Bacteria and other micro organisms – look around you and you will surely agree that they have earned a not-so-very-good reputation of causing a wide range of diseases – some are annoying at most while others are life threatening.
With that in mind, tossing billions of live micro organisms to keep your health and body in tip top shape sounds unacceptable for many…very hard to swallow indeed!
HOWEVER, as scientific experiments together with the evidence they have brought up has shown, you can actually prevent and even treat different sorts of illnesses with the aid of food as well as supplements containing different strains of live and beneficial bacteria.
Northern Europeans as well as Japanese people in particular consume a lot of dishes and drinks that are laced with these beneficial strains of live bacteria known as probiotics. Unsurprisingly, more and more interest is garnered by these friendly uni cellular beings in the United States since the 1990’s.
Let’s see what EXACTLY can these probiotics do for our health:
(A) Great amount of evidence shows that probiotics are of great use when it comes to maintaining urogenital health. Just like our gastro intestinal tract (which is where most of these beneficial micro organisms are found), the vagina is a finely balanced ecosystem.
The Lactobacilli strains of probiotics make the environment too acidic and hostile for the harmful and pathogenic bacterias to survive. The balance, HOWEVER, can be thrown out of balance by factors like use of spermicide, anti biotics, use of birth control pills, and those are just to name a few.
The use of probiotics help in restoring this fine balance. This could be extremely helpful in curing and preventing urogenital problems caused by bacteria such as yeast infection, vaginosis, urinary tract infection, and others.
(B) You would find a lot of women eating yogurt or inserting it into the vagina to treat yeast infections that recur every now and then. This is a folk remedy, which medical science to offer some support to.
The application or administration of Lactobacilli orally and through the vagina can help in the treatment of bacterial vaginosis. HOWEVER, there is NOT enough evidence showing that it’s better than conventional treatments.
Just in case you don’t know, vaginosis is something you can’t ignore…it’s something that MUST be treated properly and immediately. You see, it creates a risk for pregnancy related complications as well as pelvic inflammatory disease.
(C) Strengthens the immune system, makes digestion way easier and more efficient, maximizes the absorption of nutrients – these are just some of the benefits and advantages of taking probiotic supplements. They have been widely and properly documented through studies conducted from different parts of the globe.
You may be asking: “Are probiotics safe to take?”
The answer: YES! You see, probiotics are already present in a normal digestive system. Believe it or not, you have billions of live and friendly micro organisms inside you, especially in your gut.
Now, there is this so called theoretical risk posed by probiotics for those people who are suffering from impaired immune function. HOWEVER, as mentioned, it’s all theory. None of the proposed and potential side effects of probiotics have been proven – at least for now.
With that in mind, it is essential that you check out the ingredients included in the probiotics supplement and have it checked by your doctor or health care provider. You sure want to get the most out of every capsule or every tablet of probiotic supplements you are taking.