​What Is Gut Health And Why Are Probiotics Important? (Part Two)

In part one, we addressed why in someone might try taking a probiotic in the first place, how probiotics can support your health — specifically immune, and a bit on the impacts of the microbiome. In part two, we’ll look at how probiotics play a role in gut health and brain health!

Probiotics seem to be everywhere, with everyone touting them as the new health product to try. If you’re curious, browse The Online Drugstore probiotic selection and find out how they can help you.

Probiotics are infamous for supporting gut health!

Gut Health And Probiotics

A lot of the early research conducted on probiotics focused on digestive health, with a lot of positive findings stemming from it. When people took antibiotics for a long period of time it would wreak havoc on their gut causing constipation and diarrhea. When people started supplementing with probiotics after the course of probiotics — remember antibiotics will kill the probiotics so it’s a wash during — people’s symptoms improved.

Probiotics have also been studied for their support in digestive issues such as Irritable bowel disorder (IBS) as they can help help reduce bloating, gas, constipation, and other symptoms.

Other diseases that have shown efficacy with probiotics are Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, both are extremely hard to manage and probiotics seem to offer some support.

If you’re dealing with gut issues, it’s important to investigate what the root cause of the issue is and consider supplementing with a probiotic.

The Gut-Brain Connection

Just above we mentioned that figuring out your digestive issue is important, and this is why:

the gut and the brain are connected.

When one is affected, so too, is the other.

The gut has its own mini brain that not only is largely connected to the big brain, but controlled by the enteric nervous system (ENS). You can physically experience it when you get the butterflies, or when it absorbs nutrients and digests food. Though it doesn’t control thought (or does it) it can communicate with the big brain profoundly. It can even trigger emotional responses and moods. For example, for a long time doctors thought IBS and other conditions were a result of depression and anxiety, but it’s proving that they got it backwards — IBS can trigger mood disorders!

Probiotics, are also hustling to make short-chain fatty acids that helps your brain work, and these compounds contribute to the maintenance of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) — the part of the brain that filters the bad and keeps the good from entering.

These microorganisms also effectively metabolize amino acids and bile acids and creates new chemicals to assist the brain.

Everyday Probiotic Slayers

A healthy microbiome begins with healthy eating habits!

There are common foods and beverages that can easily destroy or harm your microbiome.

Antibiotics - Antibiotics are great for saving lives and staving off infection, but try to not overuse them. Antibiotics kill everything — the good and the bad in your gut.

Sugar - Sugar feeds bacteria, but not the good kind we want. Eating a high sugar and starch diet disrupts the balance and sways it in favor of harmful bacteria.

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) - This could easily turn into a hot debate, but the reason GMOs are listed are because they implement a host of herbicides and pesticides that kill the good bacteria from the soil that our bodies need.

Stress - Stress taxes your whole body and puts it into a fight-or-flight state, which then inhibits gut motility, secretion, and blood flow — the body is trying so hard to fight, that it can’t pay attention to the microbiota.

Poor sleep - When your sleep is disrupted, it affects the cortisol levels which work hand-in-hand on the gut-brain axis. Poor and spiked cortisol levels result in gut permeability and diversity in the gut.

As we’ve discovered, probiotics are imperative to a healthy gut which is related to a healthy immune system and brain health. The gut-brain is only newly discovered, but one affects the other and their health is dependent upon each other. It’s also a good idea to have healthy eating habits because a poor diet and other lifestyle factors can harm the microbiome.

Health and wellness begins with a balanced and flourishing microbiome!

To support your gut health, supplement with a probiotic from The Online Drugstore today!