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Promote Bowel Regularity with Bacteria

http://blog.drdavidwilliams.com/blog/dr-david-williams/0/0/promote-bowel-regularity-with-bacteria

courtesy of David Williams Blog

Published 05/11/10

If you have a healthy intestinal tract, you have over 400 different species of microorganisms living there. They make up two pounds of your body weight! In the stomach, very few are able to survive because of the acidity. In fact, there may be as few as 10 to 100 organisms in every milliliter (.0338 fluid ounces) of stomach content. In the small intestine, there might be anywhere from 100 to 1000 organisms per milliliter.

As you reach the junction between the small and large intestine (at the ileocecal valve), the numbers begin to grow. In the large intestine or colon, as many as one trillion organisms per milliliter are common.

Good bacteria do four key things to help promote a healthy body, digestion, and even immune system:
  1. Acidify the Colon—A healthy colon pH should, ideally, be between 6.7 and 6.9. Some of the by-products that help good bacteria achievethis are lactic and acetic acids. This slightly acidic environment inhibits the growth of undesirable bacteria like salmonella (causes food poisoning), shigella (common diarrhea cause), and E coli (which can cause intestinal disease and chronic kidney failure). These bacteria also produce a volatile fatty acid that, along with the acids, makes it difficult for fungus and yeast (like Candida) to survive.
  2. Promote Bowel Regularity—Good bacteria can decrease the time it takes for waste products to move through the digestive system. They can also prevent the opposite problem. In other words, they correct both constipation and diarrhea.
  3. Improve the Ability of the Immune System—By providing an area for controlled antigen production, good bacteria help stimulate the formation of antibodies. They provide a natural form of vaccination.
  4. Eliminates bloating and gas problems and sweetens the breath—Bad breath (halitosis) is very frequently caused when the wrong bacteria takes over in the colon and produce foul smelling waste products, bloating and gas. These gases can be expelled and/or reabsorbed into the blood, where they are later released in the lungs and exhaled. All the breath mints in the world won’t correct bad breath caused by a bowel problem.