A study released last week from the European Journal of Nutrition concluded that the intake of prebiotics and probiotics may reduce the amount of carcinogenic compounds in the intestines. Our American diet is devoid of fermented foods that would traditionally provide our intestines with probiotics. Foods such as miso, sauerkraut, kefir, kimchee etc that have been traditionally for centuries are lacking in the American diet – or if we can buy them from the supermarket they are pasteurized and thereby worthless in terms of beneficial gut bacteria.
Our bodies use prebiotics to make probiotics. The most common prebiotic you may recognize is FOS or fructooligosaccharide. The probiotics used in this study are Lactobacillus casei, Bifidobacterium breve, which you would find in many probiotic supplements. One of my favorite probiotics is a green drink called Pro-Greens which you can order from Emerson Ecologics. There are many other excellent probiotic supplements as well.
However not everyone should be on probiotics! You may not need them because you already eat fermented foods and have a robust immune system so you’ll just be wasting your money and worse possibly causing an imbalance to your natural flora. Or two you do not create enough hydrochloric acid in your stomach so the alkaline enzymes from your pancreas will not be released into the duodenum. (the upper part of your intestines). This may allow the probiotics to migrate up to the duodenum causing bloating and gas after meals. So probiotics can make things worse for some folks, although this is a small percentage.
In Health,
George Mandler DiplOM LicAc
George Mandler
Licensed Acupuncturist & Nutritionist Dietitian
Acupuncture, Chinese Medicine, & Nutrition
Boston, Jamaica Plain, Brookline, Massachusetts