Gut Health

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Explore Relevant Treatments

Transcript

[0:00] [Music]

[0:05] hi welcome to another episode of ealth matters I'm ranita saera the marketing manager at E surgery and today we're

[0:12] going to Deep dive into the world of probiotics our expert guest today is Emma Emma would you like to introduce

[0:18] yourself please hello my name is Emma marray and I'm the pharmacist at E

[0:23] surgery so before we jump in I've seen many of these products lately right from yogurts claiming to improve heal to

[0:31] specialized supplements promising all sorts of benefits but what's the real story behind this is this just another

[0:37] Health Trend or is there any signs backing all this up today we want you to

[0:43] help us separate this fact from fiction Emma so let's get to the fundamentals what are probiotics I know they're

[0:49] called good bacteria but what does this mean you're exactly right good bacteria is a good way of um of describing them

[0:58] um probiotics are something that we are only just really discovering the the

[1:03] health benefits that we can get from them but they are something that is just amazing and we use that word quite a lot

[1:09] these days we say amazing we say awesome but in terms of probiotics it's really warranted because they are fundamental

[1:16] to your your health so the World Health Organization definition is they are

[1:22] microorganisms that when taken in adequate amounts confer a health benefit to the host so basically microorganisms

[1:29] that make you healthy um and what are microorganisms as you say bacteria um

[1:35] they're also viruses fungi yeasts um sometimes parasites as well all things

[1:41] that you would normally associate with things that would cause you ill health but in this particular um situation they

[1:48] really promote your health there's something that are working within your body to make you a healthier person and

[1:55] there is lots and lots of research going on about this now because you may have um heard your gut being referred to as

[2:01] the second brain and basically so many functions are going on in the gut that we just really you know we don't even

[2:08] know how much is going on in there what we know is that it is just vitally important so probiotics are something

[2:15] that you will get in your food there's something that you can take in a capsule which is what we or in a powder and

[2:21] you'll see advertised as well um but both essentially are intending to do the

[2:27] same thing they're intending to put the good bacter and microorganisms into your body and the interesting thing is when

[2:34] we are in the womb before we're born we don't have any bacteria or microorganisms in our guts um that all

[2:41] comes when we start to meet the outside environment and we start to to pick them up from from outside so babies that are

[2:48] born um with a natural birth rather than a cesarian will automatically be getting

[2:54] um bacteria coming in from the vaginal Canal um but this is actually a positive thing not a negative it doesn't sound

[2:59] very ni but it's actually very positive for that baby's gut digestion um and once they reach the outside they're

[3:06] constantly bombarded with different microorganisms coming in things that from the from the milk um especially if

[3:13] they're breastfed you're getting natural probiotics coming in that way as well and this all helps to build up what we

[3:19] call our natural gut microbiome which is very individual it's is individual as a

[3:25] fingerprint your gut microbiome will be completely different to mine we'll have different species we'll have different

[3:32] quantities of things um and a lot of that will be down to where we've been brought up the kind of foods that we've

[3:38] eaten what we've been exposed to so it's all very exciting so it's definitely

[3:43] good bacteria that's very important for your body to function overall yeah yes

[3:49] yes definitely so once we take this probiotics what happens inside our bodies how do they actually work so it's

[3:56] best really if we start to think about how digestion works and how our body is work um in general we all know we need

[4:02] to eat food to survive um we know that food's giving us energy and we know we talk frequently about eating things with

[4:09] vitamins and minerals and healthy diets but how do we get that vitamins and minerals into our body so essentially

[4:17] eating our food it's traveling down goes into our stomach has a swish about into our intestines and then out the other

[4:23] end the work that's going on in our guts and our intestines is where all of this

[4:28] kind of absorption of um vitamins and minerals starts to

[4:34] occur and underpinning that is the again what we call our gut

[4:39] microbiome it's the bacteria and the viruses all working super hard in our

[4:46] GTS to break down complex carbohydrates to um start to digest fibers so fibers

[4:52] that we wouldn't be able to actually digest and use with the bacteria there we can do they help to make enzymes help

[5:00] us to um uptake the vitamins um and they help synthesize hormones so there's huge

[5:05] amounts of work going on in our guts to produce these um these products that we

[5:11] need to to basically run every function in our body so it's it's hugely um it's

[5:18] exciting but it also is something that as we get to understand more and more

[5:23] about hopefully we will be able to manipulate and use to help to to improve our health and maybe specifically for

[5:30] certain conditions a good example is in depression what we know is that people

[5:36] who suffer with depression um have tend to have lower levels of serotonin in their brain so you've probably heard of

[5:42] proac um you've got Med like caline um they are anti-depressants that work by

[5:49] basically increasing the amount of Serotonin that's available in your brain and with very good results when we look

[5:55] at the gut 90% of Serotonin that we have in our body is manufactured in the GT

[6:01] yeah so already you can see that there's a linkage there correct theoretically if

[6:06] you start to increase the amount of foods that will be rich in what we call something called tryptophan which is

[6:13] broken down by your microbiome into serotonin um the potential is there for that to then

[6:19] alleviate some of the symptoms now again this is not a replacement for anti-depressants if you want that you

[6:25] must you know keep on that and you mustn't um you come off them without speak to your um to your medical

