These days, for those of us in health care, not a day passes by without us hearing about the importance of gut bacteria and how it can impact our health and wellbeing in a fundamental way that was never thought possible. You hear about how there has been a link to diseases like Alzheimer's, anxiety, depression, and many inflammatory diseases to gut health and the numbers of good bacteria in our gut. The fact is becoming more and more clear that our health is connected directly to the health of our gut.
In this article, I would like to address one of the main tools for finding ways to restore the good bacteria that is fights diseases. One way to do this is to eat probiotics. Of course, another easier way is to take supplemental probiotics.
Our immune system consists of an intricate network of the lymph nodes, spleen, bone marrow, thymus gland, chemicals, tonsils, and billions of bacteria, good and bad. In order for us to live a normal, healthy life, we need to keep our immune system in good, strong, and healthy shape so that our body can defend itself against germs and bacteria that cause diseases. Our immune system, if kept in check and in good shape, acts like a guard standing in front of a bank to prevent any possible bank robberies. Interestingly, our food choices can HUGELY strengthen and impact our immune system by preventing bad bacteria from spreading and robbing our body of good health. After all, we are truly what we eat.
Organs Involved in the Immune System
We can alter our gastrointestinal tract’s microflora in two ways: probiotics and prebiotics. The concept of probiotics was introduced by Russian Scientist and nobel laureate, Elie Metchnikoff. He who won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1908 with german Paul Ehrlich for their work on immunity.
Elie Metchnikoff was fascinated by Bulgarian and Russian peasants who lived in the mountains and drank raw sour milk because they seemed to live very long lives. He theorized that live bacteria living in sour milk was responsible for the peasants’ longevity; he called this yogurt the elixir of life. He believed bacteria that live in the intestinal tract produced toxins that invite diseases and shorten lives. Lactobacillus Bulgaricus was one of the bacteria isolated by Elie Metchnikoff.
Today we know our gut flora is essential in keeping our immune system in good shape. In fact 70-80% of our health is contributed to our gut bacteria. Our bacteria outnumber our cells by 10:1. This means that for every human cell there is 10 bacteria cells. We also know that eating certain fermented foods increases the number of these good bacteria. Elie Metchnikoff used to drink sour milk every day in hopes of reaching old age. Unfortunately, he died at the age of 71 due to heart failure.
The good bacteria residing in our colon acts to normalize the gut flora, get rid of the bad bacteria, and assist in making Vitamin K and Vitamin B. It also gets rid of the yeast, enhances GI mobility, helps with food digestion and absorption of nutrients, and prevents abdominal distension due to gas. Since good bacteria in the gut are important in regulating many functions, they are considered very important to overall good health. Probiotics have been used to stabilize gut flora after antibiotic therapy, as antibiotics do have detrimental effects on our good bacteria in the gut.
We can directly provide our body with probiotics from the food we eat, or we can eat food that stimulates our own body to create more probiotics. This category of food is called prebiotics.
Below I have provided a list of foods that are considered probiotic and links to websites that provide recipes on how to make them. These are all foods that can strengthen our immune system and can easily be included in our daily food intake.
Foods Containing Probiotics:
Cup of Persian Yogurt (Mast)
Yogurt is an excellent source of good bacteria that are commonly known as probiotics. Yogurt possibly originated in Iran. In the Persian Old Testament, longevity has been attributed to the consumption of yogurts. Yogurt is also mentioned in 500 BC in Persia.
Each cup of yogurt is filled with billions of good bacteria that are essential in fighting off the bad bacteria that are responsible for causing illness. Even half a cup of yogurt can provide the therapeutic amount needed. Antibiotics can be very destructive toward these good bacteria; make sure that if you have been on antibiotics for any period of time, you add another cup of yogurt to your daily food intake. In general, however, adding a cup of yogurt is excellent for your health. Even if you have not been on any antibiotics, if you are getting sick or you feel as though your immune system is weakened, then keep your cup of yogurt (preferable homemade yogurt) handy.
It is also important to mention that yogurt is a source of calcium, protein, vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, and riboflavin. The amount of bacteria available in each serving is also important. In order to just simplify things and ensure you are getting good bacteria in the billions, I recommend you either make your own yogurt or buy a good brand of locally made fresh yogurts. Sometimes, yogurt making companies go through the process of fermentation first and then pasteurize. The heat in pasteurization will destroy the good bacteria. In addition many commercial yogurt add sugar and artificial sweeteners that are not good for your health. I suggest you stay away from it or get plain yogurt and add your own fruits and flavors.
Is yogurt the only fermented food that provide us with acidophilus (a type of good bacteria)? No! There are other foods that can do the same: