The REAL Truth About Probiotics: Your Gut’s Secret Superpower

The REAL Truth About Probiotics: Your Gut’s Secret Superpower

By Mark Timon, Founder of Vibrant Health

For decades, we’ve talked about probiotics helping with digestion. And while they certainly do, modern science has revealed a truly mind-blowing reality: your gut flora is so critical to your health, researchers are now calling it a newly recognized organ!

If you think of your body as a city, only one in ten of the inhabitants (cells) is actually human. The rest are your inhabiting microflora—a complex mix of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that influence everything from your immune system to your mood and weight.

It’s time to understand the incredible power packed into these tiny organisms and why they belong in your daily routine.

Beyond Digestion: The Hidden Benefits of Probiotics

The scientific literature is loaded with research on the positive effects of probiotics. Their benefits extend far beyond a healthy tummy:

• Immune System Warriors: Probiotics offer significant immune support functions. They can build resistance to urogenital infection and generally boost overall immunity.

• Vitamin Factories: Certain strains synthesize essential nutrients like Vitamin K and Vitamin B12. Deficiencies in these vitamins can occur if your probiotic colonies are reduced by a poor diet or long-term antibiotic use.

• Disease Fighters: Healthy colonies of Bifido bacteria are known to lower the risk of colon cancer after age 50. Specific strains, like Propionibacterium shermanii, are especially noteworthy in battling antibiotic-resistant pathogens like Clostridium difficile (C. diff.).

• Whole-Body Influence: Your microflora impacts the prevention or development of conditions such as cancers, asthma, allergies, obesity, autoimmune diseases, and even brain, behavioral, and emotional problems like ADHD, autism, and depression.

Important Note: Probiotics are symbiotic organisms that take up residence outside the body—on your skin, urogenital tissues, and throughout your gastrointestinal tract. They help keep us healthy without being absorbed into the body itself.

The Case for Daily, Multi-Strain Supplementation

Just like an orchestra needs many instruments to create beautiful music, supplementing with multiple strains of probiotics, selected for their complementary attributes, is the most sound approach. Each strain performs both common tasks and unique, specific tasks.

For example:

• Lactobacillus helveticus: Not only breaks down protein and sugars, but also has an enhanced ability to break down dietary cholesterol.

• Propionibacterium shermanii: Breaks down dairy proteins and sugars, generates metabolites that feed other strains, helps synthesize B12, and is prepared to battle C. diff. in the colon.

Why You Can’t Stop Taking Them

Early research presumed that taking probiotics for a period of time could permanently alter your gut flora for the better. However, human clinical trials have turned this idea on its head.

Tests showed that the established microbiological environment in the gut is resistant to change. Within 30 to 60 days of stopping supplementation, the balance of good-to-bad bacteria returned to pre-trial levels.

The conclusion? Continual supplementation is key to improving and maintaining a healthy gut environment.

Can You Take Too Many?

In short, no. The major components of fecal material include sloughed-off intestinal cells and expelled (dead/used) probiotic bacteria. Studies confirmed that a higher intake of probiotic bacteria simply results in a higher excretion of them, with no deleterious effects noted.

The Vibrant Health Difference: A Closer Look at Our Strains

At Vibrant Health, our formulas are based on rigorous research and study. Our Green Vibrance formula includes a potent dose of multiple strains selected based on five criteria: Gastric resistance, enzymatic activity, bowel tolerance, immune support, and colonizing capabilities.

Here are just a few of the dairy-free cultures included and their special roles:

The Takeaway

Destroying your gut flora through poor diet and antibiotics is considered one of the primary reasons for the sharp rise in chronic and acute diseases worldwide. Your gut is not just a tube; it’s an entire ecosystem that is constantly influencing your well-being. By continually supplementing with a potent, multi-strain probiotic, you are supporting this essential “new organ” for a healthier, more vibrant life.