Ever heard of probiotics? That's become a buzzword recently. Probiotics are the "good bacteria" and the media makes it seem that you need to be incessantly shoving these bacteria into your body through yogurts, probiotic pills, and drinks like kombucha.
Don't get me wrong, I love kombucha. Every time I am making my produce run at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, or Sprouts, I grab a bottle to drink while I'm shopping, and a bottle to go. "The good stuff" in the bottle is the live bacterial culture hanging out near the bottom.
Kombucha has become a popular probiotic packed drink lately.
Probiotics are strains of bacteria that can be ingested and then grow in our gastrointestinal tract.
Other fermented foods have probiotics, too, like:
1) Yogurt
2) Kimchi
3) Tempeh
4) Kefir
5) Buttermilk
Bacteria often gets a bad wrap because of it's relationship with disease, but did you know that everyone is covered with harmless and even helpful bacteria that live on and inside their bodies. We develop gut bacteria after we're born, and it likes to stick with us. In exchange for a place to live and thrive, they help us out with Vitamin K production, fiber digestion, and our immune health. In fact, they're actually necessary for maintaining a healthy digestive system.
Everyone has different types and amounts of these bacteria hanging out just south of our stomach. Recently, there has been a huge push to increase probiotic consumption regardless of your state of health. Although helpful generally, there are times when the bacterial levels can become unbalanced. Infections, medicines, and other treatments can alter the population of helpful bacteria. In these cases, it can be beneficial to replace the lost bacteria by ingesting probiotics. Ingesting probiotic-rich foods introduces these healthy gut bacteria back into your system and can help promote proper gut function. However, spending money on probiotic supplements isn’t always necessary because probiotics aren’t a nutritional necessity. Many aspects of probiotics haven’t been fully studied, so the benefits of taking probiotics for a healthy individual might not be that noteworthy. It is also cheaper and easier to get probiotics from foods like yogurt and kombucha if you think you need might them.
There is continuing research on the role of probiotics in diseases and disorders of the gut, such as Crohn's disease, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), antibiotic-induced diarrhea, general degradation of intestinal lining, and ulcerative colitis.
In healthy individuals, the microbial balance of the gut is usually self-maintained, meaning your body takes care of it on its own.
While probiotics can’t really harm you, there is evidence that they might not be as beneficial as the media might make it seem. So at the end of the day, it might be better on your wallet to forgo that expensive kombucha if you’re only drinking it for the possible digestive health benefits.
Comments