Digestive or gastrointestinal issues are one of the most common health issues today. As many as 61% of Americans said they have gastrointestinal problems each week. Those with digestive disorders spend more than $13 billion each year on medications to help with their digestive issues.The most common digestive issues are:
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Bloating
- Heartburn
- Acid reflux (GERD)
- Gallstones
- Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
- Hemorrhoids
- Diverticulitis
Both prescription and over-the-counter medications can help with digestive disorders, but they are not ideal in the long term. Taking medications for constipation will work a couple of times, but if taken long term, the digestive system will become dependent on them. What and how we eat can determine the health of the digestive system. For healthy digestion, eat slowly and chew every bite thoroughly. Try not to eat when angry or distracted. Avoid eating too many heavy and fatty foods, as they can make digestion sluggish. A healthy diet that includes both prebiotic and probiotic foods will usually greatly improve overall digestive health.
What Are Probiotics?
The digestive tract has trillions of bacteria; this is known as the gut microbiome. There are good gut bacteria and there are bad gut bacteria. When there are more bad gut bacteria than good, digestive disorders occur. So the goal is to have many more good gut bacteria than bad.
Probiotics are the good gut bacteria. They not only help with digestion issues but also boost the immune system and improve overall health. Probiotics can be either food or supplements. If you don’t get enough probiotics in the diet, taking a probiotic supplement can help populate the gut microbiome with the good gut bacteria.
There are many different strains of good gut bacteria. These various strains help digest various foods and carry out different health functions in the digestive tract. Probiotics carry out many important functions in the body including healthy digestion, good oral health, create vitamins and amino acids, support the immune system, and even relieve allergies.
How Do They Aid Digestion?
Most of the bacteria, good and bad, reside in the large and small intestine. Bad gut bacteria cause digestion problems. Good gut bacteria like probiotics crowd out the bad gut bacteria. That is the key to good digestion.
As food enters into the intestines, probiotics break down the food. This is an important step in the proper digestion of food. Probiotics are necessary for breaking down food and fiber for the nutrients the food contains.
For example, eating a lot of greens like collards or Swiss chard will be broken down into vitamin K, which is essential for several bodily functions including proper blood clotting. That is only one example. Scientists believe that the good gut bacteria or probiotics create about one-third of the vitamins and nutrients provided by properly digesting food.
Some probiotic strains are known to help with certain vitamins that in turn help other parts of the body. One probiotic strain is known to create healthy levels of vitamin D and sustain healthy cholesterol levels.
Foods High in Probiotics
Fermented foods are good sources of probiotics. By including some fermented foods in a daily diet will help build up the good gut bacteria. Fermented foods that are high in probiotics include:
- Yogurt, Greek yogurt, and plant-based yogurt
- Miso
- Sauerkraut
- Kefir
- Tempeh
- Kimchi
- Sourdough bread
- Naturally fermented pickles without vinegar
- Naturally fermented vegetables and fruits, without using vinegar
A diet high in probiotic foods will help populate the gut with more good gut bacteria, which will crowd out the unhealthy bad gut bacteria. In addition to probiotic foods, it is important to also eat prebiotic foods. Prebiotics are the foods that good gut bacteria need and eat so they can multiply and thrive. Prebiotic foods all have a good amount of fiber, which probiotics need. Plant foods like bananas, vegetables, garlic, apples, chicory, barley, oats, and green leafy vegetables are all good prebiotics.