Probiotics are live micro-organisms that when found in our digestive system have beneficial effects on our health. Our body is in total harmony with 300 to 500 different species of probiotic bacteria which consist of our gut micro-flora, which is ten times larger than the number of cells in our body. Their beneficial role in the gut has been well established through their functions in the small and in particularly the large intestine. Consequently, the absence of probiotics in our body can cause several unwanted conditions.
Energy Salvage
Bacteria in the gut ferment the nutrients that weren't digested in the upper tract and release energy which is very useful for several body functions. Therefore, a lack in these probiotics in our system will subsequently lead to energy loss. This can cause the intestinal epithelium to become atrophic and lose its ability to absorb nutrients as the mucosal cells use a significant part of the fermentation products as energy substrates. Inefficient fermentation from the probiotic bacteria can lead to flatulence, constipation and stomach pain.
Nutrient Deficiency
A lack of probiotics in the gut will make it impossible for the dietary fiber, the main nutrient that escapes digestion, to be metabolized into the short-chain fatty-acids, acetate, propionate, and butyrate. All of them have important functions in the host physiology as several tissues such as the liver, the intestines and the muscles use them for energy. Additionally, without colonic microorganisms your body cannot synthesize vitamin K in the large intestine and cannot absorb minerals sufficiently such as calcium, magnesium and iron, making you prone to deficiencies in essential nutrients.
The Barrier Effect
In the absence of the resident probiotic bacteria, the protection from disease is significantly affected. In a 2004 review, Gibson and colleagues report that this can make the gut vulnerable to colonization by harmful bacteria. These are either from contaminated food, the environment, or they already exist in our gut but in very small amounts. Imbalance of this state or damage in the gut micro-flora can cause severe diarrhea. An example case was referred in 2008 in "The New York Times" where Dr. Khoruts, a gastroenterologist at the University of Minnesota treated a case of constant diarrhea caused by the harmful Clostridium difficile, by using a stool transplant from an individual with normal gut micro-flora. "The normal bacteria just didn't exist in her. "She was colonized by all sorts of misfits," Dr. Khoruts stated about the patient before her treatment. She recovered immediately after she received the transplant.
Bowel Disease
The "World Journal of Gastroenterology" reports that intestinal micro-flora appears to play an important role in bowel disease because many of these patients have been diagnosed with increased number of harmful bacteria. According to a review published in the Lancet in 2003, the role of colonic bacteria in the prevention of some human pathological states such as chronic ulcerative colitis and colonic carcinogenesis has been long suspected. However, there is still a lack of conclusive evidence.
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