Which Are the Best Types of Probiotics?

What should you look for when shopping for a good probiotic supplement?

Before I get into which are the best probiotics to look for, we should take a look at what these probiotic bacteria do in the human body. 

The human gut is chock full of bacteria.  The average person has between 2 - 3 pounds of bacteria in their digestive system, which consists of about 100 trillion cells.  We only have about 50 trillion cells in our entire body, which means that the bacterial cells within our digestive system is about double the number of body cells that we possess.  Of course, they are much smaller than our body cells, or else this could not be possible.  The ratio of good to bad bacteria in our digestive system needs to be at least  85% good to 15% bad, in order for us to be in good health.  We even have fungus and protozoa in our guts and up until this point,  no one has been able to quite figure out why. 

Bacteria aid greatly in:

1.  The process of digestion and supplying us with vital nutrition

2.  Producing serotonin, which is the "feel good" hormone

3.  Helping our immune system to function properly

We couldn't survive without bacteria.  The amazing thing is that our gut has no bacteria in it before we are born.  The first bacteria begins to enter our gut during the process of birth and continues throughout our lives.    

After people first started to learn how important probiotics are for proper digestion, elimination and overall good health, many nutritional supplement manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon and flooded the market with probiotic products. 

Consider:

1.  Many probiotics are dead before they get to your intestines. Because your stomach acids are so powerful, they kill off most probiotics well before they can reach your small and large intestines. And they won’t do you an ounce of good once they’re dead.

2.  Most probiotics can’t survive transportation and storage. Probiotics are extremely delicate, they can’t survive exposure to light, air, or even oxygen. And if you’re taking a brand that needs refrigeration, it has got to be refrigerated 100% of the time. The truth is, by the time most probiotic products leave the manufacturer, get shipped on trucks, and sit in warehouses or on store shelves, the power of the beneficial bacteria has been significantly and in some cases completely diminished.

3.  Manufacturers overpromise the potency of probiotics. Many may promise you one billion live acidophilus organisms, but only on the date of manufacture!

What To Look For:

1.  Controlled-Release Technology. Controlled-release formulas are specially coated to protect the probiotics from gastric acid and ultimately deliver a high percentage of live probiotic bacteria to the intestines.

2.  Beadlet Technology. This process was developed in Japan and involves enclosing live probiotic bacteria in a small, pearl-shaped beadlet, where the walls of the beadlet are formulated to survive stomach acid and release their contents only when they reach the more neutral environment of the intestines.

Both of these types of delivery systems also ensure an extended shelf life for these probiotic products and don't require refrigeration. So when looking for a probiotic supplement, choose one that uses either a controlled-release technology or the beadlet formulation and states that refrigeration is not necessary.

Also try to get your probiotics naturally, through yogurt, kefir, kombucha tea and fermented foods such as kimchi and sauerkraut.

For More Information:

http://www.drdavidwilliams.com/digestive-health-probiotic-supplement?key=219161&utm_campaign=PP-31&u...