Probiotics and prebiotics/ What really matters

2024-07-29 16:36:00, Shëndeti Dr. Ilir Allkja

You've probably seen many advertisements on the Internet for nutritional supplements that promise to provide revitalization of beneficial intestinal or genital flora and their benefits.

What you should know before buying these products.

I realized that most Albanians have started taking dietary supplements routinely.

The most common are multivitamin and multimineral supplements.

Today, the fashion of using supplements with probiotics and prebiotics is spreading more and more, based on their health benefits.

Choosing the foods and supplements you need to stay healthy shouldn't be done on a whim, without recognizing your deficiencies and needs.

A recommendation from a specialist includes minimum and maximum amounts you should consume, as well as good food sources of each supplement.

Your large intestine under normal conditions contains 100 trillion "good" bacteria (lactobacilli) which are essential for health.

These beneficial microbes help maintain normal intestinal function and also help eliminate harmful bacteria, molds, parasites, etc.

For example, inflammatory bowel disease always appears in the field of disorders of the intestinal flora.

Research suggests that lactobacilli play a role in weight and mood regulation.

Everyone begins life with their own unique microbiome at birth. We add these good bacteria through the foods we eat.

The best ways to add colonies of healthy bacteria to your microflora are:

Yogurt and kefir.

Be sure to buy natural products, the best is to make them yourself at home, if you can find safe milk.

Fermented foods.

Lactobacilli are the "cooks" for some popular foods. For example, they turn milk into yogurt or cheese, cabbage into pickles, cucumbers into pickles, cornmeal into bose, etc.

The best solution is to buy these at those factories where they make their own pickles, cheese or natural food stores that carry fermented foods.

The safest solution, do it yourself; you can find clear and easy instructions from parents, grandmothers, from books and from the Internet.

Of course, there are also probiotic supplements on the market. But none have proven medical indications.

I have personally tested some of them to no avail.

It is best to stick to dietary sources rich in probiotics.

My advice: don't waste time and money with pharmaceutical products!

Another way: you can help your body produce healthy gut bacteria.

Here's how:

Include plenty of foods high in insoluble fiber, which tend to contain more prebiotics.

You'll find those products in whole grains like bulgur wholemeal bread (with bran), in vegetables like asparagus, leeks, onions and garlic, sweet potatoes and corn.

You can also find it in grains: beans, lentils and peas.

It is important to: limit sugar, saturated fat and processed foods. These can deplete the good bacteria in the gut but also cause metabolic problems.

As always, try to live on whole and unprocessed foods, away from industrial ones!

Take care of yourself!