What are probiotics and why choose targeted ones
Probiotics are beneficial microorganisms that positively influence many functions of our body.
Do you feel like you've done "everything" for your health, but the results are still not to your liking? You've changed your lifestyle, adjusted your eating habits, supplemented vitamins and minerals, but it's still not the same. It's time to focus on gut health. Targeted probiotics will help you do that.
You may think of the gut as just a bare tube through which processed food passes before it leaves our body, but that's a big mistake. The gut is a structured environment and billions of microorganisms live in it, contributing greatly to our health and well-being.
The collection of microorganisms that inhabit our gut is called the gut microbiome and influences many processes in our body. Some bacteria benefit us, others harm us, each species performs a different function and it is very important that the composition of the microbiome is diverse. A diverse microbiome = a healthy microbiome.
How to imagine the gut and the microbiome? You won't believe it, but the bacterial mass of the microbiome weighs about 1.5 to 2 kg and consists of 100 trillion bacteria.
We can imagine the gut as a city with a limited number of dwellings (gut wall). In the apartments of this city live the inhabitants (microorganisms). Some are very useful and beneficial (probiotics), others just live their lives with others (commensal bacteria), and there are also those that are harmful to the city and its inhabitants (pathogens). The most hardy ones (probiotics) feed mainly on fibre (prebiotics). If there is a diverse population in a city, there is a balance between them and there is plenty of fibre, the beneficial inhabitants thrive, cooperate with each other and produce useful products (metabolites or postbiotics). Peace, i.e. health, reigns. However, if fibre is lacking, or the city is bombarded by antibiotics, or plagued by disease, the probiotics starve, die out and leave their dwellings. An imbalance occurs in the city, and harmful inhabitants (pathogens) begin to multiply and settle in the empty apartments. This results in chaos and disorder in the city (dysbiosis), and diseases begin to spread through the city and its surroundings.
The interesting thing about the microbiome is that its composition is different for every person. There are about 2,000 different species of microorganisms living in the human gut, but the ratio is unique for each person. Just as there are no two people in the world with the same fingerprints, there are no two people with the same microbiome. Each of us simply needs something a little different for optimal body functioning.
Why take care of the microbiome
When the microbiome is healthy, we are well too:
- digestion works properly,
- we have enough energy,
- our body can process all foods
- and our immunity responds adequately to external stimuli.
If the balance of the microbiome is disturbed, we feel it not only in digestive problems, but also in the aggravation of eczema and other skin diseases. Manifestations of allergies or intolerances intensify, we get tired more quickly.
It is therefore in everyone's interest to support our own microbiome and maintain a varied and high level of probiotic cultures. Probiotics are health-promoting bacteria that support the proper functioning of the gut, immunity, body processes and organs. They are supplied to the body either from probiotic foods or directly in the form of dietary supplements.
How to supplement probiotics naturally
If you feel that your digestion is just not right, you can supplement probiotics from natural sources. Always choose "live", fresh and as few industrially processed foods as possible.
Add to your shopping list:
- acidophilus milk products: bryndza, yogurt, kefir, acidophilus milk;
- fermented vegetables: sauerkraut, pickles;
- fermented soya products: tempeh, miso.
Conversely, eliminate industrially processed foods, unhealthy fats, sugar, artificial colors and sweeteners, white flour, and unfermented dairy products from your diet.
Probiotics from the pharmacy
If a microbiome imbalance returns or lasts for an extended period of time, it's time to reach for a probiotic product.
There are many probiotics on the market that vary in form (capsules, solution), composition of strains, number of bacterial strains, number of bacteria per dose (CFU). And, of course, price.
What all these products have in common, however, is that they deliver the same dose and the same formulation to all people, indiscriminately.
Do you see this as a guarantee of quality? It may seem so, but only until you remember that everyone's microbiome is different and therefore has different requirements for what should be added to it.
Therefore, the same product will help one person, another may not notice any change after taking it, and a third may experience adverse effects. This will happen if you take strains that are not in line with your health condition, or add strains that you have an excess of. Since we don't know what bacteria live in our guts, it is difficult - or rather impossible - to choose suitable ready-made probiotics.
Targeted probiotics
You're probably telling yourself right now that if every microbiome is different, then everyone needs something different to thrive. Yes, that's a great point. But how do you ensure this? The answer is targeted probiotics. These respond precisely to your current state of health.
At iProbio, we make probiotics targeted just to your needs. We select the right probiotic strains, botanicals and other potentiating components and build up a ratio to target and correct your microbiome. After a targeted probiotic treatment, your microbiome will be in great shape again.
Targeted probiotics are useful as both a prevention and supportive treatment for serious diseases such as allergies, celiac disease, diabetes, heart and vascular disease, cancer and many others.
In this article you learned that there are trillions of bacteria living in our intestines, and the beneficial ones are called probiotics. You already know how to supply your body with probiotics and prebiotics through the right food choices, and that it is possible to increase the amount of probiotics in the case of long-term microbiome imbalances in the form of supplements. You also understand the benefits and advantages of targeted probiotics over regular probiotics from the pharmacy.
What will you do for your gut health today? Order iProbiotics targeted probiotics and iProbiotics prebiotics based on what's bothering you the most.