[6:32] practitioner however if you are looking for good mental health and you want something as part of your diet

[6:38] introducing foods like turkey or eggs they high in tryptophan your gut can

[6:44] make more serotonin which theoretically means that there is more serotonin available for those processes that

[6:50] naturally occur in your body so it's a really interesting and emerging topic um

[6:55] and we're not 100% sure as yet exactly what some of these things mean um but we

[7:01] know things are going on and I think we've we've got lots of sayings like feeling it in your GT or um and again in

[7:09] different cultures people know that having a healthy GT is a healthy life and I think that's been long understood

[7:15] we're just in the UK where we follow more of a western diet we've sort of stepped a little bit away from that so

[7:22] uh that's very informative because there you know it's so good to know there's so much of work going down you know in your

[7:29] G and there's so much of that probiotics can help to do yeah so who do you think

[7:36] would benefit from it the most like who do you recommend should take probiotics are there some specific groups of people

[7:42] who would benefit more than the others that's a really good question um if you're a healthy person and you're

[7:49] having a really healthy diet lots of green veg and um lots of fermented foods

[7:55] then taking a supplement isn't going to make you necessarily more healthy than you already are um however what we do

[8:02] know is that in the UK in the USA places which follow a predominantly western

[8:07] style diet with high processed foods lots of carbohydrates lots of sugar um

[8:14] they really the gut health can really suffer when you're following that kind of diet so there there is an argument

[8:20] for taking probiotics if you were living in these kind of areas and that is the main part of your your diet okay so it's

[8:28] more because diets like burgers and chips and yeah so can you tell me what

[8:33] kind of diet would then have probiotics so what you find is in cultures where

[8:39] you're kind of cooking from scratch um if you look towards the um East Asia um

[8:45] you will find that there's things like kombucha there is um kimchi all of these

[8:51] are fermented foods if you come into Eastern Europe you've got SAR Crow and then if you come to to kind of more the

[8:57] Mediterranean you've got lots of soft cheese lots of yogurts all of those are teeming with bacteria because they've

[9:03] understood for many many centuries that these kind of foods really optimize your

[9:08] your health overall so that's good to know that there are good food that obviously will have the gut bacteria and

[9:15] the good bacteria in them so you'll notice in the supermarkets we've got lots more variety now of things like um

[9:23] kombucha um sourkrauts and and all those kind of fermented foods that we we've just mentioned um

[9:30] you have the there are two problems that we've we've got they're usually in quite small quantities and quite expensive to

[9:36] buy so they may not be suitable for some people to access on a regular basis um

[9:42] some of the kombucha that you can buy Here tastes wonderful but it's got large amounts of sugar in or sweeteners and

[9:48] things all those types of things that you you might want to avoid so again in terms of price and um availability it

[9:56] can be quite difficult if you're living in the UK to actually achieve these things um and i' compare that to like a

[10:02] supermarket in Eastern Europe where they've got large Vats of sourkraut and you can just help yourself and it's

[10:07] really you know very cheap and you can incorporate that into your daily diet much more difficult to do that in the UK

[10:14] um unless you've got the the financial means to to buy pots and pots of yes of

[10:19] the uh of the stuff and you usually will only get um one variety so again that's

[10:24] where adding in a capsule or a powder or a gummy to try and get those bacteria in

[10:30] can be a convenient and costeffective source of uh of the microorganisms the other group of people

[10:36] that can really benefit are people that are traveling so Studies have shown that taking a probiotic um about a week

[10:44] before you leave excuse me during your stay and for a week after can shorten

[10:51] the duration of diarrhea that you might um have while you're out there because we know in certain um countries due to

[10:57] the heat um they might have problems with Food hygiene or you might not have access to clean water quite as readily

[11:02] as you would do in the UK so if you are traveling and you are worried about suffering with a upset stomach then

[11:09] taking a probiotic before you go and during your stay really is um is

[11:15] worthwhile and can stop you from having a really nasty attack of uh of diarrhea the third group of people that can

[11:21] really benefit from probiotics um are people that have got chronic problems with their G people like IBS sufferers

[11:28] um where they can have constipation or diarrhea or just you know certain foods

[11:33] will trigger again with anybody who's suffering changes to their gut health or changes in their bowel movements they

[11:40] must seek medical attention to rule out any other causes but once all those things have been ruled out and you've

[11:46] still you know got these daily issues or things that are affecting your daily kind of living really um it is worth

[11:52] trying a probiotic to see if that helps um it won't help immediately but if you give it a few weeks it does help to

[11:59] start to get your gut back into the the the state that you want it and if there's any damage to your G um the

[12:05] probiotics will also help with um with promoting the the actual health of the gut itself as well as underpinning the

[12:12] reactions that are going on in your body that's really good to know Emma and I could really relate to this because uh

[12:19] my diet back in India we have a lot of Ki which is fermented rice with yogurt

[12:24] and then we have a lot of um dosas and it which is again all fer are all good

[12:30] in gut health but uh yeah if you're trying to get it from the supermarkets

[12:35] in the UK it's going to be expensive very expensive and we don't make it from scratch so it's a complete different

