When you hear the word bacteria, you may instantly resort to thinking of getting sick. You are not wrong to think that, but can you believe there are beneficial bacteria located in your gut? You may have never noticed or known that foods like yogurt are filled with these healthy bacteria or what is called probiotics. Probiotics are essential for having a healthy gut and feeling good.

You receive your first batch of bacteria from your mom.

If you were born naturally through your mother’s birth canal you will have picked up your first strains of bacteria that will help to defend you in the first 6 months of life. These bacteria would have helped you by attacking pathogens while also creating essential nutrients like vitamin B and K.

If your gut is not happy, chances are your mental health will not be either.

As you grow older and experience new environments you will have picked up more strains, good and bad bacteria. Scientists have discovered that there are close to ninety trillion gut bacteria living in your GI. These bacteria do a lot for you like creating chemical compounds, proteins, and enzymes, and lastly creating messages that are sent to your brain. When your gut health is poor, chances are your mental health will not be great either due to the signals being received to your brain from your unhappy GI. Both good and bad bacteria affect the hormones in your body.

Some of the bacteria in your gut called Clostridium bind to sugar and fiber to help regulate the sugar in your gut. If you are lacking in this type of bacteria, it could increase your chances of getting diabetes. Another type of bacteria is Clostridium difficile; it is a bad bacteria because it can cause chronic GI problems, diarrhea, and in serious cases death.

Why are healthy bacteria important in the defense again cancer?

Medicine like antibiotics, steroids, and cancer therapy are great applications to helping us fight off unwanted cells and bacteria but unfortunately, they are also particularly good at killing the healthy bacteria and damaging the cells in our gut. This decreases our immune response and the absorptive, protective function of the cells in our GI called villi.

What happens when there are not enough beneficial bacteria and properly functioning cells?

When there are not enough beneficial bacteria, the yeast in your gut can grow out of control. Normally, healthy bacteria are your line of defense against yeast but when there is no defense the yeast in your gut will begin to spread. The roots from yeast can poke holes in the lining of your gut causing a leaky gut which allow toxins and pathogens to have access into your bloodstream. Yeast can single-handedly poison you, causing tiredness, inflammation, bloating, diarrhea, and even reducing your oxygen supply if they can get into your bloodstream causing extreme fatigue.

Additionally, cancer treatment causes blunting to the cells in your gut that are responsible for absorption. When they are unable to absorb properly you can become deficient in nutrients and dehydrated. Cancer treatment also weakens the barrier between these cells which along with the yeast, creates gaps that again allow for toxins and bad bacteria to enter the bloodstream, this can cause, diarrhea, nausea, fatigue, and weight loss. Unfortunately, these side effects tend to become too much, and cancer patients reluctantly must go off cancer treatment.

What can I do to help the health of my GI?

Fortifying your GI and gut microbiome is essential to keeping you healthy, especially while fighting cancer. Eating a well-round diet with probiotics and fiber will help to keep your GI filled with a diverse microbiome of good bacteria. Below is a list of some diverse ways to obtain probiotics.

• Probiotic supplements with permission from your doctor, you can buy these over the counter
• Leafy greens– are an excellent source of fiber, the good bacteria eat high fiber foods, and you can gain more beneficial bacteria this way too
• Whole grains– they have a decent fiber content for your probiotics
• Yogurt, cottage cheese, buttermilk, miso soup, sauerkraut– contain probiotic cultures

How can I strengthen the cells in my Gi that are blunted due to cancer treatment?

Treatment options have evolved tremendously over the past few years but managing the side effects of those treatments continued to be a pain point for millions of patients. Enterade is a clinically proven, plant-based medical food that helps to rebuild the good cells in your gut, protects your gut from bad bacteria entering your bloodstream, and keeps you hydrated so you can manage the side effects of cancer treatment. Enterade is formulated with a unique blend of plant-based amino acids that target the gut in helping to repair and protect. With the combination of a well-rounded microbiome of good bacteria and a strong, protected GI thanks to enterade, you will be able to fight off pathogens, maintain weight, stay hydrated, alleviate diarrhea and nausea, and continue treatment to kill cancer for good.