What Is a Probiotic Diet?

According to the Healing website, the human digestivel tract contains more bacteria than the total number of people in the world. Under ideal conditions, 85 percent of these bacteria are beneficial bacteria, called probiotic bacteria that assist in maintaining a healthy digestive system with mere 15 percent unhealthy bacteria. Disease, digestive difficulties and a compromised immune system results from a lack of probiotic bacteria.

Function

A probiotic diet incorporates foods with naturally occurring, or sometimes added, healthy bacteria to aid the body in maintaining proper health and to avoid complications experienced when the balance of bacteria in the body is upset. Stress resulting from nutritional causes like starvation diets, poor eating habits or eating disorders upsets the balance of good and bad bacteria. Environmental stress caused by exposure to pollution, fluctuating temperatures, extremely high or low temperatures and extremely wet or dry conditions also influences the balance of bacteria in the body. Psychological stress resulting from everyday life stresses alters the balance of bacteria in the body. An imbalance may also result from taking antibiotics for an illness. Although the antibiotic may be necessary to kill harmful bacteria, it does not distinguish between beneficial and harmful bacteria and may compromise the number of beneficial bacteria.

Benefits

Probiotics gained from food consumption provide protection against the effects of harmful bacteria. However, not all probiotics target the same conditions. Consumption of a variety of probiotics provides the most beneficial effects. To target specific ailments, an understanding of the actions of common probiotics is necessary.

Probiotic Strains

Lactobacilli and bifidobacteria found in some yogurts and fermented dairy products work to restore health to the gut by producing acids that fight disease and natural antibiotics that combat the growth of harmful bacteria. L. acidophilus, B longum and S. boulardil work to control diarrhea and other conditions caused by the use of antibiotics. L. rhamnosus GG increases the body's ability to fight infection. It reduces both the frequency and the severity of infections. L. acidophilus LC1, L. casei and B. bifidum boosts the immune system and prevents intestinal inflammation. L. acidophilus, B. bifidus, B. longum and S. thermophilus assists lactose digestion and problems associated with lactose intolerance.

Sources

Fermented dairy products, such as yogurt, provide the main source of probiotics. However, the particular strain present in the product varies. Some products label the strain of probiotic present, others do not. If in doubt, contact the manufacturer for specific details.

Supplements

Probiotic supplements widely available in pharmacies and health food stores provide an alternative to consuming probiotic foods. The particular strain is easy to identify by labeling, however concerns over the shelf life of probiotics causes consumers some concern over their potential effectiveness.