You may well have heard the word ‘probiotic’ bandied around a lot lately in popular

advertising and marketing campaigns! When you notice something like this

happening you need to be aware of a couple of important things – that is why this

article could save you time, frustration and money…

Doctors have stated that is probable that ALL people over the age of 65 living in

countries like the US and the UK should regularly take a probiotic supplement

product to boost the function of their digestive system. It seems that the eating

patterns, and other bad habits common to western societies can decimate the

‘internal bacteria’ we NEED in our gut in order to obtain all the nutrition we should be

getting from our food.

Major food companies – especially makers of yoghurt-type products have not been

slow to see the marketing potential for new ranges containing so-called ‘good

bacteria’. You may ask – why has this been popular within this food sector?

It is now clear that the some of the most effective, and most resilient, ‘good bacteria’

are the members of the Lactobacillus ‘family’. There are 13 strains of Lactobacillus

which can all aid better digestive processes when present in your gut in an

appropriate concentration. Lactobacillus are also the strains of bacteria that are used

to ferment milk and create products such as yoghurt.

Some people have experienced benefits from regularly consuming the small, and not

inexpensive, yoghurt style drinks that have been launched onto the market. It seems

that some of the benefits may be psychological as much as anything – but for some

there may genuinely be enough of a boost to their digestive ‘flora’ (as the good

bacteria are sometimes referred to – it is the same root from which the word ‘flower’

comes in English) to make them feel as if their system is working better.

In general, however, it may be that there is hardly enough of a ‘dose’ of probiotic

bacteria to help the majority of people substantially. The jury is still open on this to

some extent – because thorough experimental work has been limited.

You may well find that if you are suffering from the many, varied symptoms that can

signify that you have an impaired digestive process – you will fare better taking a

proper probiotic product with a guaranteed high count of appropriate ‘good bacteria’.

Such products are available – usually in a powdered form – that can be blended with

juices, or even just with water, and should be taken daily to ‘maintain’ a healthy

balance of bacteria in your digestive system.

What you must look out for, though, if you are to avoid wasting your money on

ineffective products – is that the probiotic product you choose contains the range of

Lactobacillus bacteria. There are other ‘good bacteria’ but this genus (or family) is the

strongest and can get through the acidity of your stomach, and past other ‘chemical

challenges’ in your diet (such as alcohol, and caffeine!) to get into the intestines

where they are needed.

It is a sad fact that when we lived as primitive creatures, and for many millennia,

whilst we ate fresh foods that we hunted and farmed in an organic and natural way,

our diets supported our bacterial needs. Nowadays, with so many processed foods

and chemicals in our environment our digestive systems have become badly

impaired. This can ultimately lead to a wide range of health problems – form just

feeling listless, and lacking in energy right through to setting the scene for serious

diseases such as cancer to establish itself.

For this reason it may well be that choosing to use a reliable and high quality

probiotic supplement could be the best thing you could do to support your health.

This is especially so as you get older. However you must satisfy yourself that the

product you buy contains the best bacterial sources and is produced by a reliable

company. Otherwise you could simply be wasting your money and getting no real

benefit in the long term.