Probiotics

Residential bacteria form colonies in your gastrointestinal tract, mouth, and vaginal tract. Transient bacteria are travellers that are just passing through. Probiotics are another term for friendly bacteria that live and work in your gastrointestinal tract every day of your life. Think of them as the "home guard," a mighty bacterial army that defends your body against dangerous invaders. Having sufficient numbers of these friendly bacteria in residence can help prevent a wide range of health problems.

This vast population of microorganisms far exceeds the number of tissue cells that make up the human body. When functioning properly, this vast unseen world:

• Helps guard your body against unfriendly bacteria.
• Helps in the function of the digestive system.
• Maintains your body's vital chemical and hormone balance.
• Performs a vast number of needed tasks for maintaining high energy levels, proper immune function.

Transient microorganisms are extremely important to understand. These include food-borne microorganisms and soil-borne microorganisms that make their way into the human digestive tract and, depending upon the characteristics of the specific organism involved, influence the overall health of the human system.
Transient micro organisms are different from resident microorganisms in that they do not take up permanent residence in the gastrointestinal tract. Instead, they establish small colonies for brief periods of time before dying off or being flushed from the intestinal system via normal digestive processes, or by peristaltic bowel action. However, in taking up temporary residence, they contribute to the overall function and condition of the digestive system. For example, the lives of some of the most important resident micro-organisms involved in human digestion and intestinal health depend on by-products produced by the visiting transients. Therefore, in many cases, these two very different types of micro-organisms nonetheless enjoy a complex symbiotic relationship that may dramatically influence the health and well being of your entire body.

A bacteriologist and 1908 Nobel Laureate, Ilya Mechnikov, stated: “Death begins in the colon.”
In his groundbreaking book Prolongation of Life, Mechnikov documented in detail the unusually lengthy life spans of several societies that practised eating fermented foods and special bacterial cultures called kefirs. He made consistent observations of 100+ year-old men and women that were still leading highly active and healthy lives!
It was Professor Ilya Mechnikov that coined the term “probiotic” to describe friendly bacteria. His research made a direct link between human longevity and the necessity of maintaining a healthy balance of probiotics in the body.
DEATH BEGINS IN THE COLON TODAY . . . ALMOST A CENTURY LATER . . .
Brilliant medical researchers from all over the world are refocused on the importance of probiotics in the diet, quietly reshaping the way medical science views health.
Building on Mechnikov’s early research, their vital new discoveries are bringing more and more credence to this startling medical evidence: “Up to 90% of all known human illness and disease can be traced back to an unhealthy colon!”
Do we have a false sense of complacency about our health? Do we believe that because we faithfully take our vitamins, or regularly bombard ourselves with silver bullets, pills and potions, that we won’t contract a disease?
CURRENT NEWS FLASH: North Americans ingest more vitamin and mineral supplements per capita than any other educated population in the world. Yet, 1 out of 2 Americans will still die due to either heart disease or cancer!
Similar death rates for heart disease and cancer now exist worldwide.
FUTURE FILE: As the general public learns more about probiotics, and health practitioners acknowledge their importance in the maintenance of our health, we will have connected the dots between a healthy colon, sound health and increased life span.

Once harmful toxin-producing bacteria and fungi take over in the gastrointestinal tract, our immune system has become severely compromised. Given our exposure to stress, toxic chemicals, antibiotics, steroidal drugs and carcinogenic substances, it is a must that we proactively guard the health of our gut and supplement with probiotics every day.
Without the correct balance of 85% probiotic bacteria to 15% pathogenic bacteria, some form of physical disease is likely to manifest itself.
Maintaining this critical ratio is the single most important thing we can do to ensure good health and longevity.

Once harmful toxin-producing bacteria and fungi take over in the gastrointestinal tract, our immune system has become severely compromised. Given our exposure to stress, toxic chemicals, antibiotics, steroidal drugs and carcinogenic substances, it is a must that we proactively guard the health of our gut and supplement with probiotics every day.

Without the correct balance of 85% probiotic bacteria to 15% pathogenic bacteria, some form of physical disease is likely to manifest itself.

Maintaining this critical ratio is the single most important thing we can do to ensure good health and longevity.

Common Warning Signs of a Bacteria Imbalance

• Difficulty losing weight, sugar/carbohydratecravings
• Frequent fatigue, poor concentration
• Frequent constipation or diarrhoea
• Faulty digestion, acid reflux and other gut disorders
• Sleeping poorly, possible night sweats
• Painful joint inflammations/stiffness
• Bad breath, gum disease & dental problems
• Frequent colds, flu or infections
• Chronic yeast problems, candida
• Acne, eczema, skin & foot fungus, etc
• Extreme menstrual or menopausal symptoms
• Allergies and food sensitivities

We are exposed to BILLIONS OF METRIC TONNES OF POLLUTANTS in our everyday lives.
Lead, mercury, cadmium (plus over 4500 other toxic heavy metal by-products), drugs, vaccines, and a host of other dangers are wreaking (creating) havoc in our bodies.
As our toxin levels rise and go unchecked, our immune system and other mission critical processes in our body become dangerously compromised and begin to fail.

Bacteria are at the base of all life on this planet. They were the original life and they most certainly will be the last, because absolutely no living thing on earth can exist without them.
Understanding how bacteria operates and rules the body is often the missing link in understanding the demise of our first line of defence: The Immune System.

