VIDEO CREDIT: youtube.com/HealthcareTriage
Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that are believed to be good for our health, especially our digestive system. We often think that bacteria only cause diseases. However, our body is filled with bacteria, both good and bad, and probiotics is known as the "helpful" bacteria because it keeps our tummy healthy.
Ingesting prebiotics to improve our health and protect our immune system has gained has been getting a bit of friction from other foods like the "superfood" trends of kale and avocado. A lot has been written about the health advantages you can get from these good bacteria. It's also believed to improve mental health, combat allergies, and reduce risk for diabetes.
However, regardless of the extensive publicity these healthy bacteria have, experts are still trying to prove that they actually work. A new video out of Healthcare Triage investigates prebiotics and they're really useful for based on scientific evidence.
Previous studies show that when you eat yogurt, fermented foods, and drink soy drinks that have live cultures of bacteria in them, these bacteria will go into your stomach and help prevent bad bacteria from taking over. Prebiotics works best after you've taken antibiotics and cleared you entire stomach.
But there has been one question people are especially curious about, does taking probiotic supplements, or including probiotics in our everyday diet make a difference in your general health?
There is not a lot of research available to fully support that kind of thinking, but it's safe to say that assuming probiotics can be helpful in certain conditions, but it has its limitations too. And there aren't as many studies to assess how probiotics move from supplements or foods in our stomach.
The video shows that a lot of probiotics are considered supplements and can be easily purchased everywhere. It also reminded consumers that we have to make sure that we're getting, because even if it is indeed found in yogurt, it doesn't necessarily mean that it will go directly to your gut alive.
In the video, it also says that probiotics are becoming overrated. Some use it as a therapy or a medicine when it doesn't really have to. Dr. William Bennett, a professor of pediatrics worked on a study that assessed the effect of probiotics on infant colic. Infant colic happens when an otherwise healthy baby starts to cry uncontrollably for hours. Dr. Bennett calls probiotics as "a hammer in search of a nail." His study revealed that babies who were give probiotics had the same condition than those who weren't given.
