Gut bacteria are the kings of the body. They rule everything from immunity, weight and mood, and our physical and emotional wellbeing.
The microbiota (the 10-100 trillion mocroorganisms in our bodies, primarily guts) have been a major source of fascination and research in everyone from scientists to consumers, but that research suggests that each individual gut has its own balance and taking probiotics may cause more harm than good in some instances reports SMH.
Having a healthy gut is imperative, we know, and finding natural sources of probiotics such as natural yoghurt and fermented vegetables will help us maintain our natural balance, but buying probiotics for health may be a misnomer.
Research has shown that the healthy balance will vary between men and women, and even individuals in the same family.
“It’s a balance of bacteria and it’s all about achieving that balance,” says PhD student and lead researcher on a new paper Amy Wallis, of Victoria University. “But, people have a balance that is healthy for them.”
So, essentially, what works for one person’s system may not work for everyone’s. And for this reason, taking probiotics may actually cause health issues.
Wallis’ co author on the paper, Dr Michelle Ball adds: “We now know that a good balance of bacteria for one person may not be good for the next person, so taking a probiotic without knowing what your individual system looks like may actually do more harm than good.”
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