The World Of Probiotics

Monday, 27 June 2022, 6:52 pm
Opinion: Hugh Grant

62% of people suffer from some sort of digestive complaint throughout each year. For 44% of people this was experienced in the last month. In America specifically 72% of people regularly experience symptoms of digestive distress. This is all emblematic of a larger scale issue that has been sweeping across the modern world.

People are creating weaker and weaker gut microbiomes as the years go by. Factors that create an unhealthy microbiome are large amounts of sugar, the use of antibiotics, and a general lack of movement. These are three factors that have sharply risen from the past few decades.

There are methods to make the microbiome healthier, things such as movement, high quality supplements, sunshine or time spent outside, and nutrient dense food. Generally living a healthier lifestyle is a good means to improving the quality of one’s microbiome, but the next question is why?

The gut microbiome in particular holds 70-80% of immune functioning cells. This means that it’s the major host of all digestive issues, although not the sole host. Also, the small intestine is the creator of 95% of serotonin, a major mood influencing chemical. The gut microbiome not only deals with digestive, but also emotional issues.

This basically all works on a downward slope. A person will consume some microbes as they eat and drink throughout the day and they’ll process all of that through enzymes, proteins, and biles. Smaller factors such as pH and oxygen concentration will also influence which microbes get through. Some microbes will be distributed throughout the gut but the majority of these microbes will go on to rest in the lower digestive tract and small intestine.

Knowing all of this, the solution of probiotics can finally be brought up. There are a few biotic types, probiotics, prebiotics, and immunobiotics. Probiotics basically supply live bacteria that will start to transform the microbiome itself into a more healthy state. Prebiotics work to instead not be digested but to shoot specific bacteria into the gut and immunobiotics are powerful but temporary heat-killed bacteria.

Probiotics are going to then do the most to directly regulate the immune system's reaction in the long term. They will stop the growth of negative bacteria and promote the growth of good bacteria, they work with more than just the immune systems of the body, and they have smaller and more direct effects such as reducing inflation.

In practice this leads to a proven decrease in antibiotic-associated diarrhea, rotavirus diarrhea, necrotizing enterocolitis, and general symptoms of digestive discomfort. More tentatively though, probiotics are thought to reduce respiratory infection, UTI’s, food allergies, obesity and metabolic disorders, and inflammatory bowel disease.

These are just some of the effects, scientifically validated and not, of the ever growing probiotic industry. An industry which is projected to reach a market value of $69.3 billion by 2023. It’s not the only digestive solution out currently, but may be one of the more sustainable and effective for building back up to a healthy microbiome.

This makes probiotics an effective tool for anyone in the modern world. Although there are potential dangers, such as an overconsumption causing bloating and nausea, people today with poor diets and less potential for changing could really benefit from probiotics.

Foods today are usually high in sugar, covered in pesticide, and digest unnaturally quickly due to the lack of nutrients. On top of this, drugs are only more and more commonly being treated with antibiotics, something that not only has created more dangerous diseases but less healthy humans.

Probiotics may not be the solution for each individual person. Although when it comes to promoting good long term health, specifically in the gut, it’s rising as one of the most effective options available today.

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