Archive for the ‘Suggestion for a healthier child’ Category

While breast feeding is by far the best way to feed a baby, there are times when this is not possible.

In these cases, most parents feel that they have no option but to purchase store bought, processed formula.  This is concerning to many parents for multiple different reasons. Many know that the cans are lined with the endocrine disruptor BPA (bisphenoyl A), that there are genetically modified ingredients in many formulas, and that the cows providing the milk are fed GMO corn, unless the formula is organic. Others remember the melamine contamination of fomula in 2008 in China or even the infant deaths from Nestle formula in the 1970′s and wonder how safe formula really is.   Recently 2 babies in Missouri died from infections thought to have come from bacteria that may have contaminated their formula. For parents who simply feel strongly about providing their babies the highest quality food made from the highest quality ingredients, store bought formula is less than desirable.

Parents do have another option.  They can make their own fresh, non-processed formula for their babies.  Realize however that this is not a simple task, such as just adding an estimated amount of water to powder.  Making homemade formula requires the acquisition of the highest-quality ingredients, mixed with exact measurement, including every ingredient without fail. If you are not up to this, then I highly recommend you rather buy organic baby formula and spruce it up with a few supplements.

However, if you are up for the challenge, then I do believe that homemade formula (milk or meat based) made from the Weston A. Price recipe is the absolute best food you can give your baby, second to breast milk.

Here is a wonderful link, containing recipes and a video to help you learn how to make homemade formula for your precious baby.

I hope this information helps you feel more confident and secure in knowing that YOU are the best person to nourish your baby, even when you can not breastfeed.

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Although given a bad rap by the media, eggs are one of the most nutritious foods.

Eggs are high in protein, rich in omega 3 fatty acids and fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E) and contain a range of vitamins and minerals including Folic acid, B12, Selenium, Zinc, Calcium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Magnesium.  When eaten with the yolk loose, the yolk contains enzymes that help the body digest it.

(Being so rich in nutrition and easy to digest makes loose egg yolk one of the perfect first food for babies.)

The quality of the egg depends directly on the health of the chicken that laid it.  Thus chickens raised in factory farms, never seeing the light of day, in dirty and cramped conditions, produce eggs that are vastly inferior to those laid by stress-free chickens who spend their days freely roaming, pecking at the dirt and eating insects and worms.

Many people believe just by purchasing “organic” eggs that they are getting the best eggs available.  While organic eggs do contain far less toxins, are more nutritious, and are significantly less likely to contaminated with Salmonella than non-organic eggs, the organic label says nothing about how the chickens are raised.   Thus, the quality of the eggs from one organic farm can be quite different from those on another farm.

The Organic Egg Score Card can help you find the best and the worst organic eggs available.

Even Better than simply Organic Eggs are Pastured Eggs:

Pastured chicken eggs means that they are from  free roaming, insect and worm eating, compost, grass, and dirt pecking hens.

Comparing Pastured vs. Commercial Organic Eggs, Pastured Eggs Have:

• 5 times more Vitamin D

• 2/3 more Vitamin A

• 2 times more Omega-3 Fatty Acids

• 3 times more Vitamin E

• 7 times more Beta-carotene

If this is not enough convincing enough, here is some research comparing pastured eggs to factory farmed hens that further support pastured eggs as the most nutritious egg option:

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(or conversely, Giving Your child Tylenol May Increase Your Child’s Risk of Asthma by 40%)

“Until future studies document the safety of this drug, children with asthma or at risk for asthma should avoid the use of acetominophen” (Tylenol) – pulmonologist John T. McBride MD.

In a recent article, published in the online Pediatrics journal on Nov 7, 2011, written by pulmonologist John T. McBride MD, he describes multiple studies done in the past 10 + years that support the association between tylenol use and the development and severity of asthma.

“A growing number of studies have documented such a strong association between acetominophen exposure and asthma that it is possible that much of the dramatic increase in childhood asthma over the past 30 years has been related to the use of acetominophen.”

 “As a pediatric pulmonologist, I am entrusted with the care of many asthmatic children and, at some level, with the respiratory health of all children in my area.  Given this role, I must decide when and how to act on the possibility that acetominophen is detrimental to asthmatic children.  Considering currently available data, I now recommend that any child with asthma or a family history of asthma avoid using acetominophen.”

Dr. McBride goes to explain that “the metabolism of acetominophen provides a biologically plausibe explanation for causation: depletion in airway mucosal glutathione that could contribute to vulnerability to oxidant stress.”

2 hypotheses as to how acetominophen may contribute to the prevelence or the severity of asthma:

1. taking acetominophen increases airway inflammation contributing to the severity and frequency of symptoms
2. those exposed to acetominophen in utero or in the first year of life might be more likely to develop asthma later in childhood

The most powerful study that he describes is that of a huge multi-location study, (122 centers in 54 countries, with each site enrolling at least 1000 children.) In this study, they consistently found a dose dependent increase in prevalence and severity of asthma.  Furthermore, the “association between asthma and acetominophen was identified at almost all sites regardless of geography, culture, or stage of economic development.”

In this study, they estimated that if children no longer were exposed to acetominophen, there may be upwards of a 40% decrease in childhood asthma.

Other pediatric studies suggesting an increased risk of childhood asthma associated with acetominophen use have been reported from Ethiopia to New Zealand.  Many adult studies in the US and in England show similar results in adults as well.  A few even compared the effects of other analgesics and none found any association between asthma with aspirin or other non-steroidals, like ibuprofen.

“The possibility that a measure as simple as limiting acetominophen use might result in so great a decrease in the suffering of children throughout the world is both sobering and exciting.”

“What considerations can guide a clinician faced with the possibility that acetominophen exposure is detrimental to children with asthma when causation has not been incontrovertibly established? The ethical principle of nonmaleficence (“primum non nocere” [... First, do no harm]) can be helpful: in considering the likelihood of benefit and the risk of harm of any therapy, physicians should give particular weight to avoid harm.”

“In my opinion, the balance between the likely risks of benefits of acetominophen has shifted”

“At present … I need further studies not to prove that acetominophen is dangerous but, rather, to prove that it is safe.”

Personally, I think if we took this “first, do no harm” philosophy with all medications and vaccinations, the world would be a far better and healthier place.

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For any of you who spent time with kids on Halloween and watched some O.D. on candy, you are well aware of the drug like effects of sugar.  I found it very interesting to watch the dramatic behavior change in some kids.  While some just had a few pieces, others binged as if they couldn’t get enough, became rude and unruly, unable to control themselves.

We joke that kids “get high” on candy, and often even “O.D.” on it.  But as jest is usually based on truth, sugar is addictive and this fact was recently supported by an article in the Bloomberg Report.

“We consistently found that the changes we were observing in the rats binging on sugar were like what we would see if the animals were addicted to drugs.”  The animals also showed withdrawal symptoms, including anxiety, shakes and tremors, when the effect of the sugar was blocked with a drug. The scientists, moreover, were able to determine changes in the levels of dopamine in the brain, similar to those seen in animals on addictive drugs.

While this article makes some powerful statements about sugar, it is misleading in that it also refers to fatty foods being addictive without suggesting research to support this statement, as all fatty foods referred to are exceptionally high in sugar and thus it is far more likely that fat contributes little to the addictive nature of these foods, but rather the addiction lies entirely upon the body’s response to sugar.

A 2007 French experiment suggests that SUGAR may be even MORE ADDICTIVE than COCAINE, as it showed that rats prefer water sweetened with saccharine or sugar to hits of cocaine — exactly the opposite of what existing dogma would have suggested.

If you think a little sugar is ok for your child, think again.  Would you ever approve of your child doing a little cocaine?

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There is an ongoing, UNBELIEVABLE study that is evaluating the health of over 7800 unvaccinated children and comparing their health to the health of the general childhood population.

