Transcribed from Functional Wellness With Dr. Alison Podcast
Hello everyone. This is Dr. Alison DiBarto Goggin with Little Black Bag Medicine, and today we are going to be talking about probiotics and prebiotics. Why to take them when, how and what to do if they make you sick, and what is the differences between a pro and prebiotic.
The large intestines are full of bacteria and most will say good and bad bacteria, but really they’re all necessary in your body. We just want a good balance between everything that’s going on.
The probiotics are the actual bacteria that are in the gut. So when you take that capsule, you are seeding your large intestines and prebiotics are the food for the bacteria. You are also being able to feed the bacteria so they can grow and increase in number. That way you don’t have to be reliant on probiotics forever.
There are a lot of reasons why you would take probiotics and many different stories from people who’ve had all kinds of help by taking them.
The main research has been done on obviously digestion that they help support the absorption of nutrients, which is incredibly important if you have IBS or gut health issues, leaky gut, Crohn’s, colitis, because you’re not going to be digesting everything as well.
They also support the immune system and keep the balance between the bacteria healthy. They do support mood and behavioral issues, but not really because of the neurotransmitters that our gut makes.
Yes, it’s true. Serotonin is made in our gut and a lot of it, but the neurotransmitters that are made in the gut are for the gut and the body while the neurotransmitters are that are made in the brain are for the brain.
Probiotics most likely help support mood issues because they’re balancing out the bacteria, decreasing the harmful bacteria and decreasing those toxins and the impact on the body and not solely because of neurotransmitters.
The most common and incredible research that we have is on autism and spectrum disorders and how C-Diff when picked up in the hospital or at doctor’s offices or really anywhere can become overgrown and the gut and that is strongly linked to mood and behavioral issues. Once you can get rid of the bacteria, a lot of symptoms can clear up.
This is just one aspect of why taking probiotics helps behavioral mood issues. Studies have also been shown that it’s supportive for reducing the risk of diabetes and supporting those who struggle with fatty liver disease. And also you want to take them after, after taking antibiotics to replenish your normal gut forests.
When do you want to take antibiotics? Some people say in the morning before you eat, some people will say at night after you eat or right before bed. So they get through the system.
Without food, you don’t have as much acid in your system, in your stomach and your small intestines to break them down. So take them when you can. If you have to take them with food is not the end of the world. You might want to play around with that and see how your body responds.
The other biggest mistake that I see people making is that they take them with their antibiotics, whether it’s prescription or herbal, that or even essential oils that they go, okay, I’m going to take my antibiotic and I’m going to take my probiotic and I’m going to do really good for my body. And what ends up happening is that they cancel each other out, weakens the strength of those antibiotics. So if you take your, typically with prescription antibiotics, I recommend taking probiotics when you are finished, if you have to take them because you’re extremely sensitive to antibiotics like myself take them between.
If you take one in the morning, an antibiotic in the morning and an antibiotic at night, take your probiotic with lunch so you’re not interfering at least four hours later. Be very careful with that.
What types of probiotics should you take? This is a complicated question as you know, because there are so many brands out there, so, but I do want you to look for is on the bottle. You need multiple strains of bacteria.
Now all these bottles say, talk us out. We have millions or billions. I’m sure it will get into the trillions of bacteria in our pill and they think it’s wonderful, but there’s not enough strains of different types of bacteria, make sure that there’s a good amount of strains.
Now, live and active cultures are better than made with active culture. So that’s something to look for because you want ones that are live obviously because you need to feed your body with live bacteria.
A lot of companies will use a heating process to kill off the bacteria so it extends shelf life. So you can look for probiotics that are in the refrigerators section. That’s a great way. Or you can look for those that have a time release or doubling capsules to help protect the bacteria from being broken down over time or even really fully digested in the small intestines and they never make it to the large intestines. And don’t be afraid to rotate brands and types to see what fits your body bust.
