Good Bacteria: How Probiotics Can Boost Your Internal Health

Author: Brenda Skidmore

Article:
Many medical health care professionals claim antibiotics to be
'the lifesaving drugs' of the twentieth century. No doubt,
antibiotics are the most widely used and the most talked about
class of drugs ever used, on the vast majority of people and
animals, across the globe. What does the term antibiotics
actually mean though?

Here is Wikipedia's definition of the word term meaning for
antibiotic. An antibiotic is a chemotherapeutic agent that
inhibits or abolishes the growth of micro-organisms, such as
bacteria, fungi, or protozoans. Antibiotic is now used to refer
to substances with anti-bacterial, anti-fungi, or
anti-parasitical activity.

Antibiotic's widespread overuse has recently been questioned
over the last decade, by many concerned health care experts, due
to their apparent, and oftentimes, ineffectiveness. And, many
health care scientists are also beginning to recognize the fact
that, unfortunately, not all the bacteria that dwells inside our
bodies aim to harm us.

Antibiotics do perform a sometimes useful function in killing
off large numbers of harmful bacteria in our bodies that can
lead to life threatening infections. It is a self sacrificing
trade-off, however, as there is no discrimination between the
chemotherapeutic killing off of all bacteria, whether it be good
or bad germs, in the gastrointestinal tract.

Since the 1940's, modern medicine has mainly focused on the
killing off of harmful disease causing bacteria via newly
discovered antibiotics. This practice came about with not much
understanding of the role, in the advantages, that good
micro-organisms (bacteria) played in maintaining good health.

Good bacteria (probiotics), is a modern new term used to
describe live, beneficial organisms (bacteria) which, when taken
in adequate and consistent amounts, offers many different health
benefits to the host. Two very subtle improvements are often
noticed right away, in a stronger immune system and a healthier
digestive tract.

"Probiotics is not a fad," says Gary Huffnagle, an immunologist
at the University of Michigan and author of "The Probiotics
Revolution." It is really is a new scientific understanding
about how the body works."

Do an internet search on the word term 'probiotics' and you will
find that there has definitely been a shift, now days, in the
way medical scientists think about bacteria (germs). It is
finally getting a much deserved, more focused awareness and
attention than ever before.

Probiotics have been found to aid with the absorption of
nutrients, production of vitamin K, and helps with the necessary
and balanced maintenance of good bacteria in the intestines.
They are also believed to inhibit the overgrowth of disease
causing harmful bacteria, by crowding them out. Probiotics can
be the most helpful to those who have just recently taken
antibiotics, by re-establishing colonies of good bacteria in the
gastrointestinal tract which, sometimes, can be quite difficult
to do.

The best sources of good bacteria (probiotics) comes from
fermented foods, beverages, or supplements. Probiotic
supplements are available in many health food stores either in
capsules, powders, or liquid forms. And, while many nutritional
experts agree that most of us would benefit in some way from a
daily dose of probiotics, learning how to ferment your own foods
or beverages at home is a more superior source of good bacteria
nutrition. Not all probiotic supplements can necessarily be
trusted to deliver what they say they can.

Besides, learning to ferment your own food and beverages at home
can be a healthy, fun, and nutritious hobby. Most experts on
this subject will agree, that anything you can easily make at
home is far better for you than any commercialized product that
you could buy. The reasoning behind this idea, is that you will
have more control over the whole process in what you are
ingesting, and you also have the option of buying the most
natural ingredients to use for the end product.

Here is a small list (there are many more that are not listed)
of different types of fermented foods and beverages:

1.yogurt 2.aged cheeses 3.kefir 4.kombucha 5.pickles and olives
6.sauerkraut 7.sourdough bread 8.soy sauce 9.vinegar

Studies have shown that good bacteria can help protect us from
diarrhea, colitis, urinary tract infections, irratable bowel
syndrome, and Chron's disease. Probiotics may also help treat
kidney infections and stones, ulcers, and allergies. Some even
argue that good bacteria can help protect us from cancer, colds
and flu, and help lower cholesterol.

All-in-all, probiotics have been reported to help many different
health conditions, from diabetes to migraine headaches. And to
think, that as a culture, we have been overly obsessed with
killing germs all around us by bleaching and soap washing
everything in sight.

We are just now beginning to understand that there are certain
types of germs, or bacteria, that are actually good for us, and
they are our friends. Will our awareness of this knowledge
benefit human health in the long term, I believe so.

About the author:
Brenda Skidmore has spent the last four plus years actively
researching natural health care alternatives. She can attest to
the many positive results natural practical cures and preventive
strategies bring to human health. Along with the many medical
professionals whose public works she has studied, it is her
sincere desire to empower others by sharing this important
information. To improve your health today visit:
http://www.mywater4life.com