The first probiotic you ever took was on the day you were born

A_smiling_baby

Being born is an unavoidable situation. You get very little say in the matter. Before you know it you pop out into the noisy, bright, overwhelming world that will proceed to bombard your senses for the next several weeks until your brain starts to piece it all into a coherent picture. You aren’t consulted as to your preferred timing and you get no say in the method of delivery. You are expected to drop all plans at a moment’s notice and proceed to the nearest exit.

Birth via the vaginal route is fairly messy. Any discerning baby would opt to take a cleaner route, if the choice was presented. And a good job that it’s not! Unbeknownst to many – the mess of natural birth is a critical step in the determination of your health. You see, the various debris and gloopy bits that you, as a baby, will come into contact with, contain a lot of bacteria. Specifically: your mother’s vaginal and colonic bacteria.

This is your inoculation.

It sounds like a ritual to initiate someone into a fraternity or a masonic club but it is simply an alternate way of saying: you were infected…. but an intentional and (usually) beneficial infection.

Afterall, that is what happens. The bacteria that are present in the mess (of vaginal and colonic origin) will enter your unsuspecting mouth, travel along your digestive tract, arrive at the large intestine, and form the basis for your gut bacteria, aka. your intestinal flora. The creation of your gut biome is not an instantaneous event. There are several phases (rather like the formation of the Earth) which must cycle through until you reach a more stable profile of various bacteria and other microorganisms. If all goes well – your infantile flatulence, loose stools, and colic will be a thing of the past and you will experience all the wonders of a rich and varied colonic flora, fuelled by the nutrient powerhouse that is: your mother’s breast milk (more on this in another article).

But this is not the case for everyone. There are two things that can go wrong at this point.

  1. Your mother’s bacteria was not in a healthy state during your birth. This may be because she’d taken antibiotics at some point during the pregnancy, had certain unfavourable diet choices, or simply had an unhealthy microbiome for several years prior to you even being conceived.

  2. You were born by cesarean section! You never passed through the bacterial gauntlet at all. If you didn’t pass through the vaginal tract then you didn’t get your mouthful of bacteria.

Considering point 1:

So, if your mother has all the signs of a gut dysbiosis (an excess of bad bacteria and a lack of beneficial bacteria)…. you’re doomed, right?

Well…. possibly. But not always. You may have endured (and still endure) symptoms of a poor bacterial profile but this profile may now be dramatically different to that of your mother’s during your birth. Between then and now, diet choice and antibiotic usage may have affected (positively or negatively) the spread of bacteria you have residing inside you. Chances are though, if both you and your mother suffer from IBS, allergies, skin conditions… or any other symptoms of a gut dysbiosis, they may have been inherited via your inoculation – NOT via genetic inheritance or environmental influence (the latter referring to the diet and medication you were brought up on). So next time you blame your mother’s genes for that eczema, maybe instead you should blame the health of her vaginal tract.

On second thoughts, I’d keep it to yourself.

Considering point 2:

And how about you C-sectioners?? You’re wondering whether your large intestine remains a sterile and barren wasteland to this very day, since you never got the mouthful of mess and gloopy bits.

Well…. no.

Although ‘Escherichia–Shigella and Bacteroides species were underrepresented in infants born by cesarean delivery [and] infants born by elective cesarean delivery had particularly low bacterial richness and diversity’ (study link) it remains a fact that the large intestine is a veritable haven for all things bacterial. Warm, moist, filled with indigestible macronutrients (indigestible by human enzymes, at least) and relatively stationary (compared with the peristaltic motion of the small intestine). There is no way it could be kept sterile. In fact, in some cases, the right bacteria will prevail despite never being introduced from natural birth. They have, after all, evolved in parallel with us for millenia. They are well-suited to survive in the human large intestine and so, assuming some nasty, non-beneficial bacteria haven’t already occupied your colon, they’ll all be present and correct.

But herein lies the problem. What if these ‘nasty, non-beneficial’ bacteria ARE present?? What then?!

This is the problem we face today. The rise in these modern diseases, which did not affect our ancestors to the same degree, are all starting to look like a result of bacterial dysbiosis in our large intestines. A poor (or non-existent) inoculation is one example where your gut health could have gone awry.


The Wrap-Up

Whether you were delivered naturally or via c-section, the day you were born is likely one of the earliest moments at which the health of your gut was determined. With all the conditions associated with a gut dysbiosis (neurological, dermatological, immunological, etc..) it can generate an understandable degree of anxiety to be wondering how an unhealthy gut may be affecting your quality of life, and for how long it has been ailing you.

Thankfully, this problem was the catalyst for scientific innovation. Research into the field of probiotics has exploded. The race to develop technology to create the optimal blend of healthy bacteria is accelerating at an unbelievable pace. Fortress-5 is the first of this new generation of probiotic technologies.

Scientific studies have found that, by consuming precisely selected strains of beneficial bacteria, in large quantities, for short durations, we can sidestep the concern of how to treat each individual symptom of a dysbiosis and get direct to the source: the gut.

Elixa Probiotic is the pioneering leader of the new generation of probiotic science. The positive feedback has been so overwhelming that awareness of the product has spread purely from word-of-mouth and media attention. We are proud to claim that Elixa has been retailed to over 20 countries, including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and throughout Europe.

Let’s talk facts: Elixa contains 50 times the number of bacteria in each daily dose compared to the average last-generation probiotic. Elixa is the pioneer of the highly effective, short-course approach (High dosage 6-12 day programs). The Elixa blend contains a vast variety of human-specific bacterial strains. And most importantly: Elixa Probiotic has exclusive use of Fortress-5 technology.

I hope this article has helped you in your research for improved gut health and the numerous benefits it will bring. The smart choice of probiotic therapy is what you’re after. That’s why Elixa is perfect for you. Click the link to learn more!

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