What exactly is a probiotic?
The concept of probiotics comes from the Greek word meaning “for life”. Lactic acid fermented foods have been included in the daily diet of human since ancient times.
In 1857, the French microbiologist Pasteur studied the souring process of milk. He put fresh milk and sour milk under a microscope and found that they both contained the same number of tiny organisms, lactic acid bacteria, which were far more numerous in sour milk than in fresh milk. In 1908, the Russian scientist Nobel laureate Ilya Mechnikov formally proposed the idea that the souring of milk is closely related to the activity of these lactic acid bacteria. In 1908, Russian Nobel laureate Ilya Metchnikov officially proposed the theory of “longevity of yogurt”. By studying the diet of Bulgarians, he found that long-lived people have a tradition of drinking fermented milk containing probiotics. Since the early 1990s, various “probiotic” supplements have taken the world by storm. At the same time, the study of “probiotics” has become a popular research topic in the international arena.
What is probiotics? The definition of probiotics is generally accepted by the international nutrition community: probiotics are bacteria that are beneficial to animals and can be taken directly as food additives to maintain the balance of the intestinal flora. Probiotics are currently considered to have the following main roles.
1.Preventing or improving diarrhea.
2, alleviating symptoms of lactose intolerance.
3.Preventing reproductive system infections.
4.Boosting human immunity.
5.Promoting intestinal digestive health.
6.Lowering serum cholesterol.
7.Help absorb nutrients.
Probiotics and pathogenic bacteria
Since the day of birth, the human body is a playground for bacteria. The total weight of bacteria in an adult body weighs about 1.5 kilograms, and the total number is generally considered to be at least 10 times the total number of cells in the human body. It can be said that the complexity of bacteria in the human body is much more than most people can imagine. Most of the bacteria in the human body reside in the intestines. Scientists estimate that there are as many as 500 to 1,000 species of bacteria, which have a number of genomes comparable to that of the human body, while the total number of genes may be more than 100 times greater. Pathogenic bacteria, the equivalent of terrorists among bacteria. As soon as they enter the human body and break through the body’s defensive resistance system, the human body, the home of bacteria, becomes sick and, in the worst case, even dies.
Probiotics can be roughly seen as the special forces of bacteria, doing the job of protecting their homes. However, in the world of bacteria, these special forces are often not enough to fight, and usually can only complete some of the tasks of maintaining law and order. For the vicious pathogenic bacteria, basically have the heart but not the power. The subjugation of pathogenic bacteria, or rely on people, the “master” of the bacterial home to deal with. Supplementary probiotics are equivalent to air-dropping some “special forces” that enhance combat effectiveness.
Probiotics, more is better?
Probiotics, theoretically no side effects on human health, appropriate supplementation can improve the intestinal environment, the key is moderate. For example, water hyacinth can purify the water environment, but in turn too much water hyacinth will destroy the ecological balance in the water, pollution of water quality.
Scientific research shows that probiotics are beneficial, but they are not a panacea. And the blind abuse of probiotics may even bring many negative effects on health. Generally speaking, probiotic oral preparations are only clinically used to treat patients with intestinal failure or disorders. Although oral probiotic products can make the human intestinal tract obtain beneficial bacteria in a short period of time, but long-term use will pose potential harm to the human body.
Beware of “probiotic dependence”
The long-term use of synthetic probiotic products will cause the intestinal tract to gradually lose its ability to reproduce beneficial bacteria, and over time the human intestinal tract will become dependent, which is medically known as “probiotic dependence”. Once the human body suffers from “probiotic dependence”, it will rely on and use synthetic oral probiotic products to maintain a healthy state of life for the rest of its life.
Any bacteria in the body must ensure a certain balance, once imbalanced, even probiotics can bring harm, in addition to creating dependence, serious can also lead to new infections. For example, in patients with cirrhosis, due to portal hypertension resulting in gastrointestinal mucosa stasis, reducing the barrier function of the mucosa, pathogenic bacteria in the gastrointestinal proliferation, through the damaged mucosa into the blood, resulting in fatal bacteremia, sepsis or peritonitis. Similar lesions have been seen in Spain. It has been reported that three patients with severe immune deficiencies in Spain have died as a result of receiving probiotic products for the treatment of diarrhea. The reason was that during the probiotic treatment new flora was brought into the patient’s body and caused a new infection resulting in bacteremia.
Scientific probiotic supplementation varies from person to person
The human body can produce probiotics by itself, and the food we eat can produce a large amount of probiotic flora through intestinal digestion, decomposition and fermentation. The demand for probiotics is not very large in the general population, and the body can adjust the balance of flora in the body under normal circumstances. For developing normal children, there is no need for additional probiotic supplementation.
Probiotics are mainly used in two cases (need to be used for a short period of time under the guidance of a doctor, not for long-term abuse).
1. Because of the long-term use of antibiotics, the antibiotics not only kill the pathogenic bacteria, but also kill the probiotics that exist with them, so probiotics need to be supplemented to re-establish the micro-ecological barrier in the body.
2, diarrhea caused by a large number of probiotics lost, resulting in the imbalance of intestinal flora, then need to supplement probiotics to re-establish the balance of intestinal flora.
Patients who have diarrhea due to intestinal lesions and really need probiotic supplementation are also advised to seek medical guidance to take sufficient doses of medicinal probiotics to avoid delaying their condition.
If you have a good dietary structure and can get the nutrition you need from your normal diet, and you have a regular life and a good lifestyle, then probiotic health food is not necessary for you. You can’t use probiotic health food as medicine, and you need to seek medical treatment in time if you are sick. To regulate the body function, we should start with the diet to ensure a balanced nutrition, and it is best to take probiotic health food under the guidance of a physician or nutritionist in moderation.