Probiotics are a practical food group that’s gaining in popularity. It is made up of delivering live, healthy germs into our body to keep the ideal balance between positive and negative bacteria. This balance is essential for optimal digestive health.
More benefits
Additionally, it offers additional health benefits, which may include increased digestion of food and absorption of minerals and vitamins, in addition to stimulating the body’s natural defense mechanisms, the immune system. However, how do these bacteria make it past the challenging environment of the gut, to colonize the large intestine? This is a legitimate and important question.
As you are probably aware, the gut is a powerful acidic environment. It is where a lot of our food is broken down so it can be absorbed into our bodies as it moves through the large and small intestines. It has a huge job to do and thus the gut is rather a hostile environment. How do the living microorganisms in the probiotics endure the harsh stomach acids and bile salts to create it on to the large intestine to colonize and flourish? The solution is in the delivery system that is used to transport the probiotics.
Good Bacteria
Milk, yogurt and cheeses are obviously full of good bacteria. However, these foods are broken down in the stomach acid, thus largely killing the germs before they reach the large intestine. If these don’t survive, they can’t colonize it, and that’s exactly what they have to do to benefit our own bodies. Therefore, the probiotics will need to be delivered in a product that could withstand the acids of the stomach and bring the germs safely to the large intestine. One such delivery system that’s been proven to be effective in withstanding the harsh acids
of the stomach is chocolate. Studies by University of Ghent in Belgium have shown that black, black chocolate is just one such delivery system. Their findings demonstrated that encapsulating the probiotics in chocolate, there was a 3x greater success rate in colonizing the large intestine, than when the organisms were delivered in milk products independently.Chocolate appears to have the ability to safeguard against bile salts and stomach acid really well.
Final word
To conclude, probiotics, when delivered are a terrific addition to your daily diet. The delivery system used definitely things. If the probiotics you’re ingesting aren’t reaching the large intestine, the advantages or the product are significantly reduced. Therefore, make sure to know that what you’re taking, is going to benefit you.