[12:41] thing so it's difficult to find so capsules and uh supplements do can help in the situation definitely definitely

[12:49] much more available and um yeah easier to find and actually interestingly enough the word itself probiotic Pro

[12:55] comes from the Latin four and biotic comes from the Greek life so it's for

[13:01] life and I think that that's you know all of these cultures have realized that

[13:06] eating these types of food promote your your health and prolong your well I

[13:11] think maybe we can't say prolong your life but they certainly help you lead a healthier um existence so uh so yeah

[13:18] they they're definitely something to keep an eye on Amazing uh do you think

[13:24] anyone should not take probiotics because we've already seen people who should take probiotics and why should

[13:29] they take it but are there certain SE uh groups of people who should totally avoid it are there any risks associated

[13:35] with it so they're generally very well tolerated um and most people are

[13:41] absolutely fine they don't interact with any medication um so you don't have to worry from that point of view but we

[13:46] would advise caution um if you're somebody who's taking any medicines that will affect your immune system that's

[13:53] people who've had transplants or have got um immune system problems um we

[13:58] would say void and make sure you speak to your health provider um before you take anything like that obviously if

[14:04] you're somebody who's very seriously unwell as well or if you've got any complex medical condition seek medical

[14:10] advice before taking them but if you are somebody who for instance is taking

[14:15] medicines for blood pressure or is generally quite okay just want something to make them yeah just optimize their

[14:21] health um then there are generally no problems at all most people can can take them but uh always double check with

[14:28] your Healthcare provider or pop into your local pharmacy um or send an email to an online pharmacy and most of us

[14:34] will be able to advise you as to whether you can consider them yes so to all our listeners uh if you are unwell please go

[14:42] get the advice if you're a healthcare practitioner or your pharmacist and let them know what you're going through and

[14:48] ask them if probiotics are recommended and if not the the thing with probiotics are they're not a treatment they're not

[14:55] a replacement for treatment they're exactly as you said before they're a supplement they're there to try and Aid

[15:01] um and improve what you you've already got um they're not a replacement for

[15:07] anything so as long as you remember that then then that's yeah fine that's great

[15:13] so in the UK where do you recommend or what do you recommend people to look for

[15:18] getting into food probiotics so as we've mentioned we've got foods like sauerkraut but the important thing is

[15:25] look for the sauerkraut that's in the fresh section in supermarkets or you may find if you've got an Eastern um

[15:31] European food shop nearby they may well have um different varieties if you have a look on the packets it will usually

[15:37] say if there are live microorganisms in them tend to avoid the jars of sauerkraut because they're pasteurized

[15:45] um so they tend to not have the um probiotics in them um they taste delicious still but they don't actually

[15:52] you might not get the advantage that you're you're trying to achieve um look for soft cheeses um anything like that

[15:59] um kefir um it's very popular now on the supermarket shelves and you get lots of

[16:05] varieties as we said have a look at the products to check that they don't contain large amounts of sugar because

[16:12] you don't want to start consuming to get your probiotics but then inadvertently take lots of extra calories and things

[16:18] that aren't good for you so go for the more natural types and then sweeten them up with fresh fruits um and things like

[16:23] that they're the most easy to get hold of um in the UK you can make sourkraut

[16:29] yourself but it is a long and protracted business so I'm not sure I would recommend it but have a look as well in

[16:35] your local delies they will often be able to advise you and let you know if they've got live foods but as we say

[16:41] look on the packets of things would you buying even just your natural yogurts look for the ones that have got live

[16:47] microorganisms most of them will say now if they do and if they don't have it on the pack then that means that they

[16:53] they've generally been pasteurized to an extent that they're that they're not in there um so it is possible and is

[16:59] possible to introduce it by diet Alone um but because it is more difficult over

[17:05] here a capsule will also make sure that you are just getting that quantity that you you really want to to achieve that's

[17:11] very informative Emma because I I would never know this about sauerkraut that the ones in jars will not have it that's

[17:18] really good to know and obviously I think for the listeners please look at the jars and uh what is written on the

[17:25] packaging probably that's going to let you know what it will already has and also look at live microorgan definitely

[17:32] and I think the other thing as well coming on from that is because we mentioned that we have huge amounts of processed food and it's often hiding in

[17:39] these jars and things so if you take a jar of pasta sauce you'll often find that there's a maze product in there um

[17:44] which is not ideal for for your gut health it's not purely natural you'll have stabilizers you'll have

[17:49] preservatives all of these don't really help um when you're you're talking about trying to improve the amount of

[17:56] microorganisms but conversely we also don't have time to necessarily shop fresh or make from fresh you know we're

[18:03] all busy we're all working got busy Lifestyles so we have to have a a balance that we can cope with correct

[18:09] trying to get in fresh um fruits and vegetables so certain vegetables are um

[18:15] they're like McDonald's to the to the microorganisms they just love them and you'll know if you've had a a meal heavy

[18:21] with leafy greens or a pile of sprouts we get the after effects that's because your microorganisms are just loving

[18:28] those um vegetables and munching on them so the general rule is eat fresh when

[18:34] you can know that sometimes you can't achieve that but just look start to pick up packets start to have a look at

[18:39] what's in those ingredients um you'll soon start to spot the ones that you don't recognize if you don't know what

[18:45] something is generally you can assume that that's probably a processed food if it's a kind of chemically sounding name

[18:53] it's likely that it's a processed item rather than a a fresh item um and

[18:58] cooking from scratch when you can but don't worry too much again this is where taking a probiotic in a capsule is a

[19:04] real help because um you're still going to get goodness without all of that

[19:10] effort of trying to to get it into your diet that's true coming to I think I've heard about another word called

[19:16] prebiotics and I would admit that I most often get confused between the two uh

[19:22] what is the difference are they the same thing or are they different so they're not the same thing but they are two

[19:27] things that complement each other so the probiotic is the microorganism which

[19:32] we've been talking about the Prebiotic is basically the food that the microorganism likes to feed on so

[19:39] something that promotes that microorganism to multiply and grow um so that you get more of it prebiotics are

[19:46] are naturally found um as we were saying with green leafy vegetables got things like um soy beans um onions as well

[19:55] these are all very delicious to um to the bacteria we've in ours um so you can

[20:01] try and um increase those but again it's quite difficult especially if you've been used to eating you know Oven Chips

[20:08] which I am a great fan of um you know it it can be very difficult to suddenly go from that to then you know piles of

[20:15] vegetables it's just not going to happen for a lot of people um so you can buy prebiotics separately as well um you can

[20:22] buy them as um something called fructooligosaccharides um which comes as a powder and you can add to your food

[20:28] you can buy root um so there are lots of different varieties that you can buy and

[20:33] use without taking a probiotic supplement because they will help to feed the bacteria that you've already got in your GT however if you take a

[20:40] probiotic supplement have a little look quite a lot of them will say something like chory root on the side or we'll say

[20:46] contain a Prebiotic so inside the capsules you've often already got something in there for that bacteria to

[20:52] munch on um so that it can start to get going um when it when it hits your hits

[20:58] your of intestines that's amazing because in a capsule you can even get a probiotic and a preotic so people don't

[21:05] have to look for it separately yes yeah so it does depend have a look at what's in the in the pack but if you see that

[21:10] chory root or you see a fructooligosaccharide or you see something where it says an added Prebiotic then you've got a pretty good

[21:17] idea that that's going to be um a product that will help to promote that bacteria to proliferate in your in your

[21:25] GTS because what you don't want is to take the capsule they got nothing to feed and you know they just you don't

[21:32] really get any benefit from that so okay so if they don't really have anything to feed on then there then they're not

[21:38] going to multiply you're not going to get that um that amount we'll talk about strength of um products in a little bit

[21:44] yeah most of them are in billions but as we said earlier the amount of bacteria we've got in our gut wants to be in the

[21:51] trillions so um we do need them to kind of multiply and have a nice environment that they can proliferate so uh so it's

[21:58] good to have a mix of both Prebiotic and probiotic in your system that's ideal yeah that is ideal however both will

[22:05] work independently as well so you could choose if you wanted to not take a probiotic um or if you were somebody who

[22:13] falls into one of those categories where a probiotic isn't necessarily recommended then start looking at making

[22:18] sure you're eating as many Prebiotic Foods because those will um enhance what

[22:24] you've already got but if you can take it with a probiotic fabulous that's your you're kind of

[22:30] giving your your uh your gut bacteria the optimum chance so if someone has taken antibiotics would you recommend

[22:37] for them to take a probiotic afterwards because there are many claims that say that if you've taken an antibiotic dose

[22:44] once you finish it it's better if you take a probiotic yeah so as we said the

[22:49] antibiotics they will kill the good bacteria as well as the the bad bacteria

[22:54] that's um that's in your body if you are someone who when you take antibiotics

[23:00] you feel a bit unsettled or you do get um diarrhea afterwards which is quite common or increased frequency of stools

[23:07] then it's definitely worth considering taking a probiotic um again for various

[23:13] reasons the medical studies are really that they're patchy to be fair but the

[23:20] anecdotal evidence is that that can really help so what I would say is if you're somebody who suffers give them a

[23:26] try if it helps brilliant then know that actually that is something that you can do in the future every time you have an

[23:31] antibiotic course um and the way that you normally take them is at the start of the antibiotics you start the

[23:38] probiotic at the same time and then you continue for um a week afterwards as well there is no doubt that good gut

[23:46] bacteria helps you where the studies are is they haven't been able to show that the capsules necessarily confer much of

[23:54] an advantage over the foods however if you can't eat the foods then than the capsules or the the powders are going to

[24:00] be the next best um way to go um and they give you really the the largest

[24:06] amount um you a bigger quantity really of um of probiotic going into your

[24:13] system if you're a healthy person and you tolerate antibiotics well again

[24:18] there's no harm in taking them and you may find that there is a benefit but you wouldn't necessarily um it's not a

[24:24] necessity it's not something that you have to take yeah but it is something that you can really try to just make

[24:30] sure that um that you don't suffer any unnecessary side effects really let's

[24:35] get to know em because um that they can take the antibiotics and the probiotics

[24:40] together yeah but we would always recommend to check with your Healthcare practitioner about this definitely and

[24:46] the other thing just to add in is you need to make sure that you're taking the right kind of strains for that because

[24:51] the antibiotic will also kill probiotics but there are certain strains that are resistant to um so that are resistant to

[24:59] that so have a look when you're if you're using them for that speak to your pharmacist or speak to your healthc care

[25:05] provider to find out which one is the most recommended um for for taking with

[25:11] antibiotics and we'll talk a little bit more about that yeah bit what are the side effects of probiotics are there any

[25:18] side effects or are they all good so the amazing thing with probiotics is they are not absorbed as such into your body

[25:25] if you're if you're a normal person you've got a normal acting GT um they won't be absorbed into your into your bloodstream because we don't want

[25:31] bacteria to get into there that that causes all sorts of problems um so you don't get those kind of what we would

[25:37] call systemic side effects that you might get from a medicine yeah um however they are increasing your

[25:42] digestion so the kind of effects you would get are those that you would um

[25:47] associate with an increased digestive process which will be the usual bloating

[25:53] possibly feeling a bit nauseous but if you take them with food that's offset quite um quite a bit and and you most

[26:00] people find that they're very well tolerated increased wind can also be a factor so not before a romantic date

[26:08] it's that's not the time to start them yeah but other than that you know the

[26:13] side effects are usually quite shortlived um so persevere if you most of the side effects you experience it

[26:20] means that they're doing their job they're doing what they're supposed to do so actually a good thing um but

[26:25] obviously you have to make sure that you are um that you can tolerate them as well but if you can persevere through

[26:32] that if you are somebody that suffers usually after about a week to two weeks your system will have started to even

[26:37] out it's all about getting the balance in there um and once you've achieved that balance then the side effects should be very minimal okay so the side

[26:44] effects are basically the metrics to know if they're working or not working they they give you a good idea yeah they

[26:51] give you a good idea and sometimes it can take a few days before you so if you don't get any side effects it doesn't necessarily mean that they're not

[26:57] working but when they when you do get them you know that that is down to the bacteria doing its um doing its job

[27:04] sometimes if you've had a chronic condition for a long time um it can take a little while for taking them before

[27:09] you start seeing this increase in um it maybe gas being produced or anything

[27:14] like that so uh it all depends on your individual circumstance but it's worth persevering um and seeing um if they

[27:23] give you a benefit usually if you've suffering from a chronic condition I would say give it at least 40 six weeks

[27:29] before you make any judgment um and you should hopefully start after that period of time to either feel a little bit

[27:35] better or have noticed some improvement in your symptoms okay that's good to know can they move from if one is not

[27:40] working for them after four to six weeks then can they move to another one yeah yeah so as we were talking about there

[27:46] are different strains in different um Prebiotic preparations um and we've also got different qualities and different

[27:52] amounts so there is a certain amount of trial and error um and again we'll talk about how how best to to pick the the

[27:59] product and what to start with but certainly there is a argument for if one

[28:05] doesn't work um have a look at what strains that has got in it and look for something that's maybe got um a

[28:11] different strain or look at the quantity of bacteria that's in there and maybe choose a higher a product with a higher

[28:18] amount um have a word as well to your Healthcare practitioner or to your pharmacist because they will be able to

[28:24] help advise what the most appropriate product is to try because it may may be that you're trying a product that is not

[28:30] right for the condition that you're trying to trade so so every uh to audience always check with your

[28:36] Healthcare practitioner before choosing any kind of supplement or probiotic very important yeah uh coming to our next

[28:43] question and this is a big one and most of our audience would like to know this does probiotic help lose weight well

[28:50] this is a million dooll question and there is a lot of research going on into this so the honest answer

[28:58] is if you are overweight and you take a probiotic and you make no other change

[29:05] to your lifestyle chances are you're not going to lose any weight that way okay so they're not a treatment as such yeah

[29:12] but what we do know is if you take a group of people who are overweight and you take a group of people who are

[29:17] underweight there are some significant differences within the good microbiome

[29:23] between those two categories of people which can be down to lots of things um what we know is weight is a very complex

[29:32] um it's a complex situation it's not as simple as having a calorie deficit for

[29:38] many people of course you have to eat less you have to eat less calories than you're going to be using in order to

[29:45] lose weight but it's not a linear equation you have to um there are factors like metabolism your hormones

[29:53] and again this is where your gut health really does start to potentially play a part in that because if they're

[29:59] synthesizing you want to make sure that the right hormones are being made in the right amounts your body will do a lot of

[30:04] this naturally but it's just making sure that those digestive processes which underpin all of the other systems in

[30:11] your body um are being optimized so the probiotic itself doesn't help you to

[30:16] lose weight but there is a definite argument that as part of a healthy

[30:23] lifestyle taking a probiotic to make sure that all the systems in your body are functioning at an Optimum level um

[30:31] which in turn may have an effect on your weight um it's really worth considering

[30:37] I would say and what we would also find is that not in all cases but in some cases people who are overweight they may

[30:44] have had a higher processed diet um it might be that there's I mean this is a

[30:49] huge generalization but people eating again fried foods pizzas convenience

[30:55] Foods maybe the root cause of the weight if you've had many years of diets like

[31:00] that your gut health is not going to be good yeah so again there is a real argument for if you are falling into

