Probiotics are a beneficial symbiotic bacteria that live in our digestive tract to help maintain a healthy gut. They are found naturally in dirt, yogurt, kefir, other fermented products, and supplements. If you begin taking probiotics, it may revolutionize the balance of bacteria in your intestines in a way that could protect your immune system from inflammation: the root of all ailments and diseases. Research is beginning to understand just how vital these organisms are for our health and have even been shown to eliminate allergies and other health problems. Many people do not know which probiotic to take, which specific cultures to include and what foods to eat to support your gut flora, so here is how to treat allergies with probiotics.

Allergies are Linked to Poor Gut Health

It shouldn’t be hard to understand that the standard diet of the first world is generally not healthy because it is filled with processed, salty and sugary foods with unhealthy grains and meats riddled with pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones. Our distant human ancestors did not evolve with all of these added chemicals in our food. Science has determined without a shadow of a doubt that these foods we eat on a daily basis are wrecking our gut health.

Our immune system is heavily reliant on the health of our digestive system. About 80% of the immune system is located here. (1)

A condition known as “leaky gut” is when there are physical holes between the cells of your intestinal membrane. These small gaps allow substances like undigested food, bacteria and waste to escape into your bloodstream – causing a serious problem for your organs and tissues.

Perhaps the root cause of allergies is this leaky gut syndrome.

Leaky gut syndrome can explain why allergies exist in children with unhealthy gut flora. Babies born through cesarean section and those who weren’t breastfed have a less diverse microbiome of probiotics in their digestive system. These children, versus those born vaginally and breastfed, have much more incidents of allergies.

When babies don’t have a healthy gut flora, pathogenic microbes can damage his or her gut wall. This can allow microbes or toxins to enter their bloodstream, enter the brain and possibly disrupt development. (2)

Leaky gut is also linked to inflammatory bowel diseases and ulcerative colitis. With this condition, there is a flow of toxic substances leaking into your bloodstream, causing inflammation and disease.

It is extremely important to change your diet and lifestyle so that your gut can heal. Restoring a beneficial balance of probiotics in your intestines is crucial for doing this.

What are Probiotics?

Your gut in filled with bacteria. There are more bacteria in your digestive system then there are cells in your entire body: one trillion. For every cell in your body, there are ten bacteria. If you could take them all out and put them on a scale, they would weigh about four pounds.

Your gut is like an ecosystem. It needs to be nourished and is very vulnerable to disturbance that can lead to problems. The balance that exists inside you is a fight between the good probiotics and the pathogenic organisms like bacteria, viruses and yeast that you accidently consume. Probiotics are a huge part of a healthy functioning immune system. (3)

These good bacteria can be taken as a supplement as acidophilus, bifidus and others. We should replace them for the detrimental things that we do like take antibiotics, eat processed or sugary foods, or get exposed to environmental toxins.

Immunity and Probiotics

Science is still unsure about how to treat allergies with probiotics, but there are some ideas.

It has been determined that children growing up in sterile environments like cities have a much greater chance of having severe allergies versus children that grow up on farms. Perhaps the children on farms are able to develop a healthy immune system by being exposed to a variety of bacteria while handling dirt and animals every day. (4)

Therefore, more exposure to bacteria may be a good thing rather than killing them all.

What Causes Abnormal Gut Flora?

A key to eliminating inflammation and chronic allergy symptoms caused by a hyperactive immune system is taking advantage of probiotics. These bacteria treat and heal your digestive system, which will soothe your immune system and strengthen your gut lining. Once your immune system returns to normal, you’ll find that your allergy symptoms, food and environmental, will resolve.

A disruption of healthy gut flora is caused by:

Unhealthy diet

It seems like the more science and technology advances, the lazier and more ignorant we become about diet and proper nutrition. Most of the food we eat today was never touched by our ancestors or even our great-grandparents. We have an unbelievable variety of convenient and pleasurable “food” products that have no value in nutrition. These foods are simply a tax on our body that creates stress and inflammation

Canned foods, packaged snacks, diet foods, candy, wheat products, cereals, and processed meats are examples of a food that may taste good but will never be beneficial to our health, as well as the health of our beneficial bacteria.

Antibiotics

These prescription drugs do not care about what it is killing: good or bad bacteria. It will wipe out anything that is present because they were designed this way. Antibiotics present huge problems for your digestive tract that can set it back for years or even permanently. The biodiversity of your gut flora will be compromised after a round of antibiotics.

During the first few years of life, it is extremely detrimental for a baby to consume antibiotics. This sets them up for a life of digestive problems and allergies. It is important to nourish a baby’s body early in life to protect their health in the future. (5)

Birth Control Pills and Hormones in Meat

The invention of birth control was an integral part of the sexual revolution of the 1960’s. However, they have been shown to disrupt the balancing conditions of probiotic bacteria in your gut. They also alter your intestinal pH, which encourages the growth of yeast and disease-causing bacteria.

The Best Strains of Probiotics You Should Consume and Their Benefits

Lactobacillus acidophilus: Helps digest lactose and stimulates the immune system

Bifidobacterium bifidum: Kills pathogenic bacteria, digests food, stimulates the immune system, plays an important role in allergy response and supports healthy skin.

Streptococcus thermopilus: Promotes healthy tissue in the small intestine, eliminates nitrate toxins, breaks down protein in dairy.

Bifidobacterium breve: Supports a healthy colon and digests food.

Bacillus laterosporus: Fights harmful organisms like candida yeast in the upper intestine.

Bifidobacterium lactis: Helps digest wheat protein and gluten, a very hard protein to digest that is stressful for the body.

Bifidobacterium longum: Helps keep acid levels in the blood balanced.

Lactobacillus bulgaricus: Creates natural antibacterials that kill invading organisms and neutralizes toxins.

Lactobacillus casei: Digests food and soothes the bowels.

Lactococcus lactis: Helps return the gut to normal and heals leaky gut syndrome.

Lactobacillus plantarum: Produces healthy amino acids to support mineral absorption, hormone balance and stimulates the immune system.

Lactobacillus rhamnosus: Helps prevent infections and seems to improve mood.

Other Benefits of Probiotics

A healthy gut flora will protect you from:

Pathogenic bacteria, parasites and viruses

Toxins

Infections

Cancer

It will also help your body absorb vitamins, minerals, glucose and fatty acids

They will improve the function of:

Intestinal movement

Bile creation and secretion

The wall of the gut that protects your bloodstream

Immune system

Probiotics will help your body produce:

Vitamin K2

Enzymes

B-Vitamins

It is also suggested that probiotics can improve your mood and neurological health.

How to Treat Allergies With Probiotics

Someone may be confused as to how to treat allergies with natural products rather than over-the-counter drugs. With climate change affecting the seasons, each year seems to be getting worse for seasonal allergy sufferers. Every year, there seems to be an increase in food allergy quantities and varieties. I think that probiotics are extremely important for everyone to be taking, especially pregnant women. You should be taking care of you and your baby’s shared gut flora as best you can so that his or her health can be protected for the future.

An excellent probiotic supplement that I recommend is UP4 Probiotic Potent Formula, a vegetarian product that has been proven and tested for quality. You can get a probiotic like these to share with your whole family so that everyone can experience the benefits.

I am always here for you, so you can leave me a comment if you have a question about how to treat allergies with natural products.

Anthony