Blessings bestowed by gut bacteria

The World Health Organisation estimate that by 2015 there will be 1.5 billion overweight consumers globally, costing $117 billion in associated health costs in the US alone! By crikey that’s a scary amount of fat and a scarily big dollar cost. My question is - when are we going to get right down to addressing one of the most fundamental issues that is underpinning the obesity epidemic, because the evidence keeps piling up. Here it is again - the link between deranged gut microbiota (unhealthy bacteria in your gut) and skewed energy/fat metabolism and appetite.

The study confirms earlier "elegant" research, indicates the need for ongoing dosing with healthy bacteria (in the form of a fermented product or a probiotic supplement) and also confirms the ability of the mother to confer a healthy (or unhealthy) gut population on her unborn child. 

So - reduce the likelihood of a child with weight management issues, improve your mood, boost your immune response. That’s just for starters! What are you waiting for? 

Asthma in your family? Look to your gut...

A reminder from the natural health guru Dr. Mercola about the need to establish good gut health during pregnancy. This is a story that will not go away, in fact I’d suggest attention to the health of the gut must be your first priority at any time. If babies are on your agenda, begin well before conception and include the prospective father in the equation! It’s a certainty that future research will confirm the plethora of health issues that we can link to compromised gut health. 

For example, children who were already predisposed to asthma (due to their mother having the condition) were twice as likely to develop asthma if their mother used antibiotics during the third trimester. The increased asthma risk supports the theory that those beneficial gut bacteria, which are decimated by antibiotics, play a role in the development of asthma. Co-author Dr. Hans Bisgaard told Reuters Health: "We speculate that mothers' use of antibiotics changes the balance of natural bacteria, which is transmitted to the newborn, and that such unbalanced bacteria in early life impact on the immune maturation in the newborn."

So a vital prerequisite for your newborn is establishing a healthy gastrointestinal tract. Regardless of age, your gut is your first line of defense in terms of immunity. 

Brings me back to the ridiculous new guidelines that our Australian National Health & Medical Research Council have put in place in an effort to stem the allergy epidemic that they “can’t explain.” If they took a look at where immunity begins and the many ways in which it is currently compromised their advice might have merit, rather they are advocating earlier introduction of solids, at 4 months rather than 6 (the current recommendation of bodies such as WHO). When totally breastfed babies normally indicate readiness for solids (reaching for food from your plate) at 8-9 months, solids at 4 months is a completely counter-intuitive recommendation and one likely to exacerbate the allergy and intolerance problem!

The good guys that grow in your gut

I’m hopping on the “healthy gut” soap box again! The research, expanding at a phenomenal rate, confirms the importance of the gut microbiota. Quite apart from preventing a host of directly, gut-related, health issues, the good gut bacteria go a long way towards establishing and maintaining normal weight, hormone balance and emotional stability!

And relevant to my work, Yale and Harvard researchers have identified a brief window of opportunity postnatally when optimal gut health can be established. Take advantage of that window and you bestow a lifetime of better health on the child. WOW - what an opportunity we have, or conversely, what an opportunity we miss. Caesarean-section means a baby born into a sterile environment, failing to acquire his mother’s bacteria as he passes down the birth canal. Formula feeding presents a similar story, delivering an equally unfortunate impact on the infant's gut health. Those US researchers make a direct link to the extremely high C-sec and formula feeding rates to the epidemics of obesity and depression! 

But no matter how deplorable the statistics, the good news is that probiotics can act as a surrogate with probiotic-containing products of potential benefit to the whole family. But there’s madness in the air! As of December 14 2012 in the EU, the word “probiotic” can no longer be used on product labels since it infers a “health claim.” EU consumers will have to look for the names of specific strains to find what they want - a move that defies logic and will no doubt deter the less well-informed. When will restoring optimal (normal?) status of naturally occurring bacteria, trace elements, vitamins or whatever be the RIGHT OF and made EASY for the health-conscious consumer? Before the madness reaches Australian shores,  get a product with multiple strains and get those good guys growing in your gut!

More important than vitamins and trace elements

Wow, what an eye-opener the Congress in Istanbul - Probiotics and Prebiotics in Paediatrics! Latest research confirmed the absolute and fundamental importance of establishing healthy gut ‘microbiota’ which is the official term for 1.5Kg, mostly bacteria, containing 100 times more cells and 100 times more DNA than our body! ‘Important’ isn’t really strong enough to describe all the things this colony of microorganisms is responsible for, including integrity of gut lining, nutrient absorption and vitamin synthesis, immune function, energy metabolism, hormone production and balance and neurotransmitter production. All of that said you won’t be surprised when I tell you that compromised gut health (fewer of the healthy bacteria, or an overgrowth of unhealthy species) are linked to a host of gastrointestinal health issues but also to the obesity and depression epidemics. Wondering about the health of your gut? Don’t wonder, make sure! Invest in a potent probiotic product and take it on an on going basis.

Popeye the sailor man ...

eats all his spinach ... and lives to fight another day. He scoffs a canful of the green stuff, his muscles bulge and he’s off and running. Yeah, yeah, I know, he’s a cartoon character, but poetic license notwithstanding, I bet you’ve heard spinach touted as a super food - thanks to its high IRON content? You have? We all have! 

But guess what ... it ain’t the iron that fortifies old Popeye. It’s the nitrates! Bacteria in the mouth convert the nitrates to nitric oxide and voila! Nitric oxide is a molecule which opens up blood vessels, lowers blood pressure and improves circulation. New research shows that nitrates make mitochondria less "leaky". This has the effect of increasing their efficiency as biological machines. So says Prof Eddie Weitzberg from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute. His findings are published today in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Only one catch - you need those healthy bacteria! So get the whole package, Progurt is the only Probiotic with the multiple human strains that will populate your gut from the mouth to the other end.