“Let food be your medicine and medicine your food”, the old Hippocratic adage, is certainly not a dark and vague dogma of early antiquity, but the beginning of today. The new generation’s relationship with food is a disaster, with many young people accustomed to a processed and unbalanced diet. We’ve hooked up with ready-to-cook meals, take-out, and ready-to-go snacks. Poor nutrition leads to poor health, which is often debilitating on a personal level and is the cause of enormous social and economic expenditure.

Although we know the benefits of eating right, many of us simply don’t do enough to make fundamental changes to our diet. Instead of eating more fruits and vegetables and a good balance of complex carbohydrates and protein-foods, we increasingly turn to foods and drinks fortified with specific nutrients or ‘good’ bacteria, as a ‘magic bullet’ for our unbalanced lives.

The healthy human intestine contains millions of beneficial bacteria. It’s a symbiotic relationship: Our intestines are a good habitat for bacteria, and in return, they help us digest our food, displace harmful bacteria (such as foodborne pathogens), strengthen the gut’s immune response, and even manufacture certain nutrients. such as vitamins B12 and K. Antibiotics, chronic diseases or a diet high in sugar or processed foods can alter the natural flora of the intestinal tract and create health problems such as indigestion, constipation, yeast overgrowth and decreased immune function. With the growing interest in self-care and integrative medicine, the recognition of the link between diet and health has never been stronger.

As a result, the market for functional foods, or foods that promote health beyond providing basic nutrition, is flourishing. Within the functional food movement is the small but rapidly expanding field of probiotics – living microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a host health benefit. Probiotics beneficially affect an individual by improving the intestinal microbial balance. The use of probiotics has been around since time immemorial: from sauerkraut in Russia to cheese in Baghdad to vegetables buried in clay pots by Native Americans, these foods have been prized since ancient times. However, we have lost our connection to these foods today, which is why they often seem so strange. After growing up with refrigeration and a fear of “germs”, it seems “wrong” to leave things on the counter to turn sour. The smell and taste are different from what we are used to.

Traditional sources of beneficial bacteria are fermented foods, which are made by growing fresh foods such as milk or vegetables with live bacteria (usually a lactobacillus). Almost all food cultures feature some type of fermented food, such as miso, yogurt, kefir, fresh cheese, sauerkraut, etc. Traditionally, these foods were consumed daily, in part, to keep the gut well supplied with beneficial bacteria. In these foods and in probiotic supplements, bacteria may have been originally present or added during preparation. Most often, they come from two groups of bacteria, Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium. Within each group, there are different species (for example, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidus), and within each species, different strains.

Probiotics help maintain and restore the delicate balance of “good” and “bad” bacteria necessary for a healthy digestive system. Without that balance, harmful bacteria can multiply and take over, leading to gastrointestinal problems like diarrhea or abdominal pain. Most of us have taken antibiotics and suffered side effects of diarrhea or intestinal pain and discomfort. This is because some antibiotics destroy good and bad bacteria in the digestive tract, thus upsetting the balance. Stress can affect some people in the same way, by reducing good bacteria, allowing harmful bacteria to multiply and dominate.

Probiotic bacteria can help relieve symptoms of inflammatory bowel diseases, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, and alcoholic liver disease. Probiotic bacteria can help relieve constipation by improving intestinal mobility. Various forms of lactic acid bacteria that are added when making yogurt, acidophilus milk, and fermented dairy products like kefir can help lessen the effects of lactose intolerance. This inability to digest the sugars found naturally in milk affects almost 70 percent of the world’s population.

There is also evidence that probiotics can help prevent certain types of allergies because they have a beneficial effect on mucous membranes.

Although human evidence is limited, preliminary evidence shows that probiotics can help boost the immune system. Studies on the effect of probiotic consumption on cancer appear promising. Animal and in vitro studies indicate that probiotic bacteria can reduce the risk of colon cancer by reducing the incidence and number of tumors. Scientists have identified good bacteria already living in some humans that attack and trap HIV and can protect against infection. “I believe that every life form has its natural enemy, and HIV should be no exception,” says Dr. Lin Tao, associate professor in the Department of Oral Biology at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Dentistry. “If we can find its natural enemy, we can control the spread of HIV naturally and profitably, in the same way that we use cats to control mice.”

What we need to know about probiotics:

Q: Is it better to get probiotics from food or supplement sources?

Food is a better choice due to the synergistic effect between food components and probiotic cultures. The natural buffering of stomach acid from food also improves the stability of probiotics consumed. Dairy products that contain probiotics provide a number of high-quality nutrients including calcium, protein, bioactive peptides, sphingolipids, and conjugated linoleic acids. Taking supplements, while convenient, has always posed the problem of long-term compliance, while incorporating foods containing probiotics into daily food choices can become a lifestyle habit.

Q: What level of probiotic intake is needed to obtain the desired benefits?

Many studies of probiotic bacteria on physiological effects such as diarrhea, lactose intolerance, and colon cancer biomarkers show an effect with a daily dose of 109-1010 organisms per day. This corresponds to an intake of approximately 3-1 / 2 cups of acidophilus milk or yogurt per day, formulated at the typical level of 2 x 106 cfu / ml. The effects of consuming lower levels have not been documented in research studies, but they can also be beneficial.

Q: How long does it take to take probiotics for the effects to last?

It is believed that most probiotics do not adhere permanently to the intestine, but instead exert their effects as they are metabolized and grow during their passage through the intestine (colonization). Therefore, daily consumption of these bacteria is probably the best way to maintain their effectiveness.

Q: What are some good food sources of probiotics?

Yogurt and milk to which probiotic bacteria have been added, such as acidophilus milk, and fermented dairy products, such as kefir, are the main food sources of probiotics. Some researchers believe that there is a synergistic effect between components in dairy products and probiotic cultures, and that there are components in milk that “turn on” the beneficial genes of probiotic bacteria, making dairy products an excellent vehicle to introduce these bacteria into the intestine. Europe and Asia lead the rest of the world in offering a variety of other food products that contain probiotics. We will likely see products like probiotic-fortified energy bars, juices, cereals, and cheeses for years to come as well.

Q: Do I need to eat them every day?

Probiotics stay alive as they travel through the digestive tract and adhere to the large intestine (gut). After four days of regular daily intake, there are enough probiotics in your gut to start producing health benefits. However, you should continue to eat probiotics on a daily basis, as they will disappear within three to five days once you stop eating them. Probiotics are a health aid but not a substitute for good nutrition. They won’t make up for rushed or skipped meals. A wide variety of foods in adequate quantities remains the basic principle of good nutrition.

Q: Do probiotics have side effects?

Generally speaking, no side effects of probiotics have been documented. And anecdotal evidence suggests that taking too many probiotics is impossible. But remember the unspoken rule: all probiotics in moderation.

In conclusion, it can be emphasized, there is nothing flashy or exciting about probiotics. Having good bacteria in your digestive system won’t make you look younger or leaner. But often it’s the little things like better digestion and regularity that can make a big difference in your daily life. It can also leave you prone to unpleasant bouts of diarrhea and a weakened immune system. And that’s where probiotics come in. Researchers believe that understanding the specific immunomodulatory effects of probiotics can help design future probiotics for specific purposes.

However, to understand the real impact of probiotics on inflammatory variables, more studies should be done on inflammatory processes and on people suffering from various types of inflammatory or autoimmune diseases.