Breaking down the benefits of probiotics

What are Probiotics?

Probiotics are friendly, good or healthy bacteria which live in your digestive tract or gut. They are live microorganisms which are essential for good health and wellbeing, and can actually help to prevent or treat illnesses or disease. There is some excellent research emerging that the state of your gut health and a healthy balance of bacteria, can determine your mental and physical wellbeing.

Good or bad bacteria?

You can read more about the importance of gut bacteria in our article on this topic, however there are bad and good gut bacteria. The goal is to get a healthy balance of gut bacteria for good health and wellbeing. This means encouraging your good gut bacteria to thrive so that they can outnumber the bad gut bacteria. When you have a bad diet, have been on antibiotics for a while or other medication, have been battling an illness, your gut bacteria can get out of whack. This can really affect your mental and physical wellbeing.

What role do probiotics play?

They keep the balance right between friendly and bad gut bacteria
They can help reduce the incidence and duration of diarrhoea associated with antibiotic use, illness or contagious/ infectious sources (1,2)
They can help your mental health and wellbeing. That’s right, research has shown that taking probiotic supplements containing Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus strains for a couple of months can improve anxiety, depression and stress (3).
They can help keep your heart healthy. This is through their ability to break down bile in your gut, which means it isn’t being reabsorbed and entering your bloodstream as cholesterol (4). There is also some emerging research showing that probiotics can help with blood pressure, although the effects aren’t large (5). Still – watch this space!
Probiotics with Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus strains appear to help some people with digestive disorders such as IBS (6) and mild ulcerative colitis (7). Speaking from personal experience, this is the case with my IBS!
There is some interesting evidence that probiotics can help in the management of eczema! although this is still emerging research, it’s an area to watch closely (8)
There is some early research showing that it can help with milk allergies (9)
They can boost your immune system! This is through preventing the growth of harmful gut bacteria, and increasing the production of natural antibodies in your body (10)
They can help with weight loss (11) this is a biggie worth exploring, but the focus from research has been on the probiotic strains of Lactobacillus rhamnosus (weight loss) and Lactobacillus gasseri (reduced belly fat)
They can help with better skin .. amen to that !!! (12)

How do we get more probiotics ?

Now that we know how good they are for us, how do we get more of them into our diet?

Foods high in probiotics include

Yoghurt – make sure the label says it contains active or live cultures, and stay clear of yoghurt full of added sugars which can counterbalance all the good you’re doing by feeding your bad gut bacteria
Kefir – a live probiotic drink available at health food stores or you can grow your own. Science says it’s better than yoghurt as it contains a more diverse range of healthy gut bacteria
Miso – traditionally made fermenting soybeans with salt and koji
Tempeh – fermented soybean which is quite nutty and similar to mushroom
Pickles – which are just fermented cucumbers
Kimchi – a spicy cabbage based korean side dish which contains lactic acid friendly bacteria
Sauerkraut – cabbage which has finely shredded, tastes salty and sour. It has been fermented by lactic acid bacteria and you can keep it for months in a sealed container.
Kombucha – which is becoming trendy thanks to it’s popularity in cafe fridges everwhere. It’s a green or black tea drink fermented with yeast and bacteria, although the evidence is not as strong as other sources.
Some aged cheeses – such as gouda, mozzarella, cheddar and cottage cheese – as good bacteria can survive the ageing process

Probiotic supplements or probiotic drinks are also gaining popularity if you can’t achieve sufficient intake through your diet alone.

How do we look after our gut bacteria?

If we’re eating foods full of natural and live probiotics, or taking supplements, we also need to make sure we’re looking after our gut and healthy bacteria. The best way is to feed your gut bacteria properly so that they thrive, reduce stress and other toxins in our life, get more exercise and sleep. Eating a diet high in live probiotics as above, or prebiotic foods which feed our own probiotics so that they thrive, as well as lots of fibre is key. Reduce foods which can harm our good bacteria or encourage the growth of bad bacteria. Hop on over to read our article on the healthy gut food list here

Delicious Probiotic Recipes

For ideas and recipes on how to incorporate probiotic foods into your diet, try these recipes below

Kombucha Chia seed smoothie

4 ingredient Coconut Milk Yoghurt

Teriyaki Tempeh

Green Curry Kale Crispy Coconut Tempeh

Yummy Indian Kimchi recipe

Beet Kvass (drink)

Sesame Ramen with Roasted Tempeh and seaweed

Quick Pickled Fennel with Orange

Probiotic Lemonade

Traditional Napa cabbage kimchi