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The Gut Microbiome and How Probiotics Can Help

Chances are you’ve heard of the gut microbiome and its importance to your overall health and wellbeing. The gut microbiome refers to all the bacteria, viruses and fungi that live within your gut – mostly in the large intestine.1 In fact, there are approximately 38 trillion microbes working in your gut right now – helping you to digest food, jostling with each other for survival and reproducing.2 When in balance, “good bacteria” prevail over “bad bacteria”, and help to keep your immune system healthy, your mood stable and your digestion on point.

There are some simple things you can do to help improve the health of your gut and support your microbiome to do its thing. These include eating a varied, high fibre diet with plenty of plant foods (vegetables, fruit, legumes, grains, nuts and seeds), getting regular exercise, managing stress, and last – but certainly not least – choosing evidence-based probiotic strains to support beneficial gut bacteria.

But which probiotic to choose?

For Everyday Gut Health

A combination of Lactobacillus acidophilus (NCFM®) and Bifidobacterium lactis (Bi-07) supports gastrointestinal health and digestive function, maintains general wellbeing and healthy immunity.4-7 These strains are found in Inner Health Plus Double Strength – a convenient shelf stable and dairy free probiotic to support general health and maintain healthy flora in your gut.

If you prefer a refrigerated probiotic, choose Inner Health Plus as your everyday gut companion. Formulated with the same probiotic strains it helps enhance the levels of good gut bacteria and supports healthy digestive function.

Sometimes your gut microbiome can get disrupted, affecting both the number and the diversity of different species of beneficial bacteria. This could be due to a lack of fibre in the diet, ongoing stress, illness, or the effects of taking antibiotics.3 At these times, your gut microbiome can do with a little extra support to return to healthy balance.

When Taking Antibiotics

Taking probiotics alongside a course of antibiotics has been found to maintain the health of the microbiome during antibiotic use.8  To help restore healthy gut bacteria after antibiotics and support a healthy immune response to break the cycle of sickness9-12 look for a combination of Lactobacillus rhamnosus (LGG®), Bifidobacterium animalis ssp lactis (BB-12®) and Lactobacillus acidophilus (LA-5™), as found in shelf stable and vegan friendly Inner Health Restore-Biotic. If you’re wondering whether to take the probiotic before, during or after antibiotics check out this article.

For Managing Digestive Health Conditions

If you’re looking for support in helping you managing specific digestive health complaints, Inner Health have a broad range of probiotics for specific conditions, such as relief from;

To support the health of your gut microbiome, choose evidence-based probiotics to maintain the balance of good bacteria in your gut, alongside eating a healthy diet, practicing stress management and getting regular exercise. Remember: a healthier gut microbiome means a healthier you!

References

  1. de Vos WM, Tilg H, Van Hul M, Cani PD. Gut microbiome and health: mechanistic insights. Gut. 2022;71(5):1020-1032. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2021-326789
  2. Sender R, Fuchs S, Milo R. Revised estimates for the number of human and bacteria cells in the body. PLoS Biol. 2016;14(8):e1002533. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1002533
  3. Valdes AM, Walter J, Segal E, Spector TD. Role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health. BMJ. 2018;361:k2179. doi:10.1136/bmj.k2179
  4. Ouwehand AC, Tiihonen K, Saarinen M, Putaala H, Rautonen N. Influence of a combination of Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM and lactitol on healthy elderly: intestinal and immune parameters. Br J Nutr. 2009;101(3):367-375. doi:10.1017/S0007114508003097
  5. Ringel-Kulka T, Goldsmith JR, Carroll IM, et al. Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM affects colonic mucosal opioid receptor expression in patients with functional abdominal pain - a randomised clinical study. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2014;40(2):200-207. doi:10.1111/apt.12800
  6. Forssten S, Evans M, Wilson D, Ouwehand AC. Influence of a probiotic mixture on antibiotic induced microbiota disturbances. World J Gastroenterol. 2014;20(33):11878-11885. doi:10.3748/wjg.v20.i33.11878
  7. West NP, Horn PL, Pyne DB, et al. Probiotic supplementation for respiratory and gastrointestinal illness symptoms in healthy physically active individuals. Clin Nutr. 2014;33(4):581-587. doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2013.10.002
  8. Fernández-Alonso M, Aguirre Camorlinga A, Messiah SE, Marroquin E. Effect of adding probiotics to an antibiotic intervention on the human gut microbial diversity and composition: a systematic review. J Med Microbiol. 2022;71(11):10.1099/jmm.0.001625. doi:10.1099/jmm.0.001625
  9. Szajewska H, Kołodziej M. Systematic review with meta-analysis: Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG in the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea in children and adults. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2015;42(10):1149-1157. doi:10.1111/apt.13404
  10. Chatterjee S, Kar P, Das T, et al. Randomised placebo-controlled double blind multicentric trial on efficacy and safety of Lactobacillus acidophilus LA-5 and Bifidobacterium BB-12 for prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea. J Assoc Physicians India. 2013;61(10):708-712.
  11. Schultz M, Linde HJ, Lehn N, et al. Immunomodulatory consequences of oral administration of Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG in healthy volunteers. J Dairy Res. 2003;70(2):165-173. doi:10.1017/s0022029903006034
  12. Smith TJ, Rigassio-Radler D, Denmark R, Haley T, Touger-Decker R. Effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus LGG® and Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis BB-12® on health-related quality of life in college students affected by upper respiratory infections. Br J Nutr. 2013;109(11):1999-2007. doi:10.1017/S0007114512004138
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