[31:07] that category and you're thinking right I really want to sort myself out I really want to lose weight um I'm going

[31:12] to start eating a healthy diet then as part of that consider a probiotic consider taking it so that you can get

[31:19] as much nutritional benefit from that new diet that you're you're choosing to follow so well there's definitely not a

[31:27] direct link weight but obviously it will optimize your weight loss Journey

[31:32] definitely and I think that's very similar for so we've all heard about um the AIC and um people taking injections

[31:39] now to help weight loss which are proving to be very effective but what we find is if people don't change their

[31:45] diet then they aren't going to keep that weight off when they stop using the

[31:51] injection correct um so again as part of that getting your gut right I think

[31:56] there's a real kind of theoretical argument for the fact that you could take a probiotic while you're on the injections because you're helping to get

[32:03] your gut maximized for the point when you actually eventually come off that um that injection that's a personal

[32:10] recommendation not a scientific recommendation but uh yeah if you're taking any other medications in your

[32:15] daily life please check with your Healthcare practitioner if you're okay to take a probiotic and choose it accordingly yes yeah finally with so

[32:23] many products in the market I'm sure everyone finds it overwhelming to choose there so many things on social media how

[32:29] is someone supposed to go online or go to their local pharmacy store and you know choose the supplements that you're

[32:36] absolutely right it is a mindfield and there's so many products there's so many claims and anybody who's scrolled

[32:42] through on social media will see something that you think K that sounds so good you know I've got to buy it because it's just definitely going to

[32:48] sort me out and um and we're all subject to that um and it's you know marketing

[32:54] is very powerful the interesting thing with probiotics is they not classed as medicines they're classed as food stuffs

[33:00] so that means they are not controlled in the same way as medications would be controlled so it is quite important that

[33:08] you make sure you choose a manufacturer um that is following a good standard um

[33:15] and what we call good manufacturing process if you can um because that means

[33:20] what they say they are putting into that capsule and what that capsule has in it has had tests on it to show that that's

[33:26] what's in it um because they're food stuff they don't have to have the testing um done as a part being able to

[33:33] sell there because there's nothing unsafe about it it's just that you might be spending an awful lot of money and really not be getting what you want from

[33:41] your from your capsule um or from your your tablet or your powder whatever product you you've chosen so have a

[33:47] little look into the actual manufacturer when you're looking at a product have a look at what claims they make have a

[33:53] look what they say about their processes and how they make that product um because that will all be very important

[33:58] in the end quality the other thing is to make sure that you buy it from a appropriate retailer you want to make

[34:04] sure that they are coming from um sources but so that the product you're getting is a is of reasonable quality um

[34:12] and what you're paying your money for supermarkets sell them they tend to not sell the higher um the higher strength

[34:19] products but you will find them and in general supermarkets will be very um careful with what they put on their

[34:24] shelves so you know you're getting a safe product um and you'll pretty much know that that product has got a

[34:29] reasonable amount of what what they say they've got in it um for the more specialist products you're probably

[34:35] looking at health food stores or phes and most phes will carry a range of probiotics now um purely because of the

[34:42] things that we've been talking about like that you may recommend them to people who are on antibiotics and um areas like that so have a little look

[34:50] when you're buying online from a pharmacy have a little look for I've just got a picture of this this Green

[34:56] Cross and this is the one that go appears on the E surgery website this shows that you are a UK Pharmacy and if

[35:04] you click on that link it will take you to the regulator's page so look for that Green Cross click on it check it goes to

[35:10] the regulator you don't need to look any further than that as such but that means it is a pharmacy operating in the UK and

[35:16] in the UK we have standards that have to be adhered to when you're getting your stock you basically have to buy from a

[35:22] provider that's a rogue you're not buying it from somebody's um the back of somebody's car or the boot of somebody

[35:28] car it should be coming from a main like from a from a proper wholesaler or distributor so that's a good safety way

[35:34] of making sure that you're you're going to somewhere with legitimate products so that's the first thing check check your

[35:40] manufacturer check the place that you're buying them from and just use a little bit of maybe common sense as well um and

[35:46] again if things sound too good to be true have in your mind they may be too too good to be true as well the second

[35:52] thing that you can look at is the strength so they normally expressed in terms of billions of the microorganism

[35:59] that's in there and the products will range usually from around 1 billion up to about 25 billion or even more in some

[36:06] cases good standard product is going to be anywhere from the 5 to 10 billion that's going to give you quite a lot

[36:12] some of the products which have got 1 million in um can be taken a little bit more frequently um everything is going

[36:19] to put something in and you just have to look at what you can tolerate and it is a little bit of trial and error again

[36:25] they're not medicines and it's not necessarily that if you take the higher strength product um so for example if

[36:32] you've got one that's 20 billion bacteria and another one that's 10 billion it may not be you know twice as

[36:38] effective but but if you've got a condition that you want to treat you might want to go for the higher strength there is a little bit of trial and error

[36:44] but what I would say is that quality is is more important than the actual

[36:50] quantity of bacteria um that's in your product the next bit to look at is the

[36:55] actual strains um that are in there you want to look for something that's got a lactobacillus um or a before I have to

[37:03] just say it I can't look one the Bob bacterium bifidum I just cannot get that

[37:09] word um those are two strains that have had um trials done in them that we know are effective sacchromyces Bard that's

[37:16] actually a yeast rather than a um than a bacteria trials have shown that that can be very effective in um conditions where

[37:24] diarrhea is a problem it's not affected by antibiotics either so again that can be used for antibiotic induced diarrhea

[37:32] um or as the side effects because the antibiotic will not kill the um will not kill the yeast it only kills bacteria in

[37:38] general don't worry too much start with a product make sure it's a good quality product look at a price point that you

[37:45] can afford because that's the other thing there is a huge range of prices so now if something is maybe 99p you're

[37:52] going to really have questions over the the quality of that product purely because if they're doing the testing and

[37:58] they are working to good manufacturing standards there is a cost associated with that others at the other end of the

[38:03] market you can go up to over100 quite a lot sit at around the 4050 pound Mark

[38:09] that's a lot of money for a lot of people so if you can afford it fabulous if you've got that amount of disposable

[38:15] income but if you don't don't worry if you're getting a product that's a slightly lower strength with slightly less strains in it will still help you

[38:22] it will still be of benefit so the main thing is find something that works at the price point that's going to work for you for your

[38:27] um for your personal situation um and if you're buying from a reputable supplier

[38:33] you're going to get some goodness and then you can experiment about you can try and see when something go a special

[38:38] offer give it a try see if it works better for you um there's no right or wrong I would say try not to get

[38:44] overwhelmed with the correct Choice that's available just get started yeah or go to your Pharmacy or look at

[38:52] your online pharmacy have a look what they've got in their section and pick a product correct so just to summarize is

[38:57] for the audience your supermarkets will be having some probiotics you can go to your local pharmacies if you're going

[39:04] online we have so many things in social media nowadays if you're going online please look for the GPC logo okay and

[39:11] that will show if the pharmacy is regulated or know uh and then obviously choose a price point which is okay for

[39:17] you and then at least start with the medication if you want to know if the medication works for you give it four to

[39:22] 6 weeks to know you know if the side effects are there or not there and then take a call exactly exactly yeah I think

[39:29] that's a really good place to start and then as you get more familiar with the products that are available you can then

[39:34] have a look at other places you can try things you're likely to to buy something

[39:39] that's going to do you any harm um but if you do buy off the internet you never quite know what you're getting unless

[39:45] you go to an established retailer so I think you're absolutely absolutely right there so are there any products you

[39:51] recommend in terms of probiotics so I've brought some products with me um today

[39:56] we've talked about how you can pick a probiotic in terms of looking at the strengths and the different strains that

[40:03] are in there um the products that I've bought here today just give you an example of how you can look at what's on

[40:10] the shelves so we've got a company which um Works to a good manufacturing practice they're actually a

[40:15] pharmaceutical company so they basically they do um plenty of tests and things to

[40:20] check that what they are putting in that capsule is actually what ends up in that capsule when it reaches you um we've got

[40:26] this one here here which is biome balance 25 the 25 means it's got 25 billion live bacteria per capsule so

[40:34] it's quite High and the strains that it's got in there um it's got a lactobacillus ronus lactobacillus

[40:41] acidophilus lactobacillus plantarium and a bod

[40:47] deauma it would be a good one to start with if you've got a chronic condition also is fine if you're taking

[40:52] antibiotics as well but is a slightly higher price point than some of the others so you may not want to spend that

[40:58] amount straight away um but if you do suffer with a chronic condition or you're looking at repairing your GT

[41:03] starting with that for 6 to8 weeks and then maybe moving on to the other strength you know perfectly reasonable

[41:09] way of um going about things acidophilus extra 10 this is the one that we actually recommend alongside antibiotics

[41:15] for the people that wouldn't normally be taking a probiotic but specifically want to take it um with their antibiotics or

[41:22] if they want to go we also recommend it for travelers as well very good for that the two strains that are in here are

[41:28] resistant to um antibiotics killing them so they they should um theoretically a

[41:33] good proportion of them should survive 10 million is a good strength as well so it's a really good allrounder this one

[41:41] as well so again if you've got chronic condition maybe start with the higher one and then for a maintenance dose move

[41:47] on to the lower one but if you can't afford that one go for the for the more um middle priced one we've got here

[41:54] sacy's Bard um which I think as we was saying is a yeast rather than a bacteria

[42:00] Lots this is why you can buy this one separately because there is quite a lot of um evidence coming out as to how effective that is in conditions that are

[42:07] related to diarrhea again is fine with antibiotics um and would be fine for for

[42:12] traveling as well um so again we've got three products here which all basically do the same thing it comes down to

[42:20] personal preference it comes down to price um and a little bit of trial and error but we can say that about many

[42:28] would say you know often you may start a medicine it doesn't suit you so you go to a different one um so those are those

[42:34] two and then I've brought in these gummies as well which have got um this

[42:39] one has got 1 billion live bacteria and I believe it's got some probiotic in it

[42:45] as well yeah it's got fiber based chory in there so that's a nice um a nice one

[42:51] and then we've got the biome balance which again is 1 billion so slightly lower amount of antibio prob iotics the

[42:58] right word don't worry about that what you want is a product you're going to take sometimes when you get up in the

