Can You Say 'Acidophilus Bifidus'?

In the intestines there’s supposed to be billions of tiny bacteria (including acidophilus and other strains) that work as soldiers on active duty, protecting our bodies from harm. Their mortal enemy is bad bacteria. The health of the immune system, on the first line of defense, depends upon good bacteria ruling the gut. When good bacteria are killed or overwhelmed you suffer from symptoms and diseases. Intestinal flora are your friends.

Possible problems from an imbalance of good vs bad intestinal bacteria:

• Yeast infections
• Allergies
• Food intolerance
• Frequent colds and flu
• Intestinal cramping
• Chronic fatigue
• Slow or poor wound healing
• More

The average human body, consisting of about 1013 (10,000,000,000,000 or about ten trillion) cells, has about ten times that number of microorganisms in the gut.

Vaginal Yeast Problems

“Acidophilus is termed a probiotic because it helps stave off infection of unwanted microorganisms in the vagina and digestive system. Candida albicans; the type of yeast fungi responsible for yeast infections, is known to thrive in both of these areas as well.

Because both acidophilus and yeast infections compete for the same habitats, they are natural opponents. When acidophilus is depopulated, a yeast infection can spread unrestrained throughout the vagina. Therefore, lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria play an important role in maintaining the balance of vaginal bacterial flora.”5

The gut microflora contributes to several intestinal functions, including the development of the mucosal immune system, the absorption of complex macromolecules, the synthesis of amino acids and vitamins and the protection against pathogenic microorganisms. Its composition varies along the different segments of the gut, with a gradient from the stomach to the colon where it is more abundant. Given the vital relationship between the microflora and the intestinal function, it is important that the microflora is kept continuously under control so to preserve gut homeostasis. When this is not achieved or perturbed, several immune disorders can arise, like allergies or inflammation.3

In simpler terms, to explain the above scientific jargon, the bacteria in the intestines are used by the body for a number of important functions, and when they are out of balance, or killed off, then health problems arise. Among these problems are allergies to foods such as dairy, eggs, wheat, gluten, chocolate and more.

Good bacteria, in the form of supplementation, has been used clinically to relieve eczema from allergic reactions to cows milk in children.1

“A single layer of epithelial cells covering the large gut mucosal surface, approximately the area of a tennis court in adults, is continuously exposed to huge amounts of dietary, environmental and microbial antigens.”2 In other words, the cells that cover tissues of the intestines, is always fighting off microscopic particles from what we eat, what’s in our environment and tiny particles of attackers.

You can take good bacteria in the form of supplements. Click here.

Sources

1. Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol 3(1):15-20, 2003, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/448473_4
2. Regulation of the Immune System by Intestinal Microbiota, http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/448473_4
3. Rescigno M, The pathogenic role of intestinal flora in IBD and colon cancer; Curr Drug Targets. 2008 May;9(5):395-403
4. Improvement of the human intestinal flora by ingestion of the probiotic strain
   Lactobacillus johnsonii La1; Toshihiko Yamano, Hisakazu Iino, Mamiko Takada, Stephanie Blum, Florence Rochat and Yoichi Fukushima; British Journal of Nutrition (2006), 95, 303–312
5. Acidophilus Yeast Infection, 2008