Probiotics have become quite trendy lately, with many health claims behind them, but the industry itself is quite unregulated, making it difficult to know exactly what to believe. While this may be the case, there are a number of scientific studies out there that are now able to prove the many different benefits that probiotics can have, explaining why fermented foods have been such a huge part of cultures all over the world throughout history.

What Are Probiotics?
While many people immediately equate bacteria with being bad, the body is actually full of bacteria, with many strains of these being extremely helpful. Probiotics themselves are live bacteria and yeasts that work in a similar way to the good bacteria that is already in your body, and can help to treat a number of different conditions.

How do Probiotics Work?
As mentioned above, your gut contains a mix of good and bad bacteria, with the good bacteria accounting for 85%, and the bad around 15%. This balance can easily be thrown off though, which then has a negative impact on the body. However, by consuming probiotics, you help to balance this ratio back out, boosting your health.

Many Illnesses Originate in the Gut
Many people do not realize that 80% of their immune system is located in their digestive tract, meaning that keeping your digestive system healthy is so important if you want to maintain good health. Everything from chronic fatigue to psoriasis to joint pain can often originate in the gut, meaning that keeping your gut healthy is a great way to protect your body from a number of different illnesses and health issues.

Mental Health
There are an increasing number of studies out there that suggest that probiotics can not only have an effect on physical health but on mental health too. These studies focussed on probiotic supplements, and looked at people that experience everything from autism to anxiety and depression to OCD. The results were surprising, showing that probiotics were able to have quite the impact on these conditions, resulting in better overall mental health.

Probiotic Killers
In addition to increasing your intake of good bacteria, you should also be aware of the different factors that can kill the probiotics in your body. These include antibiotics, sugar, genetically modified foods, grains, stress and other medications. If any of these are a large part of your life, then you need to work to minimize them while upping your consumption of probiotics to balance your gut out.

While probiotics may come with such an incredible range of health benefits, it is important to remember that the industry is an unregulated one and is still relatively new, meaning that just because a product claims to have probiotic benefits, does not mean that this is true. A chemical analysis of 16 probiotic products showed only one of them to contain the ingredients claimed, making it important for you to choose your products carefully. Alternatively, you can always make your own probiotics at home, so that you can be sure of their health benefits, with your choices ranging from everything from kefir to kombucha to sauerkraut.