Yes it’s true! Your gut affects your mental health! Current thinking in the study of mental health problems includes strong speculation that bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other psychological or neurological problems are associated with shifts in the microbiome. "Did you know that a quarter of middle-aged women today are taking powerful drugs to remedy symptoms that typically fall under a diagnosis of clinical depression: persistent distress, malaise, anxiety, inner agitation, fatigue, low libido, poor memory, irritability, insomnia, sense of hopelessness, and feeling emotionally flat, overwhelmed, and trapped. The same is true of ADHD drugs. Although children are still the primary users of these drugs,...

For the first time in the world, researchers have demonstrated that probiotics can be used to affect the human skeleton. Osteoporosis predominantly affects older adults, but bone loss can start at as early as age 40. Recently, scientists have found that probiotics might be a safe and effective tool to help fight bone loss. Bones do not just grow once and then stay the same for life. Instead, bone is made up of living tissue that is constantly being broken and remodeled into new bone. This process is more efficient when we are young. By around age 30, the body stops increasing bone mass,...

The importance of gut health, and specifically healthy gut bacteria, has really taken centre stage in terms of it’s wide ranging effects on overall health and disease resistance. We are now seeing research that adds gut health to the list of benefits associated with physical exercise. Exercise is a healthy choice no matter how you choose to look at it. It may seem strange, but exercise can really help improve your digestive health. Both bacterial diversity in the gut and regular exercise are important when it comes to health. Exercise serves a role in promoting the right balance of microbes. We’ve long known about...

Did you know that inflammation is a major cause of disease today? Inflammation of the arteries causes heart disease. Inflammation in the joints causes arthritis. Inflammation of the colon causes ulcerative colitis. Needless to say, inflammation in the body is a serious threat to your health. Chronic inflammation occurs when our body's normal inflammatory process doesn't turn off. When left unchecked like this, the immune system turns from friend to foe and begins to attack otherwise healthy tissues, setting the stage for chronic diseases, like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis or even obesity. As with anything related to...

The human gut is home to trillions of microorganisms. This intestinal ecosystem is known as the microbiome. The microorganisms that live in your gut are called gut flora, and they fit into two categories: good gut flora and bad gut flora. The beneficial (good) gut flora complete a ton of different tasks in the body, such as aiding digestion, absorbing nutrients, producing vitamins, enzymes and neurotransmitters, managing appetite, controlling metabolism, reducing inflammation, influencing immunity and communicating with your brain. The harmful (bad) gut flora can create disease and inflammation if they go unchecked. A healthy microbiome has the right balance and composition...

From time to time there are news reports about particularly virulent food poisoning outbreaks that affect a large number of people. There has been a lot of talk and focus around the "outbreak of salmonella" in KZN recently which made me realise how lucky we are to have such a good quality probiotic to protect us from these sort of pathogenic bacteria. Food poisoning, also called food-borne illness, occurs when you consume food or drink that is contaminated with parasites, bacteria, viruses or toxins. Food can become contaminated at any point during the food manufacturing process. For example, vegetables can become...

When it comes to supplements and vitamins, men’s health has been largely excluded from the discussion for a while now. While the ladies can enjoy a plethora of products to choose from that support their unique health concerns, the same just can’t be said of those manufactured especially for men. From digestive health issues such as bloating, gas and constipation to prostate and colon health, there is a lot to be said for a dude probiotic, so men all around the world can gain access to the amazing health benefits of these microscopic miracle workers. Let's have a look at the...

I know too many people who suffer from migraines. And, while I’ve learned that you need to be careful of certain triggers (caffeine, stress, dehydration, lack of sleep), it’s sometimes not enough to stop a whopper from coming on. Most people carry around with them a supply of ‘just in case’ painkillers, however, new research points to a very different type of "pill"  that could provide some welcome relief - Probiotics. A study presented at the International Headache Conference in Vancouver, found that when sufferers of chronic migraines took a multi-strain probiotic twice a day, the frequency of their attacks reduced...

How many times have you swished antibacterial mouth wash in your mouth, never thinking of how it might affect the friendly bacteria in your mouth? Antibacterial mouthwashes may seem like a beneficial, or at least harmless, addition to a daily tooth brushing routine but a new study suggests that swishing with anti-bacterial fluid could be killing helpful microbes which live in the mouth. Did you know that mouth washes date back thousands of years, but the first commercial product was developed in the late 19th century, and named Listerine, after Joseph Lister, the British surgeon. It was originally used as a surgical...