The story of a long-lived fishing village
A century ago in Sweden, Europe, a “long-lived fishing village” was found, where centenarians abounded. Curious people tried to find the secret of their longevity and found that the people there had a habit of eating stinky fish. Since there was no refrigerator at that time, people stored a lot of seafood caught in summer in the dug cellar, which was cold but not a refrigerator after all, so when people brought the fish to eat, most of them stank. Later, researchers isolated some bacteria from these smelly fish and confirmed that these bacteria are beneficial to humans. From this story, we can get the inspiration that certain bacteria are good for health and can prolong life. Ren Hongyu, Department of Gastroenterology, Wuhan Union Medical College Hospital
People are part of nature and when a fetus is in the mother’s womb, its intestine is usually sterile. A few hours after birth, a variety of aerobic and parthenogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Enterococcus, Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium, and yeast can be detected in the infant’s intestine. In the human intestine, more than 500 species of bacteria, mainly anaerobic, reside. Bifidobacterium, Bacteroides, Lactobacillus and other bacteria beneficial to the human body are absolutely dominant, and Clostridium and Staphylococcus, which are potentially pathogenic, account for only a minority. The various types of bacteria in the intestinal tract maintain a symbiotic or antagonistic relationship, maintaining the ecological balance of the human body.
Usually, we call the bacteria beneficial to human body as probiotics, which have many effects such as inhibiting harmful pathogenic bacteria, maintaining intestinal micro-ecological balance, enhancing intestinal immunity, and preventing cancer. During ingestion, people are inevitably exposed to some microorganisms, including pathogenic ones, but in most cases, they do not get infected. This is mainly related to the mechanical barrier effect of the intestine and the inhibition of pathogenic bacteria by intestinal commensal flora. It can be said that without the presence of probiotics, human health is difficult to ensure and human survival will be difficult.
Probiotics, add to health
As early as 1907, scholars already proposed the hypothesis that drinking yogurt (containing a large number of probiotics) can prolong life. In fact, humans have been unknowingly using probiotics for centuries, and various kinds of fermented foods (such as Chinese people often eat stinky tofu, etc.) contain a lot of probiotics. In the past 20 years, the use of micro-ecological agents made of probiotics for disease prevention and health care has become a hot topic in the medical field.
There are three major types of microecological preparations: first, probiotics, also known as live bacteria, which can maintain the ecological balance of intestinal flora and are beneficial to the host; second, prebiotics, which can selectively stimulate the growth and reproduction of one or several beneficial bacteria in the intestine, such as dietary fiber, polysaccharides, etc.; third, synbiotics, preparations in which probiotics and prebiotics coexist. According to the function, there are three types of microecological preparations: food (such as yogurt), health products (such as Online-1) and drugs (such as Pepcid, Rejuveno, Rectify, etc.). According to the dosage form, there are oral liquid, capsule, powder, pill and compound. Generally speaking, multi-bacterial preparations containing a variety of probiotics at the same time have the best effect, so when you buy yogurt or health products, you may want to pick those products that contain more strains of bacteria.
Probiotic supplementation, each takes what it needs
Theoretically, everyone needs to maintain the balance of intestinal flora and needs to supplement probiotics. Children and the elderly, in particular, have weaker intestinal tracts and need more probiotic supplements. However, this does not mean that everyone needs to take supplements or drugs. For most people, food is a good way to replenish the beneficial intestinal flora. The easiest and simplest measures are to drink more yogurt (250 ml per day) and eat more foods rich in dietary fiber (i.e. prebiotics) (e.g. vegetables, fruits, coarse grains, etc.). For people with chronic diseases (such as diabetes, kidney disease, etc.), because these diseases can damage the intestinal flora, on the basis of dietary supplements, long-term use of some probiotics or synbiotic supplements, the effect is better. For those who suffer from diarrhea, constipation and bloating due to intestinal flora imbalance, probiotic medication should be administered under the guidance of a doctor. In the clinical application of microecological agents for digestive tract diseases, it is found that probiotics can be used to treat the following diseases, 1. Prevention and treatment of diarrhea: including childhood viral diarrhea (rotavirus infection), traveler’s diarrhea, antibiotic-related diarrhea, etc.; 2. Inflammatory bowel disease: it can prevent inflammatory bowel disease and be used for maintenance treatment in the recovery period of inflammatory bowel disease; 3. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): IBS Patients often have a history of intestinal infections, altered immune function of intestinal mucosa, abnormal sensitivity and dynamics of intestinal mucosa, studies have confirmed that abdominal pain and constipation in IBS patients have significantly improved after using probiotics; 4. Fatty liver disease: The application of different strain mixtures can improve the functional indicators such as ALT and γ-GT in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
Ren Hongyu, Associate Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology