Show 1023: How to Rebalance Your Digestive Tract Bacteria

What do you know about the bacteria in your digestive tract? Normally, a wide range of bacteria helps us digest our food and works together to keep us healthy. But when infections or antibiotics intervene, the variety of beneficial bacteria drops and undesirable strains like Clostridium difficile can gain the upper hand.

Probiotics:

Could probiotics help? These beneficial bacteria can help shape the ecology of the intestinal tract. The result should be a better intestinal microbiome, and fewer symptoms of indigestion. Should you be taking probiotics and prebiotics? What about the foods that feed healthy bacteria?

The majority of our intestinal bacteria make their home in the large intestine, or colon. When bacteria start flourishing in the small intestine, trouble ensues. Could small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) be causing your heartburn? If so, you could overcome it without drugs simply by changing what you feed your intestinal bacteriaÑand yourself.

This Week’s Guests:

Gerard E. Mullin, MD, MS, CNSP, is Associate Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is an internist, gastroenterologist and nutritionist. Dr. Mullin co-directs the Johns Hopkins Hospital Nurse Practitioner Fellowship Program and directs the Celiac Disease Clinic. He is author of The Gut Balance Revolution. His website is thefoodmd.com

Norman Robillard, Ph.D., is a microbiologist and former researcher who spent 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry before founding the Digestive Health Institute. His goal is to develop holistic treatments for digestive and systemic illnesses based on a clear understanding of the underlying causes of disease. Dr. Robillard was the first to recognize a connection between intragastric pressure from gas-producing bacteria in our intestines, nutritional malabsorption and the symptoms of acid reflux. Based on this research, he created the Fast Tract Diet System, a safe and effective alternative to proton pump inhibitor (PPI) and H2 blocking drugs.

His books include Fast Tract Digestion: Heartburn and Fast Tract Digestion: IBS. His website is http://digestivehealthinstitute.org/

The photo is of Dr. Robillard.