Probiotic Strategies for Gut Wellness

Can understanding your pediatric health history unlock the secrets to a better gut? Join Dr. Enrico Dolcecore in this enlightening episode as we explore the intricate world of probiotics and gut health. We promise you’ll gain a fresh perspective on why cycling through different probiotic strains is essential and how prebiotics play a crucial part in nourishing your gut flora, particularly after antibiotic use. Discover the complex relationship between diet and gut health, and why a balanced diet starting from birth can lay the foundation for a robust microbiome. We’ll clear up common misconceptions and arm you with the knowledge to foster a harmonious gut environment.

Through in-depth discussions, Dr. Dolcecori underscores the significance of early dietary habits such as breastfeeding versus bottle feeding, and how these choices impact gut microbiota development. Home-cooked meals loaded with probiotics like fermented foods could be your ticket to a more diverse and healthy gut. We also touch upon personalized health strategies, like stool testing, and why caution is advised for those with severe conditions like ulcerative colitis when considering probiotics. Rounding off with practical tips, this episode is your guide to integrating probiotics into your routine for enhanced digestion, immunity, and mental health, emphasizing the power of a mindful diet over reliance on supplements alone.

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Chapters

• 0:25 Understanding Probiotics and Gut Health
• 11:16 Probiotics for Gut Health
• 20:00 The Importance of Diet and Probiotics

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:25

Welcome to another episode of Living a Full Life. I am Dr Enrico Dolcecori. Thanks for joining us this week. This week's podcast is all about probiotics and the gut biome. There's a lot of misconception about the gut biome and probiotics and we as a culture forget about them. We'll get on this whole probiotic thing because we listen to something on the radio and then we forget about it for a long period of time. And there's another misconception thinking that probiotics are needed every single day. But understanding what probiotics are is going to give you a better rule of thumb per se on how to use them in your life. And I think we're in a gut epidemic of real poor gut health for most Americans, most people. And that's what leads to indigestion, stomach pain, bloating, constipation, going to the bathroom too frequently, irregular stool all of the things that the gut does can tell us about overall function in the body, and it comes from this biosis that we're supposed to build in. A healthy diet really is where it comes from. By eating a healthy diet we build a healthy biome in the gut and it starts right from birth. Right, we talk about this If you listen to some of our old podcasts about colic and infants. We talk about breast milk and how important that is to build the microbiome early in life, and if we didn't get breastfed, then what we can do through foods to get there, and really the processed food epidemic we're in the pandemic I should call it. I mean it's absolutely horrible. We mainly eat processed foods. We just don't get the biome buildup that we need to. So understanding how probiotics work and breaking down prebiotics and even postbiotics can really help us build our gut in a healthy way and also relieve a lot of symptoms. This is the solution for a lot of people. Along with a revamp of the diet, can really help rebuild gut health, which can eliminate a lot of the gut issues that are out there. That's the whole point of this podcast. So let's dive into what probiotics really are and simply gloss over the biome. There's a couple podcasts from last season about the gut biome that where we dive right into it and maybe we'll do another one again.

Speaker 1: 2:47

But let's talk about probiotics. That's what today's all about. So the definition of a probiotic is having a live bacterial benefit from. Whatever we take usually comes in pill form or powder form, but it's a live beneficial bacteria that you introduce orally into the gut to help the good flora continue to flourish. In our gut there's different strains of probiotics so you always want to mix and match what you take. So if you've been taking one type of brand and you take it every day and you've been taking it for months or years, it's pretty much maxed out its capacity in your gut.

Speaker 1: 3:23

You probably have enough of those bacteria because you've been doing it so frequently. So, like lactobacillus, bifidobacterium, saccharomyces, all these other good flora that are in there, there's tons of them. We want to cycle through them. So we want to have to have 10 billion, 50 billion cultures that we cycle. So once you buy a bottle and you finish it, you take a little bit of a break so the flora can die off, the overgrowth of flora can die off, and then you cycle a new probiotic and you kind of do this quarterly maybe. Let's say it takes you two months to finish a bottle of probiotics or a powder of probiotics. Then you'd stay off of it for two months and then cycle through another one, a new one, and introduce that to the gut. And being sensitive to it is a normal thing. So some probiotics you'll react better to and other ones you'll feel bloated or you'll feel some symptoms from that. You probably don't want to continue the ones that give you symptoms, but you do want to write down what was in that one that you bought that created symptoms in you, because it may be a link to an overgrowth of that particular one or a conflict of interest of how bacteria work together in a symbiosis. So it's a very complex understanding of the gut and we still haven't really scratched the surface about the gut biome. But a lot of health science is going towards the gut because understanding it more is going to uncover a lot of the future biotech that we get in the future. Even medicine and helping people in the future is going to come from the gut. And we're there, we're on the surface, scratching and understanding this. So playing with the, with the probiotics, can be an insight on how your guts actually functioning.

Speaker 1: 5:02

The difference between probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics I think there's a lot of confusion about that. Probiotics are something you just take regularly, like a supplement. Prebiotics are considered pre-digestive things that you can take, like even digestive enzymes or prebiotics that you take to build up to probiotics. So prebiotic would probably be used after a course of antibiotics, for example. Let's say you got an infection or a virus or whatever, maybe probably an infection with fever. You went to the doctor like here we're giving you some antibiotics along with some Flonase or whatever it is, so you get better. You take the seven to 10 day course of antibiotics. That antibiotic will mostly wipe out your gut bacteria completely. That's what antibiotics do, is they kill it all. So then you're depleted with a very scarce microbiome.

Speaker 1: 5:53

This is where you want to bring in a prebiotic to help nurture more flora to come back in, instead of diving right back into a probiotic. There's some studies that show taking a probiotic with your antibiotics could be beneficial. However, the antibiotic is still going to kill off all of the good flora Makes sense and bad, for it's going to kill off everything, because that's what antibiotics do. So that's that. And then postbiotics are after, usually after meal or a cycle. After a probiotic cycle of two, three months, you would take a postbiotic to help again with the flora and overgrowth of the bacteria that you're building in. That, remember, when you introduce 50 billion cultures and you take that every day to help supplement your diet, you're going to build up the flora, which is good, but then we can get to what's called an overgrowth.

Speaker 1: 6:42

Once we get to an overgrowth of certain bacteria in the body, it can create waste and gas and other products that come off of it as well. As they start to overgrow, they start to die off. They have to do that. That's the cycle of bacteria. Once they've eclipsed their space and used up the food sources, they have to die off. That's the way it is. It's a growth, growth, growth, growth, growth until there's die off. So that's how bacteria work in their environments. And when they're in the gut they only have so much resources to work with. And then, when you got thousands of different strains, it becomes complicated, kind of like the world we live in Thousands of different species living on earth in harmony, right, that's the whole point of the gut as well.

Speaker 1: 7:23

So why do we need probiotics? Here's the science behind it. It really helps with digestive health. Our bacteria make up 90% of the total digestion that we do. The other are some enzymes and acids that our body produces to help break down food. The rest of it, the 90%, is broken down by the bacteria in our gut. So it helps break down food. It helps also absorb the nutrients and it prevents bloating. Break down food. It helps also absorb the nutrients and it prevents bloating.

Speaker 1: 7:52

So having a good flora will actually show up, with people that have less symptoms of bloating or report less symptoms of bloating after any meals. Bloating typically means a dysbiosis in that biome. For sure, bloating is probably the most obvious symptom. If you eat any meal and you bloat, it's because the bacteria are just not right. So digestive health is the big player with the probiotics and then immune system support as well. 70% of immune function is in the gut. We forget about that. Our gut pretty much guides our immunity and a healthy gut leads to a healthy immune system as well. The flora that plays a role in the gut also plays a role in our immune support. Really important how those two things dive together.

