Читать книгу The Healthy Gut Cookbook: How to Keep in Excellent Digestive Health with 60 Recipes and Nutrition Advice - Marguerite Patten - Страница 19

In her personal story, Marguerite Patten writes about her experience with irritable bowel syndrome. Like many others suffering from serious illnesses of the digestive system, probiotics helped her regain control over her body and maintain good health. We see references to probiotics in the health media, and new lines of probiotic foods and supplements appear in the shops almost monthly. But questions still remain: what are probiotics; how do they work; and what do they have to do with food? The answers are all about bacteria.

According to Lennart Cedgårt, MD, writing for www.positivehealth.com, dysbiosis is a major cause of intestinal illness (‘dys’ means faulty, and ‘bios’ means life and growth). Put simply, the faulty growth of gut bacteria causes problems. ‘Pro’ biosis is needed to correct faulty bacterial growth and support a healthy environment within the gut.

The presence of bacteria in the intestines was mentioned in Chapter 2. These organisms contribute to the absorption of minerals, proteins and vitamins from the gut; they break down (ferment) fibrous food residue and combine with water and digestive sludge to form the bulk (stool or faeces) eventually evacuated from the body. Different types of bacteria live and multiply in the gut. Under normal conditions they exist in a happy balance, but this can be altered radically by stress, medication, eating tainted food and a poor diet.

Sometimes the mere introduction of a new strain of healthy bacteria can cause a major upset, something experienced by many travellers. After the first day in a foreign location there may be a noticeable change in the gut, perhaps signalled by rumbling and flatulence, and sometimes something more extreme. A day later, the problem is gone. Food eaten can came from the best and cleanest hotels and restaurants, but the problem is difficult to avoid. While you are enjoying the tastes and textures of delicious new foods, your stomach is encountering a new strain of one or more of the normal bacteria inhabiting your gut. It takes time for things to adjust. Here are two pieces of good advice: go easy on food and drink for the first 24 hours after you arrive at your destination, and always carry lactic bacteria (probiotics) supplements with you. Starting probiotics before your arrival can minimize the risk of feeling unwell.

Probiotics contain healthy (lactic) bacteria known to convert sugars into lactic acid. This action is important in the human gut, and in the fermentation of foods such as yoghurt, cheese and buttermilk. You can add lactic bacteria to your digestive system either by including ‘live’ yoghurt in your diet at least once a day, or by taking a commercial supplement. Live yoghurt (which has not been treated or processed in a way that kills bacteria) is a good choice because it is rich in calcium and adds real flavour to food. Many of Marguerite Patten’s recipes for smoothies and tempting dishes include yoghurt for these reasons. Well-known lactic bacteria you may see listed on a food label are: Lactobacillus acidophilus, L. bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus and Bifido bacterium bifidum.

During the process of breaking down fibre in the lower gut, lactic bacteria produce an acidic environment harmful to bacteria that survive in alkaline conditions. This is the primary contribution lactic bacteria make, although most strains also fight dangerous bacteria by producing a specific form of antibiotic: L. bulgaricus produces bulgarican, for example.

The balance of friendly lactic bacteria in the gut can be disrupted by the contraceptive pill, steroids and antibiotics: taking probiotics helps put things right. A few hours after taking a dose of antibiotics, take a probiotics supplement (or eat live yoghurt) to avoid destruction of healthy gut bacteria. Other conditions of the gut known to respond to probiotics include gastric ulcers, infectious diarrhoea, constipation, indigestion, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome and irritable bowel disease. Writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (April 2003), doctors Daisy Jonkers and Reinhold Stockbrügger of the Netherlands reviewed the medical literature for research into the use of probiotics. They concluded that the evidence is promising, with encouraging results reported even in such complex conditions as irritable bowel disease (colitis and Crohn’s disease).