Hi, I am doctor Leen. I am a general practitioner and a functional medicine doctor based in London. Your gut contains millions of bacteria. An imbalance of bacteria in the gut can happen and sometimes referred to as more ‘bad’ bacteria than ‘good’ bacteria.
This imbalance can happen if you take a course of antibiotics that kills the good bacteria or in time of stress if you have problems such as irritable bowel syndrome.
Probiotics are good supplements which contain ‘good’ bacteria. When taken in adequate amounts it is thought that they improve the balance of the bacteria in the gut
𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘪𝘯:
👩🏽⚕️Preventing diarrhoea when taking antibiotics or travelling
👩🏽⚕️Helping to ease some symptoms of IBS
👩🏽⚕️The most common probiotics that are thought to benefit some people with IBS come from two strains of bacteria: Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria.
👩🏽⚕️No evidence to support its role in eczema, asthma, hay fever
𝘐𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦?
👩🏽⚕️For most people, probiotics appear to be safe. If you want to try them, and you have a healthy immune system, they shouldn't cause any unpleasant side effects.
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥:
🥣Probiotics are generally classed as food rather than medicine, which means they don't go through the rigorous testing medicines do
👩🏽⚕️There’s likely to be a huge difference between the pharmaceutical-grade probiotics that show promise in clinical trials and the yoghurts and supplements sold in shops
👩🏽⚕️New research on probiotics often fail to report adverse effects
𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵?
👩🏽⚕️Not all probiotics work the same way!
💊 If constipation is a problem, a product containing bifidobacterium lactis may help.
💊Some products containing these strains include Alflorex , Vivomixx or VSL#3, however there are many other products on the market which may be tried.
👩🏽⚕️A minimum four week trial is recommended as it can take some time to see the benefits.
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