By Dr. Mercola
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Most people, including many physicians, do not realize that 80 percent of your immune system is located in your digestive tract, making a healthy gut a major focal point if you want to achieve optimal health.
The root of many health problems is related to an imbalance of intestinal bacteria, and this foundation of good health is laid even while in utero.
Without a well-functioning gastrointestinal (GI) tract, a newborn baby will be more vulnerable to pathogens, allergens, and a number of immune-related diseases, so getting an infant's gut up and running efficiently is crucial. Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant would be wise to address their own gut health as early as possible to give their child the best start possible in this regard.
That said, it’s never too late to address your or your child’s gut, and most people would likely benefit from doing so.
The bacteria located in your GI tract play a crucial role in the development and operation of the mucosal immune system in your digestive tract. They also aid in the production of antibodies to pathogens.
Friendly bacteria even train your immune system to distinguish between pathogens and non-harmful antigens, and to respond appropriately. This important function prevents your immune system from overreacting to non-harmful antigens, which is the genesis of allergies.
But probiotics perform such a wide variety of functions, they’re really critical regardless of what ails you. And because adding probiotics to your diet is so easy, by way of cultured foods and/or supplements, it’s a step I highly encourage you to take.
How To Reduce Your Child’s Risk of Allergies
Babies gets their first “inoculation” of gut flora from mother's birth canal during childbirth. If the flora is abnormal, the baby’s flora will also be abnormal; whatever organisms live in the mother's vagina end up coating the baby’s body and lining his or her intestinal tract.
According to a recent analysis of previous clinical trials1, women who take probiotics—i.e. healthy bacteria—during pregnancy reduce their child’s risk of developing allergies. Unfriendly flora can also predispose babies to Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS), of which allergies are just one potential outcome.
Other health problems associated with GAPS include autism, learning disabilities, and a number of other psychological, neurological, digestive, and immunological, problems. As reported in the featured Reuters article2:
“Since allergies and asthma both spring from hypersensitive immune responses, several trials have set out to assess the effect of probiotic supplements on those conditions...[The] team analyzed the results of 25 trials of supplements given during pregnancy or within the first year of a child's life. All of the studies compared mothers and babies randomly assigned to take probiotics with those given placebo supplements.Participants were given probiotic doses daily, and in some cases more than daily, for a few months to a year. The trials tracked whether kids went on to test positive for common allergies - such as peanut or pollen allergies...Babies who were exposed to probiotics in the womb and received supplements after birth had a 12 percent lower risk of allergies in the following months and years than kids in the comparison groups. But allergy risk was not reduced when babies were started on probiotics after birth only.”
How Allergies Are Related to Poor Gut Health
A condition known as “leaky gut” occurs when gaps develop between the cells (enterocytes) that make up the membrane lining your intestinal wall. These tiny gaps allow substances, such as undigested food, bacteria and metabolic wastes, that should be confined to your digestive tract to escape into your bloodstream -- hence the term leaky gut syndrome.
Leaky gut syndrome can be a contributing factor to allergies, which can help explain why children with healthier gut flora have a reduced risk of developing allergies. Even more significantly, pathogenic microbes in the baby’s digestive tract can damage the integrity of his or her gut wall. This can allow all sorts of toxins and microbes to flood his or her bloodstream, which can then enter his or her brain and disrupt its development.
Breastfeeding helps protect your baby from this abnormal gut flora, which is why breastfeeding is so crucial to your child’s health. No infant formulas can do this.
Leaky gut is also associated with inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's and ulcerative colitis, as well as celiac disease. The condition Once the integrity of your intestinal lining is compromised, and there is a flow of toxic substances "leaking out" into your bloodstream, your body experiences significant increases in inflammation.
“Healing and sealing” your gut has been shown to help alleviate allergy symptoms. The key lies in altering your diet to eliminate offending foods, such as grains and processed foods, and introduce healthier ones that will support a proper balance of bacteria in your gut. To restore gut health, and prevent leaky gut from occurring, eating traditionally fermented foods is essential.
