Let me ask you a very simple question.

If I could only recommend three supplements (in addition to a good, nutritious diet) that would insure your ability to stay healthy all year round, what do you think would they be? I have learned that many people, even with the best of intentions, seem to routinely benefit from three basic supplements:

• Multi-Vitamins and Minerals in a Liquid format
• Probiotics
• Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids (EFA)

Probiotics are the subject of this report. There is quite a bit of confusion about probiotics, and there is one basic reason for this. There is simply no single probiotic that is good for everyone, therefore, HealthStyles4U has researched this area extensively and identified a couple of excellent probiotics that seem to work consistently better for the majority of people than others we have previously tested. Probiotics have become one of the Big Three products we utilize in our healthcare business.
Why are probiotics so important to your general health and well-being?/p>

To live life to its fullest requires you to be in your finest health. Probiotics, life-promoting microorganisms, are believed to optimize your health in considerable broad-based ways

Energy and passion to go!
If you're like most people, you really want to live life with passion . . . to feel at the height of health all the time, so you can accomplish more of what you want in life. Probiotics can help you do just that!
The term probiotics comes from the Greek, "for life". (Now you probably understand what the word "antibiotics" really means.)
Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when ingested in sufficient numbers, replenish the microflora in your intestinal tract and thereby perform a number of health-enhancing functions. The word "probiotic" was introduced in 1965 to describe these growth promoting factors.

Historically, people used fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut both as food preservatives to limit spoilage, and for good health. In ancient Indian society, it was commonplace (and still is) to consume a before-dinner yogurt drink, called a lassi, and at the end of the meal, a small serving of curd. These traditions were based on the principle of using sour milk as a probiotic delivery system to the body.

The Bulgarians are noted both for their longevity and their high consumption of fermented milk and kefir.
Since the 1970s, farmers have been using probiotics to improve disease resistance and reproduction in their farm animals, milk yield, and egg production.

Increased understanding of bacterial effects on the GI and immune system has led to increased credibility and research in the use of probiotics over the past forty years. Today the science of probiotics is a rapidly growing field, generating a great deal of interest, both from physicians and consumers.
It has been said that "death begins in the colon." However, I would rather choose to say "life begins in the colon." Maintaining great colonic health is akin to maintaining improved overall health.*

Some of the statistics about the colon read like a "Ripley's Believe It or Not". In other words,

“Did you know that . . .”

• There are 500 species of bacteria living inside you right now?
• One hundred trillion bacteria live inside you -- more than the number of cells in your entire body?
• The total weight of these bacteria is about two to three pounds?
• Some of these bacteria are referred to as "good" and some as "bad". The ideal balance between them is to have 85% good bacteria (flora) and 15% bad bacteria.

This ratio between the "good bacteria” and the "bad bacteria” is critical to your optimal health. What sorts of things influence the ratio between good and bad bacteria – diet, geographic location, age, stress, illnesses, and medications (especially antibiotics). The term used to reference good floral balance is eubiosis, formed from the prefix eu- meaning "good” (true), combined with the suffix -biosis meaning "life". To the contrary, dysbiosis references an unbalanced situation, coming from the prefix dys- which refers to "bad” (impaired, difficult).

Before you were born, your GI tract was sterile. The moment you were born, colonization of bacteria began in your gut. The first bacteria to settle in were the immune-building ones from breast milk (colostrum - initially) increasing your level of health and favoring your survival. Then, in a sense, we spend the rest of our lives “trashing” our system with the bad stuff – such as poor dietary choices and other lifestyle choices. And, sometimes our environment contributes to the problem for us. Gut flora, the microorganisms living – obviously, in the gut, continually and dynamically affect our immune system. Helpful bacteria prevent the growth of undesirable ones by competing for both nutrition and attachment sites in the tissues of the colon.

It seems that in our collective zeal to rid ourselves of disease and every trace of bacteria in our food supply and everywhere else, we may have outdone ourselves. As a whole, we are less exposed to bacteria now than in the past – both "bad" and "good" bacteria.