I say this is an unbelievable study because no study like this has ever been done before, certainly not of this magnitude, and because the results are quite interesting.  It is also “unbelievable” because I’m quite confident that mainstream media will not say a word of this study, keeping it “unbelievable” to most.

A few important thing to understand before looking at the results:

• This study just began in December of 2010 but is ongoing so that data may change
• Most participants were from the US, but many were also from the UK, Canada, Australia and other countries.  75% of responders answered in English, while 25% of the answered in German.
• The study is being done by survey and thus is dependent on the memory and reporting of the parent.
• So far, the majority of children in the study were breastfed longer than 6 months and most parents prefer natural or holistic care over allopathic (conventional) medicine.
• While the ages range from infancy to >19, there is currently much more information on children under 6 years old than on older children.  Consequently current results will show lower numbers of those illnesses, like autoimmune disorders, that don’t typically show up until children are older.   (If you click here, it will take you to the study where there are links that provide a breakdown of the ages studied for each disease.)
• Interesting to note:  the reason that 25% of responders gave as to why they did not vaccinate was because they had seen a vaccine reaction in a friend or family member.  Over 99% of the parents were happy with their decision not to vaccinate.

Comparing asthma, allergies and atopy (eczema), unvaccinated children have significantly lower rates of illness:

Unvaccinated kids have less ADD/ ADHD

Unvaccinated children were diagnosed with autism, but FAR less frequently than seen in the general population

Unvaccinated kids suffer less from otitis (ear infections) and sinusitis (sinus infections)

Autoimmune diseases (diabetes, thyroid disease, other) were found very infrequently in unvaccinated children

While there are certain risks to not vaccinating your child, this study certainly supports that there are great benefits to not vaccinating as well.

Thankfully the decision to vaccinate or not to vaccinate remains yours, and must continue to stay yours!

As this study is ongoing, if  your child is entirely unvaccinated, you are welcome to have your child become part of the study.

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ORAL TESTIMONY TO THE USDA DIETARY GUIDELINES COMMITTEE

By Sally Fallon Morell, President The Weston A. Price Foundation July 8, 2010

The proposed 2010 Dietary Guidelines perpetuate the mistakes of previous guidelines in demonizing saturated fats and animal foods rich in saturated fatty acids such as egg yolks, butter, whole milk, cheese, fatty meats like bacon and animal fats for cooking. The current obesity epidemic emerged as vegetable oils and refined carbohydrates replaced these healthy, nutrient-dense traditional fats. Animal fats supply many essential nutrients that are difficult to obtain from other sources. Furthermore, basic biochemistry shows that the human body has a very high requirement for saturated fats and cholesterol in all cell membranes; if we do not eat saturated fats, the body will simply make them from carbohydrates, but excess carbohydrate increases blood levels of triglyceride and small, dense LDL and compromises blood vessel function. High-carbohydrate diets, moreover, fail to satisfy the appetite as well as diets rich in traditional fats, leading to higher caloric intakes and often to bingeing and splurging on empty foods, resulting in rapid weight gain.

The proposed guidelines will perpetuate existing nutrient deficiencies present in all American population groups, including deficiencies in vitamins A, and D, found in animal fats, vitamins B12 and B6 found in meat and seafood, as well as minerals like iron and zinc. Low intakes of vitamin K2, moreover, are associated with increases in the risk of osteoporosis, heart disease and cancer, and the main sources of vitamin K2 available to Americans are egg yolks and full-fat cheeses.

