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HEALTH PODCAST
"Take Back Your Health" Audio Series by Jon Barron Enjoy Jon Barron's free audio series called "Take Back Your Health" that parallels many of the chapters in Jon Barron's book Lessons from the Miracle Doctors -- with a few added nuggets of information. |
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Lessons from Jon Barron
The "Extras" in Probiotics Supplements    In this week's excerpt from Lessons from the Miracle Doctors, Jon Barron talks about the "extras" you should look for in a good probiotics supplement.  "Once you've selected a probiotics supplement which has a complement of beneficial bacteria that you like, consider the following: - A good probiotic formulation will usually contain fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), a sugar that helps promote the growth of beneficial bacteria. For some of these bacteria, FOS can increase their effectiveness by a factor of 1,000 times or more. The key in using FOS is to make sure you use a variety that has been designed to specifically promote the growth of only the beneficial bacteria, not the bad guys.
- Make sure the formula you choose was developed using full-culture processing so that the beneficial bacteria and its powerful supernatant are kept together. The supernatant, which is the medium the culture was grown in, contains a multitude of beneficial byproducts of the growth process, including vitamins, enzymes, antioxidants, and immune stimulators.
- Then there's the question of how many live microorganisms are in your formula when you actually use it. Pick up any probiotic formula, look at the label, and you'll see something like this: "Contains 13 billion live organisms per capsule at time of manufacture." And that's the problem: the words "at time of manufacture." The die-off rate can be astounding. Most formulas will quickly experience a surprisingly large die-off-for example, from 13 billion down to a paltry 13 million - within just sixty days of manufacture, unless they are protected from heat and moisture which accelerate the process. Conscientious manufacturers recommend that both you and the store from which you bought your formula keep probiotics refrigerated. Look for a formula that has been refrigerated from the moment it was manufactured to the day you buy it. An alternative is to look for formulations that use tableting and encapsulation techniques that seal the bacteria from moisture.
- Some manufacturers claim that you need to use enterically coated capsules to protect the bacteria from stomach acid, which kills the bacteria, but this makes no sense. If stomach acid killed beneficial bacteria, then no one who ate fermented foods over the centuries would have received any benefit from the bacteria they contained, since all of the bacteria in those foods would have been destroyed by stomach acid. Nonsense! Bottom line: beneficial bacteria do not need to be enterically coated; they survive stomach acid quite nicely, particularly if consumed without food.
- Start slowly. When you first start using a probiotic supplement, there is a good chance that you will precipitate a die-off of bad bacteria in your intestinal tract. This can lead to excessive gas and stomach rumblings and cramping for 10-21 days. If you experience any problem with your initial dosage, back it down. Start again with one capsule (or even half a capsule) for several days. Build up slowly to the recommended dosage for your particular supplement.
- Eating yogurt (unless you make your own) does not really help. First, the bacteria used to make most yogurt (L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus) are not the key beneficial bacteria, although they are indeed helpful. (Some brands throw in a small amount of acidophilus after the fact-just so they can put it on the label). Even more important, though, much of the yogurt that you buy in the store is now pasteurized after it is made. Pasteurization before the yogurt culture is introduced is essential to the making of yogurt, but pasteurization after the culture has been allowed to grow is done merely to increase shelf life and totally destroys all the benefits inherent in the yogurt.
- Also, a diet high in complex carbohydrates such as fruits, whole grains, and vegetables promotes the growth of Bifidobacteria in the large intestine. Heavy meat consumption does just the opposite. And drinking chlorinated water or eating meats and dairy produced with antibiotics totally defeats any program you're on."
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"A good probiotic formulation will usually contain fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), a sugar that helps promote the growth of beneficial bacteria."
ReplyDeleteSo do you know exactly what's the proper formulation/content of a good supplement? Can you elaborate it please? Thanks!