Microflora

Microflora, also known as gut flora or intestinal bacteria, are healthy microorganisms that live inside the intestinal tract and perform a number of beneficial functions within the body. Microflora help synthesize important vitamins, nutrients and enzymes that aid in the digestive process. These bacteria also protect our bodies by removing harmful foreign materials that our bodies cannot normally remove and by preventing harmful bacteria from reproducing within body by competitive inhibition- essentially, crowding them out. In an average human, there are somewhere between 300 and 1000 species of microflora. In a healthy body, there are approximately 100 trillion intestinal bacteria- around ten times as many as there are cells in the body.

Probiotics Correct levels of microflora are essential to a healthy body. As one grows older, eats meat, and travel, the ratio between healthy microflora and harmful microbes decreases. Taking antibiotics and corticosteroids also kills off healthy microflora. Probiotics are supplements containing microflora. Probiotics most often contain lactic acid bacteria, or LAB. Two strains of lactic acid bacteria are commonly used in Probiotics- Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria. These are both found most commonly in yogurt, cheese, and other fermented foods as they are used in the fermentation process. Effects of LAB and Probiotics Increased intake of microflora rich food and probiotic supplements raise levels of healthy microflora. Since LAB converts lactose to lactic acid, ingestion of LAB in probiotics can help lactose intolerant individuals tolerate more lactose than they normally could without the use of probiotics. Research suggests that LAB may help prevent colon cancer by binding with and detoxifying several kinds of carcinogens. LAB has been shown to reduce cholesterol levels by inhibiting the reabsorption of bile in the large intestine. Lab studies have shown probiotics to decrease the incidence of respiratory infections and tooth decay in children. Bifidobacterium has been shown to stimulate the immune system to produce more of several different kinds of immune system cells.Sweet Medicine Essentials offers a large selection of probiotics and digestive aids to help you maintain your natural health.

Tags: gut flora, intestinal bacteria, LAB, microflora, probiotics

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 2nd, 2008 at 12:13 pm and is filed under probiotics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.