Even at our cleanest, we are covered in germs and we are full of germs.
These microorganisms are essential to our health.
It can spend hours there, as our body re-absorbs its water.
And during that time, our food becomes food for the creatures that live there.
We have trillions of little microscopic friends in our colon.
As they digest our waste, they do tons of important things for us.
They manufacture most of our vitamin K, for example.
They protect us from infection by harmful microbes, and the help keep our immune system functioning properly.
If your digestive health isnt so great, you might consider adding some good bacteria to the mix.
Some of those grow easily in dairy products, and they are the creatures that turn milk into yogurt.
So a simple way of getting probiotics is to just eat yogurt with active cultures.
you’ve got the option to also buy probiotic pills or powders.
An important note: Probiotics dont take up residence in your gut.
It seems like they should, but research shows that theyre tourists.
They come in, they can maybe shake things up a little, and then they move on.
In the meantime they can still have effects on your health, but they rarely cause any permanent change.
That means theyre left without much else: just fiber, and other things that our body considers indigestible.
These HMOs not only feed certain good microbes, but also prevent pathogens from causing infections.
Prebioticsare things we eat that can potentially affect our health by affecting our gut microbes.
Some types of dietary fiber are also considered prebiotics, depending on who you ask.
If you package prebiotics and probiotics together, you’re free to call the resulting pill asynbiotic.
We eat prebiotics as adults, too, whether we realize it or not.
Wheat and onionsprovide most of our inulin and oligofructose, for example.
So if you have digestive issues and feel like trying themhey, feel free to experiment.
But I havent yet met a microbiome researcher who swears by supplements.