[43:03] morning I don't know about yourself but you just can't always face taking tablets correct I keep the gummies on my

[43:09] desk or in my car don't want your car to get too hot but that aside they're normally eating very quickly they're a

[43:15] delicious way of taking a probiotic um they do usually retail gummies you'll

[43:20] find are are more expensive and that's the same for whether they're vitamins or probiotics that're you know a reasonable

[43:26] price but they are are delicious they are delicious so I suppose the only caution I would say is don't leave them

[43:31] around and about your house because other members of the family will eat them and they will be gone but they can

[43:36] be used as a nice supplement um as an easy way of taking them something that you you know you don't have to think

[43:42] about you just eat them like a like a suite although it is only one or two a day on these ones so yeah so different

[43:49] things for different people you will see certain places will offer powders as well um powders are great the only

[43:55] problem with powders is port I would say um they usually have to be kept in the fridge as well so and you

[44:03] have to sprinkle them on something you don't want to have a spoonful of powder but again it's personal preference pick

[44:08] a product that's going to be easy for you to take because then you're more likely to take it rather than it going

[44:13] out of date and sitting at the back of your cupboard yes so pick a product that you're going to continue taking again

[44:19] this is a lifestyle choice so something that is sustainable choose that and I would relate to this because I don't

[44:25] think I'm going to wake up in the morning and look for a t I would really like a gummy as well and if I don't take

[44:30] the tablet in the morning I'm not going to remember throughout the day to take it yeah so a gummy would be a good option as well also as Emma was showing

[44:37] always look at the product information here and then the product information will be written here so please have a

[44:44] look at the manufacturer the product information what is in the product and the strengths as well definitely and I

[44:50] think the other thing to mention is that most products are suitable for a gluten-free diet so um that's great but

[44:57] again check the packaging they will normally say a lot of products are suitable for vegetarians because they

[45:03] use a um non-animal-based gelatin these days in capsules but again check the product normally on the packaging you

[45:10] will be able to find quite clearly whether they're suitable for for a vegetarian or a gluten-free diet um you

[45:16] may find very small amounts of lactose in for people who are on who are lactose intolerant or a lactose-free diet the

[45:23] general advice is the amount of lactose that comes in any tablet is so small

[45:28] that it wouldn't actually cause a problem to the condition so they're not normally marketed as lactose free or

[45:35] anything like that because there's not enough in there however if you particularly don't you know if you

[45:40] particularly want to avoid that then going for something like a gummy that would be I believe that would be lactose

[45:45] free because it's the it's it's something that's gone in help create the um the tablet so uh generally finding

[45:51] gummies they would be lactose so that's good there's a lot of option and covers a lot of diet so every is covered in the

[45:58] entire there's a product out there for every definitely definitely you just

[46:03] might need a little bit of advice to to um to find which is the uh the most suitable for you but yeah thinking about

[46:09] what fits in with your personal lifestyle is uh is the best way of going about it perfect that's great our final

[46:15] question am to is do you take probiotics I do interestingly enough it was a um I

[46:23] started taking probiotics when I had a period of ill health which was quite significant I wasn't really being

[46:29] diagnosed with anything we knew that it wasn't any nasty you know there was no cancers or anything like that um and my

[46:34] main symptom was not so much um gastrointestinal symptoms although I did

[46:40] have some it was more fatigue and I don't know about yourself but if you've ever suffered with fatigue it's not like

[46:45] tiredness it's not like a tiredness when you've been out for a you know a heavy night on the town and then you kind of

[46:51] like struggling through the next day we've all been there this is a different type of tiredness it's one that just seeps into everything and it's kind of

[46:58] what I would describe walking through life through mud really it's like you know you can do everything but

[47:04] everything is an effort and when that's every single day that can really start to um to bring you down and certain

[47:10] periods in their life women will often feel that for hormonal reasons as well so lots of underlying causes again

[47:17] anybody who's experiencing these things and hasn't had it checked out you must get checked out first but if you excluded other diagnoses start to have a

[47:25] look at your diet and I would really um recommend people look at increasing

[47:30] the amount of vegetables and the general healthy advice that we would say but

[47:36] then on top of that start to incorporate some of those fermented foods in that we're talking about and consider taking

[47:42] a probiotic for me that was I can eat a little bit of sauerkraut but I do struggle with it don't mind if it's

[47:48] cooked but then that kind of defeats the object as well because you're killing all of the bacteria so for me a taking a

[47:53] capsule was a was a really good choice um for trying to get that bacteria back

[47:58] in um and I started with a higher strength one to try and theoretically repair the GT um all I know is that from

[48:05] taking that and addressing my diet um I'm feeling better in my late 40s than I

[48:12] was perhaps in my early 30s so um you know again that's just personal experience it may not work for everyone

[48:19] but if you if you've come to the end of the road I think that this is where supplements really do play a part if you

[48:25] have excluded all of medical causes but you have got chronic conditions that you just can't get on top of start to look

[48:32] at your diet because it is phenomenal the effect that that um that that is having really in people and as part of

[48:38] that the probiotics I think are a very sensible thing to to consider well that's a good personal experience right

[48:44] there thank you so much for joining us today Emma that's my pleasure thank you

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