Speaker 1: 8:37

That's why when we're not feeling well, our appetite is cut as well. It's connected to the gut. We just don't want to eat because we're trying to recover. It's the connection between the immune system. The immune system then switches over to killing whatever bacteria or viruses are in the body during that time of being sick and symptoms and then returns back to gut focus after we're healthy. So that's where loss of appetite comes into play with our immunity, mood and mental health as well.

Speaker 1: 9:02

The gut brain connection is very, very real. Neurotransmitters like serotonin are based off of gut activity. Real Neurotransmitters like serotonin are based off of gut activity. So that's where we have like sugar cravings or food and food makes us happy and all those good things makes me happy and that's because of the serotonin release there as well. So those are the things that are connected between the brain and the gut, the gut and the immunity and the gut itself for digestion and also it's pretty much the cursor for all inflammatory chronic diseases out there. A healthy gut can prevent most of these chronic diseases that we have out there. The link between gut health and conditions like obesity, diabetes, autoimmune diseases and even cardiovascular diseases are all linked back to the gut and its inflammatory states. Very interesting stuff there and I hope I've built up the importance of why we want to look at this and how probiotics can be a highly useful tool to help regulate and support healthy digestive system.

Speaker 1: 10:07

So the gut biome we don't want to dive into a whole 40 minute podcast about the biome. We have that let's. Let's just kind of go into it. You know what it's? A diverse ecosystem. That's really what it is A bacteria inside of the intestines, with all of them playing different roles. Some bacteria actually are sustained in the gut that could poison you in high consumption, like E coli. E coli is prevalent in the gut, in the intestine, and it's there for a reason. The E coli actually lives off of some of the waste, die-off waste, byproducts of other bacteria. It's crazy how they all work together so they actually take the waste products and then make other gas products from that as well. Usually certain gases are methane and some other things that are made from the waste products of bacteria in there, but they play a role in breaking down other waste products from other bacteria. It's an amazing diversity that's in our guts. So diet, lifestyle and antibiotics play a big gut role here. So our lifestyle and how active we are definitely supports the gut, and then our cycles of antibiotics also play a huge role.

Speaker 1: 11:16

Having a pediatric health history plays a big role, even for you as an adult to look back and understand what your pediatric health history was all about. Were you you breastfed? Were you bottle fed? Were you a cesarean section born? Were you naturally born? Which way was your gut built in those first few months of your life? It plays a big role. Then how did you cycle through antibiotics in your life? If you're an 80s kid like me, I mean every ear infection, everything there is antibiotics, antibiotics, antibiotics. All the time. The banana flavored antibiotic, all the amoxicillin all the time the thing was like okay, banana, it tastes like banana and that wrecks your gut. It definitely wrecks it. And did my parents do probiotics at the time? No, no.

Speaker 1: 12:03

I think my saving grace in my household was having immigrant parents who made home-cooked meals 95% of the time. We never ate out, we never had fast food, never went through a fast food chain at all, never did anything. If we did go out to celebrate a birthday, it'd be at a restaurant, an Italian restaurant or a Chinese restaurant or something that we all enjoyed as a family. Otherwise, we cooked at home. That was probably the saving grace for that, because we ate a lot of veggies. We ate a Mediterranean diet, which helped with the probiotics. We had sauerkraut, we had pickles, we had the stuff that gave us the bacteria.

Speaker 1: 12:37

I think in my theory, because otherwise I have no idea how my family and my relatives lived for so long. I have nothing to tell you. I have no idea how they all lived to 100 and above. I have no clue. On my dad's side, even my Greek side, they have aunts and uncles that are approaching 100, and they're on no meds. It's unbelievable and I've been studying it and trying to understand it. But diet plays a huge role in this. So we need to understand the importance of microbial diversity and why probiotic can play that role. Because of the complexity of the gut. This is why probiotic can play that role. Because of the complexity of the gut. This is why probiotic makes life so simple. That's why we need it is because at least we're doing something to cultivate the biosis in our gut. At least we do something.

