Probiotics

Do I ever get tired of the probiotic posts?

Nope.

I went to a conference hosted by INR Seminars last week called “Probiotics, Food and the Immune system.” It was great! Lots of interesting examples and confirmations about how important and vital gut bacteria are to us.

A couple stand out. In the first, a woman received a fecal transplant from her daughter after a C. Diff infection. The recipient was normal weight prior to fecal transplant, but her daughter was obese. After the transplant, the recipient became obese. – So I know there are a lot of details missing like “did the recipient have any changes in diet/lifestyle that would explain the weight gain?” – there is plenty of research out there showing an imbalance of Fermicutes vs Bacteriodities, (high Ferm/low bac) is common among obese individuals. This is still correlation, or association and the “chicken or the egg” analogy stands- did the bacteria cause a person to become obese, or did the bacteria ratio change once a person became obese (due to food choices or because of exercise habits)? There are more questions than answers at this time, but that’s why it’s so fascinating.

The other than stood out to me was another fecal transplant patient. She had a history of Ulcerative colitis. She then had a fecal transplant from her husband. She was “cured” of UC until years later she had an unrelated illness requiring a hefty dose of antibiotics. After the antibiotics, her UC returned.

These are small sample sizes, (n=1) but they demonstrate the changes that might happen if one has a change in gut bacteria.

Coincidently, I received an email from someone at “reviews.com” who asked if I could link them to their “Best Probiotics Supplement Review of 2018.” I did check it out and it could be a useful resource for people if they are curious which probiotics might be “best” since there are seemingly infinite choices out there now.

At the conference, the speaker talked about how buying the “best” probiotics may not do much for you if you don’t feed them. Taking the most potent, fancy, expensive and very reputable probiotic won’t help any issues if you just drink gatorade and eat Cheetos. A balanced healthy diet of meats, vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruits, grains, and legumes will feed the probiotics and keep them happy and healthy. This may be as big of a reason why we encourage healthy eating. Feeding the “right” bacteria can have beneficial effects on healthy weight, a healthy gut, and a healthy brain.

More on that later.

 

Let me know if you do or do not take probiotics and if you feel better because of it or if you don’t.