1. After taking antibiotics, which prevent probiotics from living in the body.
2. After food poisoning, especially when traveling in a foreign country. Probiotics increase healthy bacteria as a defense against potential invaders.
3. When digestive disturbances occur. In conjunction with taking probiotics, it is recommended to be mindful of one’s diet. That means eliminating processed, packaged and fried foods, along with dairy products, gluten, and soy.
4. To strengthen the immune system. If you are prone to the flu every season or get colds with depressing regularity, arm your body against illness by ingesting probiotics.
5. To improve skin conditions such as acne, eczema, rashes, hives and psoriasis. The culprit for these conditions is likely poor digestion and out-of-balance gut bacteria.
6. If you suffer from asthma and allergies. Probiotics reduce symptom severity and the need for medication in people with asthma. They also may help with allergies, especially food allergies. Often the root cause of food allergies is a leaky gut, which can be improved by restoring proper flora levels in the gut.
There are additional reasons to take probiotics, which can crowd out the bad bacteria associated with yeast infections, or Candida. They also may prevent urinary tract infections, according to the Mayo Clinic. Improving oral health is another benefit. Probiotics have been shown to have positive effects in people on the autism spectrum disorder by decreasing anxiety-like and communication behaviors.
Good bacteria need to comprise 85 percent of intestinal flora, according to www.naturalnews.com. A healthy digestive tract filters out and eliminates harmful bacteria, toxins, chemicals and other waste products.
Probiotics are so powerful that they can reverse ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome (as concluded by researchers from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research), Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. They help prevent cancer by nourishing enzymes that inhibit tumor production in the body. Sufficient probiotic intestinal flora can prevent radiation damage from X-rays and CT scans to the large and small intestines. In perhaps the most remarkable result from probiotics consumption is the case of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, who claims to have discovered how to cure her son of autism through a diet that restored his probiotic levels and healed his inflammatory condition. More research needs to be done.