Probiotics have many potential benefits, but the one most people are familiar with is their ability to support healthy digestion. It’s important to note that not ALL probiotics will give you these benefits though. There are plenty of subpar probiotic supplements for sale, and many of them are made by companies that spend a lot of money on flashy marketing. So before you try to pick a source of good bacteria for you and your family, we’ll talk about how to choose the best probiotics for digestion.
Furthermore, one of the most under-appreciated benefits of a healthy digestive system is a healthy immune system. Your digestive system is actually the heart of your immune system, so when you ensure that you’ve got your digestion optimized, your body has the best chance of fighting off germs, bad bacteria, and other potentially harmful invaders. Picking the best probiotics for digestion starts with understanding exactly what digestion is, and potential digestive trouble.
Understanding digestion
The process of digestion is critical to keeping your body functioning. In order to use the nutrients in the food you eat, your body needs to digest them. On the most broad level, this means breaking down the food into small, usable pieces that the body can absorb.
Digestion starts the minute you put food into your mouth, when you chew the food and begin to break it into smaller pieces. Food and liquids travel down your esophagus and into your stomach. In the stomach, stomach acids further break down the food so it can move into the large intestine. Our large intestine is responsible primarily for removing waste products, and absorbing water and salt from the broken down food. The small intestine then absorbs the nutrients so the body can use them, and waste products are eliminated from the body.
Potential problems with digestion
The digestive process is a delicate and complex system. There are many ways in which your body can fail to digest food as well as needed, for proper functioning. Some problems include sensitivities to certain types of food like gluten, or trouble digesting dairy well.
Other problems include issues within the intestines like Crohn’s disease, IBD, and colitis. It’s essential to seek medical treatment if you have a digestive disease. It is also important to know that digestion that is not optimized, can often be helped by taking the right steps at home. Digestive problems can leave you feeling sluggish, tired, bloated, crampy, or constipated. These problems are often related to not being able to benefit from all the nutrients in your food, and they can also truly lower your quality of life. To feel energetic and healthy, it’s important to have a digestive system that’s functioning well.
How probiotics can support healthy digestion
Bacteria is critical to the digestive process. You may think of bacteria as something harmful for your body, but there are many strains of bacteria that are incredibly beneficial. Good bacteria promote digestion by breaking down food into smaller pieces. For example, bacteria can break down carbohydrates within a plant cell wall. You may remember from an early biology course, that the cell wall on a plant cell is rigid. Without the right bacteria, your body will not be able to access most of the nutrients that plant could give you.
Probiotics are well known for helping you get and stay regular. This is directly related to their ability to support healthy digestion. If food is spending too much time, or too little time, in your digestive tract, you will likely feel the negative effects. When you take probiotics to optimize your digestion, you’re giving your body a way to stay on track and feel good. It’s important to remember that probiotics alone cannot undo the damage of an unhealthy diet or lack of exercise. The healthy bacteria in probiotics do their best work in an environment that supports them, which includes plenty of fiber, fresh produce, and minimal processed foods and sweeteners.
Best probiotics for digestion
You know that probiotics can support your digestive system, but how do you pick the best probiotics for digestion? There are a variety of good bacteria strains that work well, supporting different phases of digestion. However, before you figure out which strain or strains of bacteria are best for you, you’ll want to make sure you’re using a trusted source for your probiotics.
Natren is a rare probiotics company that you can trust with your and your family’s health. Natren probiotics are microbiologically pure, free from GMOs, soy, gluten, and other (potentially harmful) fillers. Not only are they pure, but Natren probiotics are 100% potency guaranteed through their expiration date. When you’re looking for the best probiotics for digestion, start at Natren’s website where you can trust every product you see.
An easy place to start on your journey to find the best probiotics for digestion is the combination of good bacteria you get with Healthy Trinity. This 3-in-1 system provides you with the healthy bacteria from Natren’s most popular products: Megadophilus, Bifido Factor, and Digesta-Lac. The strains from these 3 products are able to cover the entire digestive system, including the large and small intestine where good bacteria are critical. Healthy Trinity is a long-time favorite of many Natren customers because of its ability to give you several extensively-researched strains of healthy bacteria in a convenient and easy to take system.
While Healthy Trinity is our number one pick for the best probiotic for digestion, there are several probiotics we highly recommend for specific situations. First is Natren’s Gastro pH. This supplement is especially good for those who also have indigestion. Gastro pH also helps with the digestion of dairy, carbohydrates, and protein. It supports the growth of 2 types of healthy bacteria: L. acidophilus and B. bifidum.
We also recommend Healthy Tummy Wafers, which give you 1 billion colony forming units (cfu) of Lactobacillus bulgaricus, LB-51 super strain. These tasty vanilla wafers are easy to take with you when you’re on the go, aid your intestinal ecology, and as an added bonus - they’re a low calorie way to satisfy a sweet tooth.
If you’re the type of person who enjoys customizing your own routine, check out the individual products at Natren.com. You’ll find many products you can try, to find the combination of probiotics that works best for your digestive health.
