Mother’s Day 2010: Does Mother Know Best?

We asked our readers to send us the health advice or wellness tips that they remember their mothers giving them as children growing up. Then we chose five of our favorites and had our health expert, Dr. Byran Stuchell (Chief Medical Officer of MedExpress) assess each one for accuracy and efficacy. The results may surprise you.

Starting on May 3 and leading up to Mother’s Day, we’ll be publishing one health tip per day. Check back tomorrow for the next tip!

May 5, 2010: Eat yogurt regularly to keep the friendly bacteria in your gut happy.

Debra, a writer and artist currently living in Boston, Mass., told us that her mother, Lillian, suggested this piece of advice that might make you squirm. After all, aren’t we taught from an early age that bacteria are dangerous germs to be excised from our homes and bodies? Why would we want to make these disease-causing intruders happy?

Well, it may surprise you to learn that these bacteria are not, in fact, intruders. There are an estimated 500 to 1000 different species of bacteria living – right now – in your stomach. And it turns out that most of this “gut flora” is not dangerous in all. In fact, many of the bacteria are actually keeping you happy and healthy all day long. If you’re curious, the gut flora helps you by breaking down certain carbohydrates in your food that you wouldn’t be able to digest normally.

So it would behoove you to return the favor and follow Lillian’s advice: Keep those friendly bacteria in your gut healthy. How does yogurt help? “Yogurt contains varying amounts of lactobacilli, which are bacteria that compete with ‘bad’ bacteria for nutrients,” says Dr. Stuchell. “Lactobacilli keep the ‘bad’ bacteria from becoming too prevalent and causing problems.” Basically, the lactobacilli in yogurt facilitate the survival of your friendly neighborhood gut flora. Yogurt is especially good for you if you’re on an antibiotic, which, according to Dr. Stuchell, “tends to wipe out many good bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract and provide an opportunity for the ‘bad’ ones to take over.” So grab a spoon and eat up!

Source: http://www.healthline.com/hlc/mom-health-tips

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 6th, 2010 at 6:15 am and is filed under Gerry's Journal, Respiratory Diseases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.