Of course, I love the doTERRA PB assist. It is all of those things that you have on that list right there. I like to switch it up between the adult capsule and the PB assist junior, which is more tastes like a pixie stick, but it’s dissolvable. The [inaudible] micro encapsulated is amazing. This technology that they have.
It helps keep my digestive system running smoothly and also helps with a lot of other issues that I have. And it’s great for the kids. So we all get our one daily.
Now prebiotics are to help the bacteria grow and support digestion. When you look at the bottle, it will mostly say F O S which stands for fructooligosaccharides. Within food we typically recommend eating a lot of fermented foods to help build up the probiotics and good bacteria in your gut.
This leads us into what do you do if you don’t feel better or you feel worse taking anti-art, taking probiotics. So if you feel worse, this is really, really important for you to know because most commonly people who have SIBO the small intestine bacteria overgrowth are going to feel worse with probiotics. And the reason for that is because of the prebiotics and Nealon, fo S all of those types of things will feed the bacteria that’s not supposed to be in the small intestines is going to kick up.
Diarrhea, constipation, it’s going to kick up acid reflux, bloating, distension and pain. So if you have any of those with taking a probiotic, stop it right away. You can listen to a previous podcast I have on SIBO.
Then lastly we do testing for that. To test for SIBO is a breath test and you drink a lot of good sugary drinks and it feeds that bacteria and then you breathe into a bag and it tracks how much of the bacteria off put is in your small intestines. What happens is long story short a lot of bacteria in our large intestines, our small intestines don’t have as much because of all the acid coming down from the stomach. So if there’s an issue with stomach acidity, have you been on Zantac or any ant for a long amount of time?
You have any reflux coming up from the large intestines or even a brain injury, the bacteria from the large intestines will free flex up into the small intestines and start to grow. They’re very difficult to kill and it takes quite a while and a lot of food changes. So be very aware. It’s something that you definitely need to get checked out with.
Now what if you don’t feel better or you do feel worse or something’s just not right? Of course, I’m always going to say that you can do testing to see what your actual balances. So something that I see often as people are taking the same probiotic free long time, it’s the same strains and then they started to have this overgrowth and imbalance of the strains that were in their body. Or more importantly, there is such an imbalance with an overgrowth of harmful bacteria that are not in check and those need to be addressed.
And that might be why the probiotic either isn’t working the way you want it to or you’re not as feeling as good on them. So the number one, you have to address those harmful bacteria overgrowth before you can even start taking those probiotics. I use the GI map stool test from diagnostic solutions. I love this test. It’s very end up as something that you do home.
You can do that test at home and then you seal it all up and send it right back to the lab. We get results fairly quickly, usually within a week. And then what we find out is an array of things. What is the growth of normal bacteria? Harmful bacteria is everything in check. I catch a lot of quiet H pylori infections in the stomach. We catch a lot of parasites and protozoa and it also tells us how your immune system is functioning.
Your SIGA, your enzymes, and if there’s any occult blood, it tests for beta glucuronidase so we can check your estrogen and make sure that this isn’t one of those underlying reasons that you have high estrogen in your body. So I strongly recommend that test for anybody who has any type of gut issues, skin issue, digestive issue, or gas, bloating or pain. And it’s very, very quick, very inexpensive, and you’re going to get answers right away. Okay?
So if you have any questions or want to chat, you can find me on Facebook at little black bag medicine. You can schedule a complimentary consultation@littleblackbagmedicine.com or message me to schedule as well. I do have a few more spaces open for the awakened your soul medicine program and I’ll put a link to that here in the comments. And that’s also on my website. We do an in depth look of everything that’s going on in your life testing and you’re supported throughout the entire process because even just talking about probiotics is a very intense conversation.
There’s a lot to think about and consider it and make sure that you’re taking the right products and also make sure that you don’t have something else going on that we’re missing. So we want to do that testing. We want to make sure that you’re getting the guidance that you need and the support. Enjoy it the rest of your day and we’ll talk to you tomorrow.
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