It is believed that good health begins from a healthy gut. This is the point where food is processed and nutrition absorbed, which then determines the working of the entire body. Your sleep, skin, hair, and immune system are also deeply impacted by your gut health.
The gut is home to billions of good and bad bacteria, which as per research, are approximately 10 times more than human cells. The gut bacteria are an important component of the microbiota ecosystem in the human gut, which play many important roles - aid digestive function by breaking down food such as complex sugars into glucose, supplying essential nutrients, synthesizing vitamin K, producing chemicals that help make us feel satiated, and the like. The gut bacteria also communicate with the immune cells in the intestines and indicate them to fight off infections brewing from the gut.
Consuming probiotic-rich foods like yogurt, kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut, pickles, miso, tempeh, kimchi, sourdough bread and some cheeses on a daily basis maintains the population of good gut bacteria and supports a healthy digestive function.
Why do women need more probiotics?
Women are physiologically different from men when it comes to their gastro-intestinal system. As per research, women suffer from constipation 3 times more than men, as their colon is 10 cm longer and more complicated than men.
Study also shows that women are two to six times more likely to experience Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) than men, with inflammatory bowel disease being diagnosed at a rate of 2:1 in women compared with men.
Also women have a longer transit time, which means it takes longer for food to move through the digestive system and be eliminated as compared to men.
Longer transit time also means that food will remain in the colon for a longer time and the bacteria will take more time breaking it down, making women prone to excessive gas and bloating. These bacteria start breaking down proteins and other nutrients and release toxic substances in the colon when it runs out of carbohydrates — the nutrient source for gut bacteria to thrive.This may lead to the development of colon cancer and other diseases.
Women tend to release certain hormones around their menstruation cycle and pregnancy, which leads to inflammation in the GI tract leading to conditions like diarrhea, cramping, bloating, constipation and IBS. Often the levels of stress are higher during this period, which impacts their gut health adversely.
Hence, it becomes more important for women to pay attention to their gut health and maintain microbiome diversity by consuming probiotics everyday. Probiotic foods improve microbiome diversity and function by increasing the number of good bacteria that aid bowel function and prevent digestive issues.
Besides the gut microbiome, women have a vaginal microbiome essential for the health of their reproductive system and pH balance, which act as a barrier against yeast infections. Some probiotic foods like yogurt, kimchi, kombucha and pickles that have strains of Lactobacilli, can be beneficial in treating and preventing vaginal infections.
Gut Health Supplementation
Our daily diet plays a big role in determining our gut health, daily intake of probiotic and prebiotic foods can boost diversity of gut microbiome. One can include probiotic and prebiotic supplements everyday to maintain gut health.
We can suggest a smart way to add on to the population of good bacteria and provide them quality sustenance.
You can try Wellbeing Nutrition’s Probiotic + Prebiotic effervescent tablets, an active blend of 6 Probiotic Cultures containing 18 Billion Colony Forming Units (CFU) per serving. It contains clinically studied prebiotic fibres from apple pomace and chicory root that act as food for your good gut bacteria.
Keep all gut issues at bay with Wellbeing Nutrition’s revolutionary delay-release capsules- SLOW Gut Health- combine the most powerful nutriscience with fast absorbing vegan omega oil and slow-release plant based beadlets with prebiotics and probiotics. It provides gut health-boosting 4 potent strains : : Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Rhamnosus & Lactobacillus plantarum per serving making it an highly efficacious supplement to help heal your gut & support healthy digestion.
Diet and Lifestyle modifications both help in gut healing. It is advisable to reduce consumption of packed, processed foods, excessive caffeine, gluten, and alcohol. Healthy Gut Melts by Wellbeing Nutrition will help you make your gut happy on-the-go, these oral strips simply dissolve on your tongue providing you with naturally extracted probiotics, ACV and plant-based extracts that help prevent digestive issues and boost gut health.
Being modern day women, we juggle many roles in one day and strive to be good at each one of them. The kind of multi-tasking women do requires a tremendous amount of strength and energy which can only come from the right nutrition for your gut. Never settle for things that give half baked solutions, be smart and make that perfect choice when it comes to your health because you deserve the best!
Reference:
Smejkal C, Kolida S, Bingham M, Gibson G, McCartney A. Probiotics and prebiotics in female health. J Br Menopause Soc. 2003;9(2):69-74. doi:10.1258/136218003100322224
Zhang YJ, Li S, Gan RY, Zhou T, Xu DP, Li HB. Impacts of gut bacteria on human health and diseases. Int J Mol Sci. 2015;16(4):7493-7519. Published 2015 Apr 2. doi:10.3390/ijms16047493
van de Wijgert J, Verwijs MC. Lactobacilli-containing vaginal probiotics to cure or prevent bacterial or fungal vaginal dysbiosis: a systematic review and recommendations for future trial designs. BJOG. 2020;127(2):287-299. doi:10.1111/1471-0528.15870
