the journal Nature and also previously reported in Natural News have strongly indicated that an imbalance of the “good” versus “bad” bacteria in the intestinal tract can appear to trigger Type II diabetes and that probiotics may help treat or prevent Type II diabetes also. The researchers also found that probiotics can increase the body’s immune response, as also stated above, but found that it can help with the body’s immune response to the flu virus and also help to treat inflammatory disease processes such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
If you are not taking probiotics, it may be something you should consider. When you have your appointment at LongevityMed be sure to include the subject of probiotics when discussing your supplements. Schedule your appointment today!
