Probiotics Revolution Using Beneficial Bacteria to Fight Inflammation And Chronic Disease-and Live a Longer, Healthier Life

Chapter One Our Silent Partners for Good Health When I was five years old, I received my first lesson in microbiology from a Dixie cup commercial on TV. It showed magnified images of bug-like microbes, followed by a horrifying picture of a family's shared, bacteria-laden drinking glass in the bathroom. My health-conscious mother subsequently banished shared glasses and installed Dixie cup dispensers. Thus I learned that all bacteria are bad and that we must avoid them to stay healthy. Now that I spend my days (and many nights) tracking down the secrets of microbes, I know that none of that is true. In fact, some bacteriacalled probioticsare not only beneficial to our health, but actually essential. The term "probiotics" comes from the Greek: pro, meaning "promoting" and biotic, meaning "life." Probiotic bacteria normally live in our digestive tract, especially if we eat foods that contain them, such as yogurt with active cultures, aged cheese, and naturally fermented pickles. As new research is revealing, the probiotic population in our digestive tract often isn't large enough for optimal health. As a result, other bacteria can proliferate, creating an imbalance. Obviously, this affects how well our digestive system functions. But we're learning that the impact goes far beyond that. Probiotics are vital for our immune system, too. They actually send signals to the immune system that reduce destructive overreactions, including inflammation. This means that insufficiencies affect immune responsesand therefore every aspect of our health. Though our bodies don't always contain enough probiotics, we can easily solve that problem. All it takes is increasing our consumption of certain healthy foods (many are probably in your diet already) and perhaps taking some readily available nutritional supplements, which need to be carefully selected. Best of all, these measures aren't risky. The effective foods taste goodand you'll begin to see benefits within weeks. If your diet is already healthful, you've made an excellent start. However, as this book will explain, there is much more you can do. And it doesn't have to happen all at once, because every little bit helps. A New Essential Food Group Probiotics protect us in two ways. One is to compete successfully with potentially harmful microbes in our digestive tract, also known as the gut. That doesn't mean killing all of them. Rather, probiotics lower their population enough so that we're much less vulnerable to intestinal disorders and disease. Anyone who suffers from chronic digestive problems knows that a healthy gut is essential to well-beingand sometimes maddeningly elusive. Perhaps even more important, probiotics help the immune system to function properly. Our immune system acts like a police force, protecting us from germs. But if it overreacts, it can be the cause of disease rather than the cure. A trigger-happy immune system may discharge its potent weapons against harmless substancesdust, cat dander, eggs, peanutsthereby producing allergic responses. These reactions are always uncomfortable and sometimes are severe enough to be life-threatening. An unrestrained immune system can even turn against our own cells, causing autoimmune disorders such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. We can increase the probiotic population of our intestinal tract by consuming foods and supplements that contain these beneficial microbes. But we also must provide them with a hospitable place to live. Not surprisingly, our intestinal environment is shaped by what we eat. Foods that strengthen probiotics are called prebiotics; these include fruits, vegetables, and whole gHuffnagle, Gary B. is the author of 'Probiotics Revolution Using Beneficial Bacteria to Fight Inflammation And Chronic Disease-and Live a Longer, Healthier Life', published 2007 under ISBN 9780553804928 and ISBN 0553804928.