nutrition > bacteria-friend-or-foe

you planning a trip abroad? If you pass blood in your stools, or it is painful when you go to the toilet it’s important that you consult your GP.

Pre-biotics

Pre-biotics are special types of fibre called Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) found in certain foods like artichokes, leeks and other vegetables, fruits and grains. The fibre is able to pass through our stomach and small intestine without being digested. Once it reaches the large intestine (colon), where most of our bacteria are, it can be used as food to make the ‘friendly’ ones like Lactobacillus Sporogenes grow and multiply. Pre and probiotics work a bit like seed and fertilizer on a newly sewn lawn – the “seeds” are the probiotics, and together with the prebiotics, the “feritlizer”, they thrive together to give you perfect green grass!

Top tips to maintain a healthy digestive system

Just like any other aspect of health, there are lots of small things you can do to help probiotics to help you.

Eat a well-balanced diet with regular meals and snacks
Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables and whole grains which will provide lot’s of dietary fibre
Drink at least six to eight glasses of fluid daily (particularly water)
Look for ways to relax and reduce stress and anxiety
Be more active
You may also find other preparations will help enhance the benefits of taking a probiotic: Peppermint Oil, Aloe Vera, Artichoke Extract, Mastika and DigestAid are all specially formulated to nurture gut function.

There is still plenty of research needed before we fully understand how probiotics really work, but taking a probiotic supplement seems to offer potential benefits in terms of improved gut function and digestion, and may help protect against diseases like Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Taking a probiotic is only helpful when it actually reaches the target area of the gut and many experts believe this is best achieved using a supplement rather than functional, probiotic foods. Probiotics are likely to be most effective when they accompany a healthy diet and lifestyle.

“Lactobacillus Sporogenes is one of the best strains of probiotics available. Its advanced stability means that what is stated on the label is what your body takes in (instead of the friendly bacteria deteriorating before it reaches your mouth as many other probiotic supplements do). Because it is more stable than other types of probiotics, a smaller amount is needed to achieve beneficial results than with many other probiot

(published with permission in writing from:http://weblog.healthydirect.co.uk/)