Probiotics Benefits + Myths | Improve Gut Health | Doctor Mike

– Look down at your arm. They’re on you right now. In fact, they’re everywhere. On your skin, in your
mouth, on your teeth,just crawling, breathing, and
farting all over the place. – Aw, come on!- Relax. I’m just talking about bacteria,and I know reflexively you’re thinking,well, bacteria, that must be a bad thing. Not really. You have more good bacteria
than bad bacteria in your body. Our bodies are home to over
100 trillion good bacteria,well over 1,000 species, and somewherebetween seven to 9,000
strains of these species. Not only are these bacteria good for us,but they’re practically
essential to our survival. This symbiotic relationship betweenus humans and good bacteria’s
known as mutualism,and it’s basically when
both parties are benefitingfrom living together or existing together. If you ever seen a rhino
with a little bird sittingon top of its back, it’s
called an oxpecker bird. That bird is eating ticksand parasites off the rhino’s back. So the bird is benefiting
because it’s getting fed. The rhino’s benefiting ’cause it’s gettingless ticks and parasites on its back. Everybody’s winning. The type of good bacteria I wanna talkabout today lives
primarily within your gut,and you’ve heard the term, probiotic. It’s become a mega industry,
into the hundred-billionsof people selling supplements,selling foods that are probiotic-rich. But do we really know what
the term probiotic means?Probiotics are live microorganisms,basically bacteria and sometimes yeast,that gives some sort of
positive health benefitto the person taking them. In order for me to best
explain how probiotics work,we need to understand how the gut works. Now, the job of the gut, and we’re talkingabout the small intestine
and large intestine,is to extract energy from foods,absorb certain nutrients, like vitamins,minerals, and really get rid of the waste. When you’re taking probiotics the majorityof the probiotics end up in the endof your intestinal system,
also know as the colon. Found within your GI track or your gut issomething known as a microbiome. This is the ecosystem that
contains bacteria, fungi. Those things are actually
essential to your survival,because unfortunately your
digestive system can’t extractall the necessary nutrients fromall the different types
of foods you’re consuming. So when we’re talking
about the good bacteriawithin your gut, we’re actually talkingabout the bacteria that’s helpingyou get some of the
nutrients from your foodto improve your body’s immune function,to support the integrity of
the wall of your intestines. This is the job of the good bacteria. – I just wanted to saythanks, partner. – Our knowledge and the
majority of the research doneon the microbiome is fairly new,with the majority of the studies poppingup in the last 20 years. Within this recent research we foundthat the gut microbiome
is incredibly importantto our health, but we don’t
totally understand it just yet. We’ve seen relationships
between irregularitiesin the microbiome and diseaseslike diabetes, obesity, heart disease,mental conditions like
depression, anxiety. But it’s really a
cause-and-effect dilemma. Basically the chicken or the egg. We’re not sure what came first,the irregularities of the microbiomeor the illnesses themselves. The gut-mind connection is
what truly gets me excited. Just imagine this for a second. The bacteria found within
your gut can be controllingyour emotions, your depressive,anxiety symptoms, your
moods, your appetite even. That’s what preliminary
research is showing. After hearing the links of
all these serious diseasesand the gut-mind connection,you probably wanna keep your microbiomeas healthy and diverse as possible. So how do we do that?Well, first of all, you
wanna focus on your diet. No surprise here. Focus on eating vegetables,
whole grains, legumes. These are fiber-rich foods. Fiber-rich foods are
basically known as prebiotics,as they serve as food for the probiotics. Next you wanna consume
probiotic-rich foodslike yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi. These foods naturally
contain that good bacteriawe’ve been talking about. I know some people resort to
taking probiotic supplements,but I’ll touch on that shortly. Now, there have been ways thatyou can actually hurt your microbiome. First and foremost is a diet
rich in refined carbohydrates. I’m talking about white
breads, white pasta,white rice, sugars, even
artificial sweeteners. Next up is bad sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep,I’ve talked about the
consequences of that in the past,but it also hurts your microbiome. ‘Cause guess what. The bacteria in your gut
also have a circadian rhythm. They like for you to get quality sleep. Next is antibiotics. When you use antibiotics inappropriatelyor you overuse them, you actually killoff that good bacteria in your gutand you can create an
overgrowth of harmful bacteria. Last, but not least, is stress. Yep, those folks who are more stressed outand experience chronic
stress for an extended periodof time have a disruption
of their microbiome,both with higher amounts of bad bacteriaand lower amounts of good bacteria. – Stopgettingworked upoversmall things. – Now, probiotic supplements. Multi-billion dollar industry. Marketers are quick to make health claimsabout the benefits of
taking their supplements,but in reality the picture
is so much more complex. Like I said earlier, there’s sevento 9,000 different strainsof good bacteria inside your gut. Increasing the number of
a specific strain can havedifferent impacts depending
on which condition you have. Probiotics in general are
considered a safe supplement,but there are harms and they do exist,especially if you have
a weakened immune systemor you have certain illnesses like cancer. There’s been a recent study that cameout of Israel showing
that taking probiotics canactually harm your microbiome,depending on which probiotic you take. My recommendation when it comes
to probiotic supplements isthat the average healthy person shouldnot be taking a daily probiotic. It hasn’t been proven
to give enough benefitto warrant the risks, and
especially spending moneyon a supplement that may not giveyou any benefit whatsoever. Now, the conditions where
I have seen evidenceto prove that there exists a benefit isin traveler’s diarrhea,
antibiotic-associated diarrhea,very specific conditions known
as necrotizing enterocolitisin young children, last but not least,those who have inflammatory bowel diseaselike ulcerative colitis. Notice that these are
very specific instanceswhere I reach for probiotics
as a possible treatment option. For those of you considering
starting to take a probiotic,first and foremost,
please have a conversationwith your doctor or health professionalon whether or not you should
be actually doing this. Next I want you to not
skip proven treatmentsfor your condition and instead
go for unproven treatments. Make sure you pay attention to the label. There are a few things to look out for. One, the expiration date
and storage instructions. Second, look at the CFUs. That’s the colony-forming units. Look for a number bigger
or at five billion. And finally look to get
enteric-coated probioticsbecause those are less
likely to get destroyedby the acid in your stomach. The future of probioticsand even probiotic supplements
is very interesting. The potential for unlocking somany new health secrets is really immense. I’m excited about it. You should be excited about it. That’s why I’m gonna be
linking some further readingdown below in the description. Please dive in and check out the articlesthat I’m recommending. Jump into my comments section. If you have any questions
about anything I’ve said here,if you have any comments or some storiesyou’d like for me to
share, write it down belowbecause I’m interested
in what you have to say. And as always, stay happy and healthy. Think about those red-billed
oxpeckers . So when we’re talking
about the good bacteriainside your gut, ew. Do you mind?It’s a probiotic thing. So this is actually,maybe you have good
bacteria in your mouth. How much bigger is he than me?It’s pretty crazy, no?