Prebiotics and Probiotics can Improve Health and Decrease Fibromyalgia Symptoms

Prebiotics and Probiotics can Improve Health and Decrease Fibromyalgia Symptoms

Published October 13, 2018

Prebiotics and Probiotics have been known to improve people’s health and decrease the symptoms of Fibromyalgia. Most people have heard about the benefits of Probiotics for many years, but the recent buzz word in the health world is Prebiotic. See the following information about both topics.

Probiotics
Probiotics is the term used to describe the healthy bacteria that naturally occur in the intestines. Following are a few ways probiotics benefit the human body.

-break down and rebuild hormones
-clean the intestinal tract, purify the colon, and promote regular bowel movements
-help to destroy molds, viruses, and parasites
-help to digest lactose (milk sugar) and protein
-help to maintain healthy cholesterol and triglyceride levels
-helps to protect the body from environmental toxins such as pesticides and pollutants
-increase the number of immune system cells which enhances the immune response
-manufacture vitamins B6, B12, K, folic acid, and assorted amino acids
-produce antibiotics and antifungals that prevent the growth of harmful bacteria and fungi
-reduce toxic waste at the cellular level
-stimulate the repair mechanism of cells

Prebiotics
A prebiotic is food for the probiotics and comes in the form of fiber. All prebiotics are fiber, but not all fibers are prebiotics. Increasing the prebiotic fiber yields higher numbers of good bacteria without the stimulation of bad bacteria. For every 100 grams of prebiotic fiber consumed, 30 grams of good bacteria is produced!

Candida and Fibromyalgia
Doug Kaufmann, author of The Fungus Link explains “I am thoroughly convinced that in most, if not all cases, there is a fungal link/cause to fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Prescriptive medicines like hormones and antibiotics used to treat patients may, in fact be contributing to the cause of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. I have seen the anti-fungal and anti-mycotoxins diet approach work to relieve the symptoms of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.” [i]

Cycle of Killing Good and Bad Bacteria
When a person takes an antibiotic, it kills the “bad bacteria” but it also kills the “friendly bacteria.” When the friendly bacteria are killed, yeast or Candida Albicans will multiply. When they multiply, they release toxins that weaken the immune system. Once this happens, people might develop infections in their sinus, ear, throat, nose, bronchial, bladder, or other parts of their body.

Once a person has more “sick symptoms,” they go back to the doctor, only to receive more antibiotics, which kill more of the “friendly bacteria.” This process allows the yeast to multiply and increase the size of their “family.” When the yeast multiply, they release many toxins which circulate through the body and makes the immune system weak and makes people feel “sick all over.”

Eventually when the yeast continues to multiply, they can take over the intestines. After a while it becomes “crowded” and some of the yeast decides to move their “families” elsewhere in the body to set up camp. They continue to multiply and their descendants can cause more problems throughout the body. As the yeast are absorbed in the colon and enter the bloodstream, they can cause symptoms of athlete’s foot, depression, fatigue, headaches, hives, inability to concentrate, joint pain, muscle aches, skin rashes, and many of the symptoms listed at the beginning of this chapter.

This causes the immune system to not work properly and all of a sudden a person cannot fight off infections that a normal strong immune system would ordinarily conquer. No wonder the person can feel “sick all over.” The vicious cycle continues until it is interrupted by appropriate treatment.
Supplements

AIM’s fit ’n fiber is a prebiotic. It has 8 grams of prebiotic per serving. It is made from acacia fiber, konjac fiber, and guar gum. Acacia fiber is known to support a greater increase in good bacteria than an equal serving of other prebiotics. It also doesn’t have the negative effects of gas and bloating that is associated with other fibers. Fit’n Fiber provides 12 grams of total fiber including 10 grams of heart-healthy soluble fiber. The soluble fiber is known to help reduce appetite and lower levels of LDL cholesterol. Fiber helps to slow digestion of foods which can help in blood sugar maintenance.

AIM’s FloraFood is a probiotic that has 3 billion good bacteria in each capsule. There are many brands of probiotic to choose from, but not all brands of probiotics are able to survive the acidic environment in the stomach before it can reach the intestines. The gastric pH in a human’s stomach should be 2-2.5. If the probiotic survives the acid in the stomach, then it goes to the intestines where it has to be able to adhere to the intestine wall so it can start working properly. Many brands of probiotics cannot adhere the lining of the intestine, so they are not able to work very long before they are expelled from the body. Lactobacillus gasseri is one of the strains of good bacteria found in Flora Food and it has been shown to survive the stomach acid for 90 minutes and that it could more strongly adhere to the intestine wall than other species of probiotics. Flora Food also has Bifidobacterium bifidum and Bifidobacterium longum.

The majority of this information was taken from my book, Fibromyalgia and Fatigue: A Recipe for Feeling Fit and Healthy. www.FibroAndFit4Life.com

For More Information:

*Information on the products: www.MyAimStore.com/DebraPugh

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[i] Kaufmann, The Fungus, 158, 170.