Nutritional Microbiology (Microbiotics)
The fear of germ is not
only tormenting and unhealthy but also very expensive with a huge burden on the cost
of management coupled with the fact that it makes us lose our friendly and
beneficial microbes when we ignorantly hire antibiotics to get rid of them.
“Germs” have been wrongfully accused and blamed for virtually every ill of man
even when recent reports are confirming the fact that we can’t live without
them.
The use of antibiotics
promotes dysbiosis (imbalance in our microbiome and microbiota- microbial
populations within and without our bodies) and suppress immunity. Bacteriology
and its germ theory has been the major focus of modern medicine introducing
germicides, antiseptics, and antibiotics as magic bullets and miracle drugs in
its practice and fight against microbes without information or knowledge of the
havoc done to eliminate beneficial microbes known as resident/normal flora or
microbiota that maintains ecological balance within and around us. Probiotics
are live microorganisms that confer health benefits when administered in
adequate amount. They have potential to restore balance in the resident
microbial populations (normal flora) especially the intestinal microbiota.
Microbes may be involved in many ailments in a compromised immune system but
their mere presence particularly in isolate from body specimens collected
during diagnosis does not automatically indicate disease as often thought to be
the case. In addition, though we are enveloped by a myriad of microbes including
pathogenic ones, only a fraction of the people exposed are susceptible to any
form of infection.
Probiotics have wide
applications and indicated for dysbiotic conditions causing diarrhea,
constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, and so on.
Nutritional food-grade yeast are also highly recommended and complimentary
source of vitamins and minerals as well as food enzymes.