Anti-biotics vs. Pro-biotics
Anti-biotics vs. Pro-biotics
by Dana Christisen, CRP, Natural Health Coach
Probiotics. We all know that the prefix pro- means ‘for’ but what you may not know is the word biotic means life. When I look at the word probiotic, I see “for life”. This led me to consider the word anti-biotic. The prefix anti- means against, and the word biotic still means life, which makes antibiotic “against life”.
Has anyone noticed the amount of folks that need to take antibiotics lately? Has anyone besides myself noticed the decline in the effectiveness of these drugs? When someone tells me they are on an antibiotic, I immediately ask them if they are taking a probiotic also. Approximately 99 out of 100 people that I ask, don’t have a clue what a probiotic is. In fact, it is kind of funny, but the spell checker on my word processor does not know what it is either because every time I have typed this word, it has been underlined in red.
In our bodies, there is a whole world of microorganisms. They are there in the billions and they will continue to be there even after we are dead (at least for a while). They have a job to do. Some of these bacteria are ‘friendly’ or good and some of the bacteria are bad. They all have names. Some of you may recognize these names like Helicobacter pylori and Candida Albicans. Yeast infections, ulcers, gastritis and many types of cancer can be caused by these bad bacteria, mostly in folks with immune systems that are challenged.
You may recognize some of the names of friendly bacteria like Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium. Unlike the many dis-eases listed in association with bad bacteria, these good bacteria have a huge list of health conditions that they help to correct. Probiotic supplementation may help to prevent colon cancer, may lower cholesterol, may help to lower blood pressure, improve your immune system and help to prevent infections, may reduce inflammation, may help your body to absorb minerals and may help relieve some diarrhea.
Our balance of helpful bacteria versus harmful bacteria is supposed to be 85 percent helpful to 15 percent harmful. This ratio is hard to maintain in this environment that we live in. Exposure to toxins in our food, the air we breathe, chlorine in water supplies, and antibiotics, all take a toll on the good bacteria in our bodies. The fact is that there will be bacteria in your body, however you get to choose whether it is mostly good or mostly bad.
One way I thought of that helps me to describe this bacteria in our bodies is to compare it to a garden. Whether your garden has flowers or vegetables in it, you will have weeds that grow up in your garden. Would you consider putting Round-up on the entire garden just because you had a few weeds? When you take an antibiotic for an infection, it tries to kill all of the bacteria, not only the culprit behind your infection. But guess what happens, they don’t all die, only the weak ones. Then you may be left with a gut full of very strong bad bacteria.
This is one reason why it is so important for everyone to supplement their diet with probiotics. You do get them from some foods like yogurt, and years ago, we would get them from the soil. However, in this day and age, with the chemicals that are sprayed on our crops, we no longer get very much good bacteria from the earth.
Now that you know why to supplement with probiotics, let me tell you when. What I like to do is take my probiotic supplements right before bed. This way they have a chance to work into the body and not be harmed by chlorine in water or toxins in my food. I take a supplement of about 15 billion bacteria per serving and contains ten different strains of bacteria. When I reach 50, I will need to increase that amount to 30 billion. Also, the probiotic supplement that I take is enteric-coated, which means that the bacteria will make it to the intestines.
I am not a doctor and I do not diagnose or treat any health condition. I am only giving you a compilation of information that I have gained over the years of studying natural health. Any information I am giving you is only my opinion and is what I would do for myself. Until next week, may all of your bacteria be good ones, naturally speaking.
Obligatory Disclaimer: The preceeding information is intended for educational purposes only. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Anyone suffering from a serious disease, illness or injury should consult with a physician.