This Gut Army Fights Disease, Boosts Mood, and Helps You Stay Fit – Meet Probiotics!

Written by Dr. Swati Tiwari, Ph.D. in Food Science and Nutrition

Probiotics are live microorganisms—usually bacteria or yeast. “Pro” means for and “biotic” means life, so, literally for life. In layman’s terms, Probiotics are microscopic and not so visible friend of ours, present in delicious dairy, cereal or pulses-based fermented foods. For all that an army is to a country, probiotics are to the gut. Believe it or not, they actually protect the human gut against harmful invaders who, if given a chance, may attack our system.

Well! You may ask who those invaders are and how they get into our system. Alas! These are pathogenic (i.e., disease-causing) microbes that may enter the human body through contaminated or stale food, water, contact with feces, or even contaminated surroundings, and cause illness.

The demons: Disease causing microbes

Disease causing microbes could be viruses, bacteria, or parasites like protozoa that need a host to survive. They can make us sick—or even be fatal. There could be different types of viruses like Norovirus and Hepatitis. On the other hand, different bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Clostridium can cause food poisoning.

Just so you know! In the initial phases of incubation, they cause inflammation of the stomach and intestinal linings, which further leads to nausea, vomiting, fever, and diarrhea. What’s more! For people with weaker immune systems especially vulnerable individuals like children, the elderly, and immunocompromised, it may lead to death as well.

Knight in shining armor: The Probiotics

Probiotics protects us from disease causing monsters possibly by following hypothesis:

The first says that the probiotics competitively excludes pathogens from human body meaning that they compete at binding sites of pathogens leading to difficulty in the survival of pathogens. Second is by immune system modulation, that is, by strengthening our immune system. The third says that probiotics creates a wall between the pathogens and intestinal surfaces leading to prohibiting the attack of these monsters, thereby, inhibiting the inflammation. While according to the fourth one, probiotics produces their sub-ordinates like short chain fatty acids and hydrogen peroxides which are fatal for these pathogens. Doesn’t probiotics sound like a superhero but wait there is more… Apart from protecting us from these disease causing devils, they provides various health benefits like anti-oxidant properties, cholesterol-lowering, and anti-cancerous properties to human. Apart from these, they are also helpful in mood regulation, weight management and preventing skin allergies.

Sources of probiotics

Well! Here we introduce our micro warriors and their sources. The main ones are Lactic acid bacteria (LAB), which includes Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Some other probiotics belong to the Bacillus group and include some yeasts. However, LAB are the major warriors. The sources through which we can take probiotics into our system are:

1. Fermented dairy products (Curd, yoghurt, Shrikhand, Buttermilk, Probiotics ice-creams, Kefir, Koumiss)
2. Fermented cereal and pulses products (Idli, Dosa, Uttapam, Dhokla)
3. Fermented soy products (Soy sauce, Tempeh, Miso, Natto)
4. Fermented vegetables (Sauerkraut, Cucumber, Olives, Pickles, Kanji)
5. Fermented Tea: Kombucha
6. Probiotic capsules (Loaded with mixture of probiotic bacteria which are easily available in market for example: Bifilac, Doralac, Ecoflora etc.)

Takeaway: In essence, careful selection of eating patterns is essential while avoiding stale or unhygienically prepared foods or contaminated food. Inclusion of probiotic rich foods could be supportive to our system. However, including supplements of probiotics could be done under medical guidance in order to ensure if it suits well for your body.