Bacteria have no teeth, but rather produce enzymes. These enzymes then identify, digest and deliver nutrients where they need to go. You have tens of trillions of cells, each of which needs 100,000 enzymes to function correctly. It is enzymes that are responsible for every metabolic process in your body. If there is a deficit of friendly (probiotic) bacteria in the human gut, then there is a deficit of enzymes. Without these vital enzymes, nutrients do not get used. This lack of uptake of nutrients is at the heart of what causes most of the disorders in the
human body. You can consume the best nutrients in the world, but if you cannot digest and assimilate them, then everything is lost.

Avoid things that kill Bacteria in the Body:

• Antibiotics
• Birth control pills
• Steroidal/hormonal drugs
• Fluoride
• Chlorine
• Coffee/tea
• Carbonated drinks
• Man-made vitamins
• Synthetic ascorbic acid
• Radiation
• Stress
• Preservatives
• Additives
• Pesticides
• Fertilisers

Today, most of us have lost our ability to digest nutrients. This is largely due to the fact that the “anti-probiotic” things (see the things that kill bacteria above) we are exposed to have killed off the friendly bacteria necessary to produce the enzymes that digest these nutrients.
Enzymes are responsible for all building and repairs in the body, and they need amino acids to get these jobs done. It is crucial to good health to have amino acids floating in the body – available at a moment’s notice – so that enzymes can utilise them when needed. Amino acids also provide the building blocks for most of the hormones, neurotransmitters, neuromodulators and other information chemicals that regulate and control ALL communication in every cell of our body.
THE COMPETITION TO SURVIVE

The strongest bacteria will always kill the weaker ones. Further, bacteria compete for food sources. Therefore, it is a fallacy to think you are helping the body by taking a probiotic supplement that only has one, two or maybe even four types of lactobacillus, and no food source with it. These new bacteria will deplete the number of bad and good bacteria in your body, as they compete for food.
That is why it is important to supply various Lactobacillus members along with the foods they like to eat. Then they work in harmony as a unit, in order to balance the populations of pathogenic (harmful) bacteria in the body.
Bacteria manufacture lactic acid to protect themselves from bad bacteria. Lactic acid has a pH factor of 3.5 or less. NO BAD bacteria can live in this environment and, in fact, this low pH Ilya Mechnikov 1908 Nobel Laureate 85% Probiotic Bacteria : 15% Pathogenic Bacteria is the ideal ratio of good to bad bacteria in the gut 85% Pathogenic Bacteria : 15% Probiotic Bacteria
is the ratio most people have When you suffer from low quantities of good (probiotic) bacteria your immune system is severely compromised.
This leaves you predisposed to fatigue, joint inflammation, viral attack, parasites, allergies and allmanner of digestive disorders and life-threatening diseases.

It is vital to your health that a proper environment is maintained in the intestinal tract and that it has the proper balance of 85% friendly to 15% unfriendly bacteria. Without this proper balance of bacteria, all manner of physical disease manifests itself. This singular focus, of cultivating the proper intestinal flora, is the most important thing we can do to ensure good health. In the absence of abundant friendly flora, the body loses its fantastic ability to heal itself. Probiotic bacteria (friendly bacteria) prevent the invasion and colonisation of harmful bacteria, fungi, yeast, viruses, moulds, and other parasites. Thus, these friendly bacteria prolong a healthy life.
They maintain chemical and hormonal balance, regulate nutrients, and stimulate correct digestion and proper immune function. They will process putrefied materials and pathogenic products like Candida, harmful bacteria and parasites, and in many cases will penetrate the permeable lining of the gut wall and permanently destroy potentially harmful organisms.
In short, the main health benefits of probiotics include:

Increased digestion, alleviation of digestive disorders, enhanced assimilation and synthesis of nutrients (including vitamins, minerals, and proteins), improved absorption of calcium, protection against E. coli infection, improved immune function, improved lactose tolerance and
digestibility of all milk products, reduction of vaginal infections and yeast infections, increased anti-carcinogenic (anti-cancer) activity, reduction/prevention of peptic ulcers caused by H. pylori bacteria, reduction in bad cholesterol, and reduction of acne.

With the vastly reduced number of putrefactiveand pathogenic bacteria inhabiting the colon, a substantially reduced level of toxic substances leave the colon with the fluids absorbed into the hepatic-portal bloodstream that goes from the gastro-intestinal tract to the liver. With a manageable level of toxins to deal with, the liver is able to neutralise all of them, and the posthepatic blood circulation is clear of even low levels of toxins. Hence, there is no longer a stimulation of the disease process or the breakdown of weak genes in the outlying tissue cells. The hidden disease process is thus halted.

• Goldin BR et al."Survival of Lactobacillus species (strain GG) in human gastrointestinal tract” Digestive Diseases and Sciences 37(1):121-128
• Lipski, Elizabeth, M.S., C.C.N. Digestive Wellness. Keats Publishing, New Canaan, CT, 1996.
• March, Robert Chamberlain, B.S., N.D.“The Eleven Principles of Physical Wellness” from Practical Holistic Nutrition, Healing Heart Press, Scottsdale,Arizona, 1995.
• McFarland LV, Bernasconi P “Saccaromyces boulardii, a review of an innovative biotherapeutic agent” Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease, 6:1578-171 1993
• Mindell, Earl, R.Ph., Ph.D. Earl Mindell’s Supplement Bible. Fireside/Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 1998.
• Wolfson, David N.D.“A Probiotics Primer” Nutrition Science News,Vol. 4, No. 6, June, 1999.99.