Speaker 1: 13:20

So if you've forgotten about your probiotic for the last year or two, go get one, any one. Just start with something and just listen to how you feel. Yes, it could be normal to have a side effect to it, like bloating or discomfort or that. Probably not the best probiotic for you, and they're not that expensive. So if you find one that's not good, give it to your spouse. Let them test it as well, not because you got bloated and you want to make them bloated. This isn't a. This isn't, you know, a competition. But maybe it does well for their gut, then they can take it.

Speaker 1: 13:49

But having a probiotic plays a great role and then naturally it comes through the foods that we eat. So I brought up a couple examples of fermented foods. You can ferment anything and that will have more probiotic, like sauerkraut. A properly fermented sauerkraut has more probiotic than anything that can be encapsulated or in powder form. It's going to have trillions of biotic properties to it Trillions, so you can't even buy this. So that's where this stuff plays a big role. I love the Americans when we talk about this stuff. Once in a while you'll find one that I love sauerkraut, but most people are like sauerkraut, sauerkraut. I don't care what you ferment, ferment whatever you want. But fermentosis, or fermenting things, is how you build biotics inside of. The fermenting process is where bacteria love to live, and the nice thing about the fermenting process is you get the good bacteria. It kills the gram. The gram negative bacteria, the bad stuff that you know can can hurt us the gram negative bacteria, the bad stuff that can hurt us. So that's great. So fermenting plays a big role in that. So kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, miso soup all that good stuff have great probiotic sources in them. Just find organic and clean sources of that as well.

Speaker 1: 15:05

So you want to be taking probiotics on a cycle. Now this is where we get into a little bit of medicine here. So to give you advice over a podcast, I can't do it. It's not going to work because each person is a little bit different. But there's a couple things you need to take into consideration is what are your symptoms? First off, if we're dealing with something severe like ulcerative colitis or diverticulitis, be careful taking any probiotics. We don't want to disrupt the gut lining. It's already inflamed. You're already in pain. It may cause more pain. So be careful with this. Work with a doctor functional medicine doctor that can analyze your gut flora and check that. And here's a PSA for everyone Everyone should get a stool test at some point in their adult life to measure out and map out where the strains of bacteria are in your body and your gut. You need to, otherwise you have no idea what you're feeding or what you're not feeding, or which are the good guys or which are the bad guys or how many of each.

Speaker 1: 15:58

It's like this biosis that we want to create of peace and harmony in the gut. It's just like the wishes and hopes of Earth. Right, we want to live in peace and harmony around the world, all people living together and all species, right? Well, good luck with that. And then the gut is the same thing. So that's the theory that we want to get to, but it's not.

Speaker 1: 16:18

It's a war in there all the time because you get these growths of bad bacteria that grow there, cause a lot of symptoms like candida, h pylori there's a whole bunch of things out there. The bad guys that can grow even E coli can grow cause a lot of pain and discomfort and actually attack the good flora. Then, with courses of antibiotics, alcohol and a lot of the processed foods, we kill off the good bacteria as well. They don't stand a chance. So the bad guys start to grow in there and they take over. And then we have to build our armies back up from scratch, fight them off, and it's this, it's this constant war that goes on in the gut. But that's what homeostasis is all about pulling things back to the middle, pulling them back to health. That's the point there.

Speaker 1: 17:04

Um, so some myths about probiotics. Let's go through. These are the probably three or four things I hear in my office all the time. All probiotics are the same. Can I take any one. No, different strains have different benefits and that's again. Maybe a stool test can guide you into the right direction. So when you work with a functional medicine doctor let's say you work with Dr Hafer at our office you would get it onto a call, you would get the stool tests at your home, you would do it, you would ship it off. Fedex picks it up the next morning and in two weeks you've got your results and it goes through all of them. Then we know which strains and which probiotics you need. That is the best way to do it. So not all probiotics are the same and there's no one shelf probiotic that's best for everyone. So there's that too. So that's why you have to play with the ones that work. So if you take one and you feel better, that's a good one for you. That's the one where you're hitting probably the right things. So that's great. That's why you can cycle through a bunch of them.

