Eating your bacteria

I LOVE this article from Supermarket Savvy regarding yogurt and cultures contained in various forms of yogurt and supplements.

It's critical that the cultures in yogurt or a supplement are live for them to do the good stuff: aiding with constipation, diarrhea, bloating and gas. Organic yogurts tend to be preferable because processing can lead to the death of many microorganisms.

Diarrhea and constipation can be particular issues for people undergoing chemotherapy because of the damage it can do to the gut. Additionally, many patients undergoing cancer treatment may receive some forms of antibiotics because of infections that can arise from complications of treatment. Lastly, radiation induced enteritis can cause serious GI issues.

A good source of probiotics can help replenish some of the beneficial bacteria lost during treatment. And as this article and many others have point out: supplements typically don't have as many of the live cultures they say they do (I've read anywhere from 1-10% of the live cultures the label claims).

So grab yourself a container of Greek yogurt and dose up on some good bacteria!