Most of us are unaware that our health is directly connected to billions of beneficial microorganisms that live in our gastrointestinal tract. These microorganisms help our body break down and absorb food, produce essential nutrients, and help to clean putrefaction and waste. The microorganisms also kill harmful bacteria, viruses, fungi and yeast. These microorganisms are beneficial bacteria i.e. flora that make up over two pounds of our body weight. We need to maintain an adequate amount of beneficial bacteria i.e. flora to counteract harmful bacteria's potential harm to our health.

So why has it become necessary and essential for us to add natural probiotic supplements to our diet? Our current food production in our country has become that of highly processed foods that are full of chemicals, simple sugars, and carbohydrates. This means that we are eating foods that are essentially without anything living. A very large portion of our agricultural production has used a great amount of pesticides and fertilizers that have almost depleted living soil-based microorganisms that are essential for our health. It has become standard practice to use antibiotics for any ailment that we may be experiencing. Anti means against biotics. In other words, antibiotics kill all the bacteria in our intestinal tract whether it's beneficial bacteria or harmful bacteria.. Farm animals are given antibiotics in their feed and we in turn ingest the antibiotics when we eat meat. The chlorine in our water kills our intestinal flora. Alcoholic beverages kill the flora we need and leaves an environment for the growth of harmful bacteria, yeast and fungi. Overuse of intestinal cleaners and colonics for detoxing our intestines removes much of our beneficial flora. The use of radiation and chemotherapy also kills our beneficial intestinal flora.

Our modern food processing, diet, and other practices can leave our digestive system without the essential flora it needs to keep us healthy. As a result, many of us experience acid reflux, depleted immune systems, constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating, candida, food allergies, chronic fatigue syndrome and perhaps a cancerous condition.

When we use probiotic supplements, the supplements are designed to withstand the acidic condition of our stomach which can kill beneficial bacteria. A probiotic must be resistant to gastric, bile and pancreatic juices in order to reach our colon alive. The probiotics then attach to the wall of our intestine and increase the number of beneficial bacteria and lowers the amount of harmful bacteria.

Probiotics break down hydrocarbons i.e. divides the food we eat into it's most basic components so it can be absorbed by our digestive system therefore increasing the amount of nutrition we need for energy and cellular production and repair. In addition, probiotics get beneath the layer of sludge and accumulation of waste on our intestine walls attach themselves and loosens the waste and decay so that it can be eliminated. The sludge and decay often keep toxin e.g. heavy metals in our bodies. When the waste remains on our intestinal wall it can lead to either constipation or diarrhea. Probiotics relieve constipation or diarrhea giving us a healthy regular elimination of waste. Therefore, probiotics clean our intestinal system removing toxins so eliminating the need for use of colonics and heavy intestinal cleansers.

Probiotics produce important enzymes and increase the availability of vitamins and nutrients, especially B vitamins and vitamin K, lactase, essential fatty acids and calcium. The beneficial bacteria contained and supported by probiotic supplements strengthen our immune system therefore increasing our resistence to viruses, allergies, candida, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Probiotic beneficial bacteria work with tissue and cells to metabolize proteins and eliminate toxins from our bodies. Probiotics help to kill viruses and parasites. Probiotics help to lower cholesterol. Probiotics help prevent yeast and fungal infections and even eliminate them if they are already in existence. Probiotics stimulate B-Lymphocyte and similar natural anti-bodies that help fight infections. Probiotics produce Lactoferrin which is an iron-binding protein needed to obtain iron from our foods and facilitate the absorption of iron that we need for our oxygen carrying blood cells. Probiotics also stimulate our body's natural production of alpha-interferon which is essential for proper immune system response and effectiveness.

Since our skin is a major part of our respiratory system and waste elimination system, when our intestinal system is not able to function properly, our skin then is used to eliminate waste from our bodies. This results in skin irritations and disorders. Probiotics increase the waste and toxin elimination from our intestinal system making it unnecessary for our skin to be used for excess waste elimination. Therefore, with the use of probiotics, skin irritation and disorders are prevented and often eliminated if they already exist. Since our skin is no longer being burdened by waste elimination, body odor is eliminated along with bad breath. Not just our skin is cleared of toxic waste when our intestinal system if functioning properly with healthy flora, but also our lungs and other vital organs freed of toxic waste.

It is indeed unfortunate that our modern food production and processing practices have made it necessary for us to use probiotic supplements in order to have a healthy digestive system and to be able to properly eliminate the toxins i.e. chemicals and heavy metals that have become a part of our food production. It is also unfortunate that our over use of antibiotics, synthetic prescription drugs and chemicals such as chlorine, which were supposed to keep us healthy are actually causing us difficulty as they kill the healthy flora that we need in order to live. We need to be aware of these developments take care of ourselves with the use of probiotics. Probiotics are essential for our health.