What are Prebiotics.
With the term Prebiotics are indicated some indigestible foods that promote the growth of microorganisms "useful" for the colon. Some examples are fructo-oligosaccharides, carbohydrates derived from fructose, such as inulin and starches of fruits and vegetables, which are rich in cereals, banana and other vegetables.
What are lactic ferments or Probiotics.
In a healthy intestine there is therefore a sort of ecosystem, in perfect balance, where numerous "friendly" bacterial colonies live together: Lactobacilli, which ensure a good intestinal functioning, determined by a correct absorption of nutrients, associated to an efficient elimination of pathogenic bacteria and waste.
Lactobacilli are rod-shaped microorganisms, gram-positive, facultative aerobes, rarely obligate anaerobes, almost always immobile. Their name, besides their shape (bacillus = rod), refers to their ability to ferment sugars with production of lactic acid. They are very demanding from a nutritional point of view, and for their growth they need substrates rich in glucose, vitamins (especially of the B complex), amino acids, fatty acids and salts of iron, magnesium and manganese.
They grow well even in a weakly acidic environment, indeed their optimal growth pH ranges between 5.5 and 6.2; however, they are sensitive to most antibiotics used to fight common gram-positive bacterial infections.
What benefits do they provide?
During their proliferation inside the gastrointestinal tract, Lactobacilli enzymatically participate in the predigestion of some food components, increasing their bioavailability: for example, they break down proteins and fats into simpler molecules (proteolysis and lipolysis) and convert lactose into lactic acid. This ability is of great help for those people who have digestive difficulties, due to enzymatic deficiencies, and consequent malabsorption of nutrients, as well as for infants, elderly and convalescents. It is also useful to those who, affected by "lactose intolerance", cannot consume cheese or milk derivatives without having annoying intestinal disorders.
Lactobacillus also produce B vitamins, such as niacin, folic acid and pyridoxine, and substances, which contrast the implantation on intestinal cells and the growth of pathogenic bacteria, introduced with food, water and air. Lactobacilli compete in the intestine with other microorganisms for the exploitation of nutrients; they also produce L(+) lactic and acetic acid, which lower the environmental pH to values not very favorable to the survival of pathogenic bacteria.
Their activity of "control" does not end here, they are able to synthesize hydrogen peroxide (hydrogen peroxide), from which they are immune, having an enzymatic system that splits it into water and oxygen, and bacteriocins, proteins with very high and specific antibiotic activity. Finally, since they adhere firmly and specifically to the intestinal mucosae, they protect them directly, with a barrier effect, from the possible invasive penetration of unwanted microorganisms, as well as indirectly, by stimulating the immune defenses of the host.
The imbalance of intestinal flora: dysbiosis.
Today, unfortunately, due to the demands of modern life, characterized by stressful rhythms, hasty and little varied diet (rich in animal fats, refined sugars and alcohol, and poor in complex carbohydrates of vegetables, legumes and cereals), wrong diets and abuse of drugs, especially antibiotics, it is often created an imbalance in the intestinal flora, called intestinal dysbiosis. In this condition of disharmony, the "enemy" bacteria, pathogens, tend to get the upper hand on the "friend" ones, and with their metabolism form toxic substances: ammonia, amines, nitrosamines, phenols, cresols, indoles, which damage the normal intestinal functions. Intestinal dysbiosis creates local disorders, at first light, then, if prolonged, more serious, characterized by diarrhea, nausea, flatulence, up to cause enteritis and colitis. However, it can also be considered the main cause of many more general health problems, such as: skin disorders, fungal infections (e.g. vaginal Candida albicans), bacterial infections (e.g. of the urinary tract), chronic fatigue, digestive problems, liver dysfunction, abdominal bloating, food allergies and colon cancer. To prevent many diseases, it is therefore important to recolonize the intestine with useful bacteria, which deprive the pathogenic ones of the possibility to proliferate and damage our body: we must take probiotics: a supplement of selected strains of live microbes, which restores the ideal balance lost. But why take a Lactobacillus supplement, when these ferments are naturally present in yogurt, milk, cheese and other foods, even of vegetable origin, available to us every day? The answer is simple: foods do not contain those huge amounts of Lactobacillus that we need to effectively recolonize the intestine, especially after a treatment with antibiotics, and also in them are present only some types of Lactobacillus: yogurt, for example, is essentially rich in Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, "friendly" and very useful bacteria, but only temporary guests of the colon, which are not able to implant themselves permanently and reproduce in large numbers. An essential condition to obtain benefits is above all that lactic ferments reach the intestine alive, intact and active, that is, they manage to pass unharmed through the stomach with its powerful gastric juices. For this reason it is important to ingest hundreds of millions of live bacteria, with plenty of water (to pass quickly through the stomach), away from meals (because the presence of gastric juices in the stomach is less) and for a few days, to give them the opportunity to arrive in sufficient numbers in the intestine, settle on the mucous membranes and proliferate.
What are the best probiotics?
The best candidates as probiotics are those bacteria that live stably in the intestines of healthy individuals, such as: Bifidumbacterium bifidum, Bifidumbacterium longum and Bacillus coagulans (Lactobacillus sporogenes).
In particular, Bacillus coagulans (Lactobacillus sporogenes) is an excellent example of probiotic, which meets all the above mentioned characteristics. In fact, this species of isolated ferments, in the form of spore, is extremely resistant to the action of heat, gastric acids and bile salts, and manages to arrive unharmed in the first tract of the intestine, and to proliferate in all its portions.
It has already been said that Lactobacilli have particular metabolic requirements to remain vital and multiply in large numbers. It is precisely for this reason that it is important, not only to take a high number of lactic ferments, but also to feed properly.
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