Digestive supplements are live microorganisms that can be consumed with fermented foods or supplements.
More and more research shows that the balance or imbalance of bacteria in your digestive system is linked to overall health and disease.
Digestive supplements promote a healthy balance of gut bacteria and are associated with many health benefits.
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Table of Contents
What are Digestive Health Supplements?
Digestive supplements combine beneficial live bacteria and yeast that live naturally in your body. Bacteria are generally viewed in a negative light as what makes you sick. However, both bacteria are constantly present in your body: good and evil. Digestive supplements are good bacteria that help keep the body healthy and functioning. This good bacteria helps you in many ways, including fighting harmful bacteria when there are too many and helping you feel better.
Health supplements are part of a larger picture about bacteria and your body: your microbiome. Think of the microbiome as a diverse community of organisms that work together to keep your body healthy, like the forest. This community is made up of things called microbes. There are trillions of microbes in your body.
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How Do Digestive Supplements Work?
The primary purpose of digestive supplements, or beneficial bacteria, is to maintain a healthy balance in the body. First, think about how to keep your body in a neutral position. When you are sick, harmful bacteria enter your body, increasing their numbers. This causes your body to lose balance. Good bacteria fight harmful bacteria and restore balance in the body, making you feel better.
Good bacteria keep you healthy by supporting your immune function and controlling inflammation. Some types of beneficial bacteria can also:
- Help your body digest food.
- Don’t let harmful bacteria lose control and make you sick.
- Create vitamins.
It helps support the cells lining the intestines to prevent harmful bacteria you may have ingested (through food or drink) from entering your bloodstream.
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These include benefits for weight loss, digestive health, immune purpose, and more.
1. Health Supplements Help Balance The Beneficial Bacteria In The Digestive System.
Digestive health supplements include “good” bacteria. These are live microorganisms that can offer health benefits when consumed.
These benefits are thought to be related to the ability of digestive health supplements to restore the natural balance of gut microbes.
An imbalance occurs when too many harmful microbes and insufficient beneficial microorganisms exist. Diseases, drugs like antibiotics, a lousy diet, and other factors can all contribute to this.
Consequences can include digestive issues, allergies, mental fitness issues, obesity, and more.
Health supplements are usually found in fermented foods or taken as supplements. Plus, they seem to be safe for most people.
2. Digestive Supplements Can Help Prevent And Treat Diarrhea.
Health supplements are widely known for preventing diarrhoea or reducing its harshness.
Diarrhoea is a shared side effect of taking antibiotics. This is because antibiotics can negatively affect the gut balance of good and bad bacteria.
Several studies show that probiotics are associated with a reduced risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea. For example, in one study, researchers found that taking digestive supplements reduced antibiotic-associated diarrhoea by 42%.
Digestive supplements can also help with other forms of diarrhoea not associated with antibiotics.
3. Probiotic Supplements Improve Some Mental Health Situations.
A rising body of research links gut health to mood and mental health
Both animal and human studies have shown that probiotic supplements can improve some psychiatric disorders.
A review of 15 human studies found that supplementation with Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus strains for 1-2 months can improve anxiety, depression, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and memory.
One study involved 70 chemical workers for 6 weeks. Those who spent 100 grams of probiotic yogurt daily or took probiotic capsules daily experienced benefits for overall health, depression, anxiety and stress.
4. Some Strains of Probiotics May Help Keep the Heart Healthy
Digestive supplements can help keep your heart healthy by lowering LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and blood pressure.
Some lactic acid-producing bacteria can lower cholesterol levels by breaking down bile in the intestine. Bile, a natural fluid primarily made up of cholesterol, aids digestion.
By breaking down bile, digestive supplements can prevent it from reabsorbing in the intestines, which can enter the bloodstream as cholesterol.
5. Digestive Supplements Can Reduce The Severity Of Specific Allergies And Eczema.
Some probiotic strains may reduce the severity of eczema in children and infants.
One study found that eczema symptoms improved in infants fed milk supplemented with probiotics compared to infants fed without digestive supplements.
Another study involved children of women who took supplements to improve digestion during pregnancy. These children had an 83% lower risk of developing eczema in the first two years of life.
However, the link between digestive supplements and reduced eczema severity is still weak, and more research is needed.
Some digestive supplements can also reduce inflammatory responses in people with allergies to milk or dairy products. However, the evidence is weak and more investigation is wanted.
6. Digestive Supplements Can Help Reduce The Symptoms Of Certain Digestive Disorders.
Over a million people in the United States suffer from inflammatory bowel disease, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
Certain types of supplements made from strains of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus improve symptoms in people with mild ulcerative colitis.
Surprisingly, one study found that supplementing with E. coli Nissle probiotics was just as effective as medication in remission in people with ulcerative colitis.
However, digestive supplements appear to have little effect on symptoms of Crohn’s disease.
However, digestive supplements may be helpful for other intestinal conditions. For example, early research suggests they may help with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms.
They have also been exposed to reduce the risk of severe necrotizing enterocolitis by 50%. This is a fatal intestinal disease that occurs in premature babies.
7. Digestive Supplements Can Help Boost Your Immune System.
Digestive supplements can help boost your immune system and inhibit the growth of harmful gut bacteria.
In addition, some digestive supplements have been shown to promote the production of natural antibodies in the body. They can also stimulate immune cells such as IgA-producing cells, T-lymphocytes, and natural killer cells.
A large review found that taking digestive supplements reduced the likelihood and period of respiratory infections. However, the excellence of the evidence was low.
Another study of over 570 children found that taking Lactobacillus GG reduced the frequency and severity of respiratory infections by 17%.
Additionally, research has shown that taking the probiotic Lactobacillus crispatus lowers women’s risk of UTIs by 50%.
8. Digestive Supplements Can Help You Lose Weight And Eliminate Belly Fat.
Health increases can help with weight loss through several different mechanisms.
For example, some [digestive supplements] prevent the absorption of dietary fat in the intestines.
The fat is then excreted through the stool rather than stored in the body.
[Digestive supplements] can also help you feel full longer, burn more calories, and store less fat. This is partly caused by elevated levels of certain hormones, such as GLP-1.
They can also directly help with weight loss. For example, in one study, dieters who took Lactobacillus rhamnosus for three months lost 50% more weight than women who did not take a probiotic.
Conclusion
Health supplements are live microbes that have specific health benefits. For example, there is strong evidence that some digestive health supplements can reduce cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and inflammation.
However, most study participants already had high blood pressure or cholesterol levels. Also, not all [digestive supplements] are the same, and only a few may benefit heart health.
In general, if you have high cholesterol or high blood pressure, some [digestive supplements] may be helpful in addition to other medications, diet, and lifestyle changes.
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