7 Benefits of Probiotics for Gut Health
Gut health is essential for digestion, absorption of nutrients, stress levels, and mental health. Foods that contain probiotics help to maintain a healthy gut.
The intestines in our gut contain multiple tiny microorganisms, like bacteria, that are beneficial to improve the absorption of nutrients and defend against toxins. The balance of this bacteria is critical, and it’s known as the gut microbiome. Sometimes the good bacteria can decrease, and the bad bacteria can increase, causing issues.
Probiotics are live healthy bacteria found in foods that aid the gut microbiome. The best food sources of probiotics include yogurt, sauerkraut, tempeh, kombucha, kefir, and miso. Let’s discuss all the specific benefits of probiotics for gut health.
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Here are 7 benefits of probiotics for gut health:
1. Promote gut microbiome
Of course, promoting the gut microbiome is the main benefit of probiotics for gut health. Since probiotics are live microorganisms added or naturally in food, they can add to the current gut microbiome to increase diversity when consumed. We need a wide variety of gut bacteria because each one has a different purpose and job. Keeping up with the right amount of healthy gut bacteria is vital for intestinal health. Good bacteria can fight off harmful bacteria and other pathogens, and good bacteria can help with digestion and absorption of nutrients.
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2. Boost immune system
One of the benefits of probiotics for gut health is that they boost the immune system. Having a strong and timely response to pathogens in the body is very important to reduce infection, inflammation, and illness. If the gut has too many bad bacteria instead of good bacteria, the body will perceive this as a threat, and inflammation will ensue. Specifically, enteric bacteria have been shown to promote a higher inflammatory response, resulting in many intestinal disorders and conditions. Luckily, probiotics can prevent and treat these disorders and improve the immune system by rebalancing the gut microbiome. A reduction in urinary tract infections by 50% was found when the probiotic Lactobacillus crispatus was administered to participants. Other probiotics can increase the number of antibodies in the body among other anti-inflammatory cells to fight infections.
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3. Skin health
Skin healthy is another benefit of probiotics for gut health that may come to you as a surprise. Many skin conditions are due to poor recovery and anti-inflammatory response. Probiotics improve the immune system, allowing them to help with eczema, scar healing, and skin rejuvenation. Lactic acid bacteria found in yogurt, kimchi, and sauerkraut can produce bacteriocins which have antimicrobial properties that can destroy pathogens and bad bacteria. Many forms and types of acne are a result of a poor gut microbiome and poor immune system. If too much bad bacteria exists in the body, then this can affect our skin glands and the inflammation that occurs when a gland gets clogged.
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4. Prevent diarrhea
Preventing diarrhea is another benefit of probiotics for gut health. Antibiotic use is a common cause of diarrhea because it can kill the good bacteria in the gut. When we do not have enough good bacteria, this causes poor digestion and low nutrient absorption, resulting in diarrhea. Many studies have looked into the effect of probiotic consumption on participants who had antibiotic-related diarrhea and found that the probiotics reduce symptoms and build up the gut microbiome.
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5. Reduce allergies
Reduction in dairy allergies is another benefit of probiotics for gut health. Dairy allergies originate from the poor ability or complete inability to digest lactose in the gut. Lactose is the sugar that comes from milk. Suppose someone who is lactose intolerant consumes a milkshake. In this case, the bacteria will feed on the lactose in the gut and release high amounts of carbon dioxide causing bloating, vomiting, flatulence, diarrhea, and gas pains. Some specific strains of probiotics have shown promising outcomes by reducing the symptoms of intolerance. Additionally, probiotics have shown decreased levels in the hydrogen breath test, which is a method to test for intolerance or bacterial overgrowth. Typically we exhale very little hydrogen, but when we fail to process certain sugars in food, lactose, we will exhale more hydrogen.
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6. Improve mental health
Improvement in mental health is another one of the benefits of probiotics for gut health. Recent studies have identified the gut-brain axis that shows the connection between the gut microbiome and our mental capacity and mood. Many cases of depression and anxiety stem from low production of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is what we produce when we are happy. Though neurotransmitters are primarily produced in the brain, a large amount of serotonin is produced in the gut by the bacteria. The gut-brain axis explains this very well because the bacteria have a role in producing other neurotransmitters too. If you have low amounts of gut bacteria, your stress levels will be higher, resulting in poor mental health. Research has found that the administration of L. helveticus and B. longum significantly decreased anxiety-related symptoms Additionally, L. rhamnosus was found to reduce depression-related symptoms by promoting the GABA receptors in the brain, which is our relaxing neurotransmitter that inhibits high activity and excitement during stressful scenarios.
7. Heart Health
Improving heart health is another benefit of probiotics for gut health. Many heart issues stem from clogged arteries from high cholesterol levels. Our body naturally creates cholesterol, and it serves many necessary purposes, but in too high amounts it can increase blood pressure and result in a heart attack if it clogs an artery. Probiotics have cholesterol-lowering effects through many different mechanisms. Specific strains that have these effects are lactobacilli and bifidobacteria strains. Probiotics help bile salts bind to the cholesterol to make them less soluble so that they can pass through stool instead of recirculating in the blood. Probiotics can also reduce serum cholesterol by binding it to the cell membranes of gut bacteria allowing it to pass.
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