Speaker 1: 17:58

Myth number two you only need yogurt for gut health. I love this one. No way. Yogurts don't have enough active cultures. I don't care which advertisement you watch on television, they do not have enough that are worth you consuming the yogurt in the first place. They're filled with sugar, they're processed and you're not getting much of a nutritional benefit from them. I'm not a big fan of them at all. It gives you something, it gives you something, and the sad truth is our American children are not getting any good food. This is the standard of health now. So them eating a little bit of yogurt is like, oh, it's kind of a win for them.

Speaker 1: 18:32

But for most of you listening to this podcast, you're probably on the health train anyways, trying to stay well and healthy so that you're 91 years old and on the golf course or on a cruise ship like me. That's my goal. People ask me what's your definition of health? I want to be 94 years old, and choosing which cruise to take, not choosing which nurse in the nursing home, is going to wipe my butt. Simple, to the point, right. That's what I think health and vitality is all about. Getting to that point. More probiotics equals better results. Again, no, we could end up creating a little bit of a mob attack in the gut if we do that. So quality and strain diversity matter more than quantity. So watching the label and seeing 10 billion or 50 billion, don't just buy the 50 billion, because it's more than the 10 billion. That's not a logical way of putting probiotics into your body, so that's a myth as well.

Speaker 1: 19:23

Probiotics work instantly? Definitely not. These bacteria need to cultivate and grow and you may not get symptoms right away or you may not feel better right away. So listening to the probiotic, usually getting a 30-day supply, is always a great one. I like those small bottles. There are 30 capsules in them. You take them. It's going to take you two, three weeks to even notice anything. But be consistent with them. Take them seven out of seven days a week, as recommended on the side of the bottle. Typically it's a few hours before a meal or around meals. That's typically how you take your probiotics. Um, and then just monitor, see how you feel, see if it's making you feel better or feel worse.

Speaker 1: 20:00

And probiotics alone can fix gut issues? No, they absolutely cannot. It's all comes back to diet. A diverse diet of everything is required to feed all the bacteria and good flora in our gut. They are all put there for a purpose, and there's species of bacteria that only eat meat products. They only eat and break down meats. There's those. Then there's ones that only break down fructose. Then there's other ones that only break down dextrose. Then there's ones that only break down fiber. Then there's ones that only break down fish strains, fish proteins Some of them only have, like seafood. So there's a whole bunch of them in there waiting for a diverse diet and different vegetables. A lot of vegetables that come from the ground actually have their own enzymes, so as soon as you start to chew them, they start to break down themselves. They're pre-made with their own enzymes. So once they fall off the tree or once they fall off the vine and they're sitting there, they decompose quickly because they have their own enzyme inside of them that decomposes them. Most living organisms do that as well, so that's pretty cool stuff. It's all made in a symbiotic relationship, so diet is the most important thing there.

Speaker 1: 21:19

Okay, probiotics are essential for digestion, immunity and mental health. Gut diversity matters supported with diet, lifestyle and the right probiotics. Rotate probiotic strains and don't rely only on supplements, and be aware of myths and choose probiotics wisely. Typically, if you need any help, working with a functional medicine doctor is just a guided light into a dark forest. It works really well. They can guide you in the right direction. I hope you learned something on this podcast today, but definitely if you haven't been taking a probiotic in a while. Go get one for sure. They're safe, they're effective. The worst thing that can happen is you get a little bit of a side effect to it and then you just stop it. Not a big deal, go get one. It helps with your digestive flora, it helps with digestion, it helps with mood, it helps with everything as.