Foods that are presently being labeled as health-promoting foods contain good bacteria – such as cultured foods like yogurt, cheese, and sauerkraut. Due to strict food safety regulations, less bacteria (bad or good) survive the manufacturing process. Many products are pasteurized or sterilized at the end of the production process, destroying bacteria. While this may be of benefit in disease prevention, it also means that we get less health-enhancing bacteria. Since helpful bacteria are increasingly absent in our foods, it becomes more important top include supplementation with probiotics to give our GI tract and entire immune system an extra “edge”, in order to maximize the effects of a healthy diet.

Probiotics are available as both single strain and multiple strain supplements. Probiotic bacteria are highly heterogeneous with differences in composition, biological activity and portion between various probiotic preparations. One of our probiotics comes from the genus Lactobacillus, from the sporogenes species, called that because of its characteristic of forming spores. Although some strains, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, have been extensively studied, are well-known and considered beneficial, they have two problems as a suitable probiotic.

1. L-acidophilus is unstable on the shelf. Many acidophilus products have no live lactobacillus remaining by the time they are consumed - sometimes even by the time of purchase.
2. L-acidophilus cannot survive a highly acidic environment, like the stomach. So the majority of lactobacillus die before they reach the small intestine, where needed most.

Recently, Lactobacillus sporogenes has been discovered to produce the beneficial L (+) lactic acid that corrects these problems -- as distinguished from D (-) lactic acid which induces metabolic acidosis. Also known as Bacillus coagulans, it is a friendly bacteria -- one that belongs in our bodies.
Unlike other lactobacilli, L-sporogenes is a spore, wrapped in a protective coat. Spores are like plant seeds -- they can stay alive for years, and when conditions are optimal for growth, they open up and become a new plant. Taken orally, the spores' protective coat helps them survive stomach acidity. They are activated due to the low pH, mechanical churning, of the stomach and water in the gastric environment. As they absorb water, they swell and move faster, propelling them into the small intestine, where they germinate, proliferate and multiply rapidly into viable bacilli to persist in their beneficial life activities.
In the intestinal tract, they continue their metabolic activities, producing lactic acid to assist in digestion and absorption of vitamins and minerals. In turn, the lactic acid levels on the inner surface of the intestinal tract maintain a micro-ecological balance in the GI tract.

Europeans in the center of the probiotics research community say that the term “probiotics” should only be used for products if:

• The bacteria strains in the product are able to survive the stomach acid and bile, so that they reach the intestines alive in adequate numbers.
• The bacteria strains have health-promoting features.
• The probiotic activity is guaranteed throughout the entire production process, storage period and shelf life of the product.

The L-Sporogenes are considered a "true probiotic", holding a number of advantages over strains contained in other probiotic supplements. They are:

• Easy to store, heat resistant and stable. No refrigeration needed. Take them to your office or on trips, carry in your purse, or wherever.
• Long shelf life, so you can buy a multi-pack and keep them in several places for easy access at mealtimes.
• Contain a large number of viable lactobacilli that retain their viability during preparation and storage.
• Effective -- they survive the rigorous acidic stomach environment and reach the intestine safely.
• Formulated in FOS, a natural base of nutrients that promote the proliferation of this friendly probiotic.
• Clinical tests show that L-Sporogenes can be successfully implanted in the intestine.
• Maintain their action in the GI tract for longer -- they are "semi-resident" and excreted from the body slowly (over seven days).
• Has advanced bioavailability for the body

One of the most important things you can do for your health is to repopulate your GI tract with good bacteria. Even a healthy diet is no guarantee of a healthy gut, due to dietary and environmental factors.

• Two caps per day provide billions of live cell count.
• Compatibility -- harmonious with vitamins, enzymes, electrolytes, proteins, amino acids, minerals, and medications.
• All natural -- formulated in a natural base of nutrients that promotes proliferation in the intestine. Micro-encapsulated for stability.
• Standardized and pharmaceutical grade, controlled by high pressure liquid chromatography guaranteeing that active ingredients are always present in the same concentrations.
• Superior dissolution in the gut.
• Lab tested.

Using a smart probiotic can easily be your reality, not just your ambition, so that you will be able to pursue your other ambitions in life . . . like spending time with family and friends, enjoying leisure activities, excelling in your career, and giving back to your community. If you have never used a probiotic, you cannot possibly imagine how great you could feel. Using a good probiotic can help you support a strong immune system -- so that you can do the things you most want to achieve in your life.

. . . Articles and Information about Probiotics.

. . . to purchase one of our professional-grade Probiotics.