5 Benefits of Probiotics by Microbiome Professor (might surprise you!)
In recent years there is an increasing number of probiotics and prebiotics products entering the market. More than health supplements, even drinks, candies, baby foods have probiotics and prebiotics listed and as a selling point. What exactly are they? What are the health benefits from taking probiotics and prebiotics?
A human's gut has 100 trillion bacteria. The number of DNA of these bacteria in our human body is 150 times more than our own human DNA! There are two main types of bacteria in the gut: the good ones (probiotics) and the bad ones. Probiotics have actually been in the medical research field for decades, with over thousands of clinical studies and research papers. Yet other than the typical understanding of probiotics easing constipation and diarrhea, numerous latest studies have found more benefits:
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Boost Immune System
We all know the gut is responsible for digestion, but it is actually also a very important organ of the immune system. The gut contains 70% of our entire body's lymphoid tissue and 80% of immune cells - responsible for making antibodies and activate immune responses. Probiotics stimulate and assist colon cells to form a barrier layer on the intestinal mucosa, to prevent poisons from foods you eat to enter the body. The intestinal mucosa creates great conditions for the growth of the good bacteria, and limiting the growth of bad bacteria. Latest medical studies have also found the good bacteria living in the colon can boost immune system, lowering risk of getting a flue or a cold.
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Eczema
It is commonly believed that eczema is caused by the environment and genetics. Environmental factors such as touching the pets, number of siblings, intake of anit-biotics when young, breast-feeding, etc. All these have direct influence on the early development of microbiome growth in the gut. With the advancement in high-throughput genes sequencing, numerous researches have shown there is a close correlation between the types of microbiomes in the gut and eczema. Probiotics can also strengthen the immunity of the skin, preventing it from further irritations from the environment. -
Lose Weight
Scientists have found that when you transfer the gut microbiomes from a fat mice to a skinny mice, the fat-related microbiomes will also follow through, and gradually the skinny mice would grow fat.
There are hundreds classes of microbiomes, and within them, there are mainly 2 main classes - Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. Evidence has shown when these two classes of bacteria lose balance, it will lead to various degrees of intestinal inflammation, and affect the natural barrier of the colon, negatively affecting absorption function and lead to increased fat in body.
Latest research has also shown that microbiomes in gut can communicate to the brain through the endocrine cells and system - causing a wrong signal for the brain for raise absorption and lead to obesity. Good news is, we can create a good balance of the micorbiomes in the gut through a healthy nutritious diet and taking probiotics supplements. -
Treat Constipation and Indigestion Discomfort
City people have rapid lifestyles, coupled with non-regular meal times, it is common to have suffered from constipation at some point. If feces cannot be removed from the body in the long term, toxins will build up and have negative effects on health.
Probiotics can improve the balance of microbiome composition in the colon, prompting intestinal motility in order to ease constipation. In addition, prebiotics are vital to help support healthy growth of probiotics, a lot of these prebiotics are actually dietary fibre to help boost more effectiveness. Numerous studies have shown Bifidobacterium can effectively reduce gut transit time. -
Ease Depression
Chiba University in japan has recently published a study with mouse by defeating their social lives. Those mouse have shown depression as a result - i.e. reduced attraction towards candies, reduced liking towards other mouse and can often times be defensive. Yet some of these mouse will slowly adjust and get better from the depression. Scientists have analysed their microbiome composition in the gut and found Bifidobacterium bacteria had visibly increase for the mouse that got better from depression. For the mouse still suffering from depression, the level of Bifidobacterium had not increase.
Interestingly, by feeding depressed mouse with Bifidobacterium, their depression symptoms slowly disappeared. the research has shown a very tight correlation between Bifidobacterium and depression or pressure. This type of bacteria is also a probiotics, we believe in no time that us humans can use this for our cure for depression.
Professor Kwan Hoi Shan
Current professor at the Life Science School at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was also an Honorary Professor at the Chinese Medicine School, and the current Director of Food Research Center of the University. Professor Kwan has the vision and mission to ensure food quality and safety for the general public, as shown throughout his work. He was recently awarded by the Hong Kong Government with the Bronze Bauhinia Star for his contributions.
Current professor at the Life Science School at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was also an Honorary Professor at the Chinese Medicine School, and the current Director of Food Research Center of the University. Professor Kwan has the vision and mission to ensure food quality and safety for the general public, as shown throughout his work. He was recently awarded by the Hong Kong Government with the Bronze Bauhinia Star for his contributions.
On top of microbiomes and probiotics, Professor Kwan's research area includes molecular genetics, genomics, pathogenic bacteria, edible and medicinal fungi, plants, etc. Recent focused area in probiotics and microbiome to explore ways in which it could improve not only the colon's health but also the well-being of people.