Fermented Foods Can Help a Baby Avoid MAJOR Health Problems
Providing abundant probiotics in the form of fermented foods is one of the most powerful ways to restore a baby’s beneficial gut flora. Oftentimes, a commercial probiotic supplement won’t even be needed.
Raw organic grass-fed yogurt is well tolerated by most infants and children. It’s best to make your own yogurt at home from raw organic milk, and start with a very tiny amount. Once yogurt is well tolerated, then start introducing kefir. If you have any problems with dairy, you can substitute vegetables fermented with yogurt culture or kefir culture. Avoid commercial yogurt from the grocery store, as these are laden with sugars that feed pathogenic bacteria—the exact opposite of what you’re looking for.
To learn more about introducing fermented foods to your newborn, I recommend picking up a copy of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride's book, Gut and Psychology Syndrome3, which has a large recipe section for fermenting your own foods at home and using them to benefit all members of your family. If you have a baby with a severe condition, then the addition of a high-quality probiotic supplement might be needed.
There have been more probiotic studies involving adults than those with children, and even fewer with infants. Unfortunately, precious little research has been devoted to the study of probiotics for neonates, especially extremely low birth weight neonates (ELBW), but scientific studies thus far are very promising. One study in particular, published in BMC Medicine4 in 2011 by the Department of Neonatal Pediatrics in Nepean Hospital along with several other Australian hospitals, brings us closer to important evidence-based guidelines for the use of probiotics with preterm neonates. For more details on this, please see my previous article on the use of probiotics for neonates.
That said, probiotics have been shown to provide a number of benefits to infants and children. For example, daily supplements of probiotic foods may reduce a child’s risk of eczema by 58 percent, according to one study. Another study found that a daily dose of Lactobacillus reuteri can help improve colic.
Probiotic Proves Beneficial for Non-Gut Inflammatory Disorders as Well
Other recent studies confirm the importance of your gut health for health problems such as psoriasis and chronic fatigue syndrome. One such study, published in the journal Gut Microbes, is interesting in that it’s the first study showing how a single probiotic strain can influence your systemic immune system. As reported by Medical News Today5:
“The mucosal immune system protects the internal mucosal surfaces of the body such as the gastrointestinal, urogenital and respiratory tracts. These internal surfaces act as a barrier to the outside world for the internal tissues of the body, which are then further protected by the systemic immune system. There is some convincing evidence that probiotics, or gut-friendly bacteria, influence the development and maintenance not only of the microbial balance inside the gut and the mucosal immune system but also the systemic immune response.”The probiotic used in the study is called Bifidobacterium infantis 35624. Three separate randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trials were included in the study, which assessed the effects of the probiotic on one gastrointestinal and two non-gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders. Twenty-two of the patients enrolled in the study were diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, 26 were diagnosed with psoriasis, an inflammatory skin condition, and 48 patients had chronic fatigue syndrome.
The levels of inflammation markers in 35 healthy volunteers were used as baseline references. The three biomarkers assessed were C-reactive protein (CRP) and pro-inflammatory cytokines, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). At the outset of the trials, all patients, whether their disorder was related to gastrointestinal inflammation or not, had significantly elevated levels of all three of these biomarkers. During the trial period, which lasted between six and eight weeks, each patient received either the probiotic or a placebo. At the end of each of the three separate trials, the researchers found that:
According to the researchers, these reductions in inflammatory biomarkers typically count as remission, and are indicative of a reduced risk of relapse. A similar study published in 20096 found that Bifidobacterium infantis was the only probiotic strain out of 13 tested capable of improving symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
- All three patient groups who received Bifidobacterium infantis 35624 had significantly lower levels of CRP compared to those who received a placebo
- Patients with ulcerative colitis psoriasis patients had lower TNF-a
- Those with ulcerative colitis and chronic fatigue syndrome had reductions in IL-6
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