Tag Archives: gastrointestinal tract
Antibiotics and Biotics: Understanding Their Impact on Gut Health
We all know antibiotics as medications prescribed by a doctor to help our own immune system fight and overcome the harmful effects of disease-causing bacteria. However, overuse of antibiotic medications is one of several causes of poor gut health. The antibiotic introduced to fight infectious organisms can also disrupt the functions of the immunity system by killing and slowing down the growth of the essential or good bacteria.
Modern research studies show that a poorly functioning immune system is the result of a digestive structure that is not functioning optimally. According to scientists, as much as 70% of our body’s immune system rely on the so-called “gut health.” It’s imperative for us therefore, to strengthen our gut health in order to realize the benefits of a properly functioning immune system.
Understanding Gut Health and Its Importance to the Immune System
First off, you should know that the term gut refers to the gastrointestinal tract. It’s the long tube from where food intakes travel from the mouth, passing through the esophagus and the entire length of the digestive tract in which food is being broken down into nutrients until the process ends into waste excretion in the anus at the other end of the digestion tube.
Know that your gut plays host to trillions of microorganisms collectively known as “gut microbiome” that have important functions in the digestive structure and its processes. The multitude of gut bacteria help in breaking down food, which the digestive system uses in manufacturing nutrients to supply to the different body cells by releasing them in the bloodstream.
Formidable members of the gut microbiome also play an important role in building the immune system. The latter comprises essential bacteria that work together to protect the human body against infectious viruses, harmful bacteria, disease-causing fungi and destructive toxins produced by invasive external microbes.
Scientific studies show that Imbalances in gut bacteria have resulted in a number of health issues, including altered immune responses affecting mental health, skin conditions, sleep, obesity and autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune diseases are conditions in which the immune system carries on with altered immune responses of attacking and destroying healthy body cells by mistake.
Proactive Actions to Take in Strengthening Our Immune System
The discussions above made clear the importance of gut health and why taking proactive steps in strengthening our immune system is imperative in this day and age.
Currently, we live in an environment where numerous pollutants have increased the probability of catching cold and flu viruses that attack our immune system. The worst can happen if we contract the infectious disease at a time when there are few essential bacteria in our immune system.
Still, the medical community has been actively disseminating information on how we can improve and strengthen a poorly functioning immune system. Aside from providing us with lists of fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, nutritionists also recommend diversification of food intakes by eating those rich in various phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals.
We are also encouraged to consume fermented food that contains biotic spores. Generally known as probiotic foods, the biotic spores help improve gut health by introducing live bacteria into the digestive system. The main purpose of which is to help essential gut microbiomes thrive and maintain a healthy balance.
Probiotic supplements are also available as most people are just too busy to shop around for probiotic foods. A supplement that has been reviewed and garnered facorable feedback through this site is the Megaspore biotic. Microbiome Labs assures consumers that MegaSporeBiotic™ is a broad-sprectrum probiotic that is hundred-percent spore-based blend of 5 Bacillus spores that can help maintain healthy gut barrier function.