If you’re like most people, you think of probiotics-“good” live bacteria that keep your gut healthy-as something that might be added to your yogurt or taken with antibiotics to protect your intestinal microbiome from being compromised.
This view of probiotics often extends to “prebiotics”-fiber-rich foods that the good bacteria in your gut “eat”-and “postbiotics”-substances released by the probiotics.
But as researchers study the relatively new science of gut microbiota, they’re finding that probiotics have many complex and valuable actions. Probiotics biotransform nutrients and fight toxins and pathogens in the body, they affect mood and body weight, and appear to sometimes prevent cancer and tumor progression, according to scientific research. Read more…