By restricting healthy animal fats in school lunches and diets for pregnant women and growing children, the Guidelines will perpetuate the tragic epidemic of learning and behavior disorders. The nutrients found in most abundantly and in some cases exclusively in animal fats—including choline, cholesterol and arachidonic acid—are critical for the development of the brain and the function of receptors that modulate thinking and behavior. Studies show that choline from egg yolks and liver help the brain make critical connections and protect against neurotoxins; animals studies suggest that if choline is abundant during developmental years, the individual is protected for life from developmental decline. The National Academy of Sciences recommends 375 mg per day for children nine through thirteen years of age, 450 mg for pregnant women and 550 mg for lactating women and men aged fourteen and older. These amounts are provided by four or five egg yolks per day—but that would entail consuming 800-1000 mg cholesterol, a crime by USDA standards. The committee referred to this as the “choline problem.” Pregnant women and growing children especially need to eat as many egg yolks as possible—yet the Guidelines demonize this nutrient-dense food.

Choline is also essential to liver health. As the prevalence of obesity has grown to reach epidemic proportions, “fatty liver disease” has emerged as one of its casualties. It is estimated 40 percent of obese Americans have fatty liver. One of the most common ways to induce this disease in animals is to feed them diets deficient in choline and methionine, an amino acid found abundantly in meat. Restricting animal foods in our children’s meals will thus aggravate the consequences of the obesity epidemic.

The Guidelines lump trans fats together with saturated fats—calling them Solid Fats—thereby hiding the difference between unhealthy industrial trans fats and healthy traditional saturated fats. Trans fats contribute to inflammation, depress the immune system, interfere with hormone production, and set up pathological conditions leading to cancer and heart disease, whereas saturated fats fight inflammation, support the immune system, support hormone production and protect against cancer and heart disease.

The vitamins and fatty acids carried uniquely in saturated animal fats are critical to reproduction. The 2010 Guidelines will increase infertility in this country, already at tragically high rates.The 2010 proposed Guidelines represent a national scandal, the triumph of industry clout over good science and common sense. It must be emphasized that the Guidelines are not based on science but are designed to promote the products of commodity agriculture and—through the back door—encourage the consumption of processed foods. For while the USDA food police pay lip service to reducing our intake of refined sweeteners, trans fats, white flour and salt, this puritanical lowfat prescription ultimately leads to cravings and indulgence in chips, sweets, sodas, breads, desserts and other empty food-and-beverage- like products just loaded with refined sweeteners, trans fats, white flour and salt.

While the ship of state is sinking under a health crisis of enormous proportions, the USDA proposed Guidelines simply rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Without more sensible recommendations, the trend to obesity, learning disorders, chronic disease and infertility will accelerate.

The Weston A. Price Foundation proposes starting over and adopting our Healthy 4 Life Dietary Guidelines, based on four food groups, always with an emphasis on quality through pasture-based feeding and organic, pesticide-free production methods:

Every day, eat high quality, whole foods to provide an abundance of nutrients, chosen from each of the following four groups:

Animal foods: meat and organ meats, poultry, and eggs from pastured animals; fish and shellfish; whole raw cheese, milk and other dairy products from pastured animals; and broth made from animal bones.

Grains, legumes and nuts: whole-grain baked goods, breakfast porridges, whole grain rice; beans and lentils; peanuts, cashews and nuts, properly prepared to improve digestibility.

Fruits and Vegetables: preferably fresh or frozen, preferably locally grown, either raw, cooked or in soups and stews, and also as lacto-fermented condiments.

Fats and Oils: unrefined saturated and monounsaturated fats including butter, lard, tallow and other animal fats; palm oil and coconut oil; olive oil; cod liver oil for vitamins A and D.

Avoid: foods containing refined sweeteners such as candies, sodas, cookies, cakes etc.; white flour products such as pasta and white bread; processed foods; modern soy foods; polyunsaturated and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and fried foods.

Sally Fallon Morell,

President The Weston A. Price Foundation

www.westonaprice.org

(202) 363-4394

info@westonaprice.org

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More Support for Buying Organic Produce

The Environmental Working Group researched conventionally grown fruits and vegetables and found 12 foods to have the most pesticide residue.  The produce on this list contain between 47 to 67 different pesticides.  Hence, if you are going to buy limited organic produce, the Dirty Dozen below are the ones to make sure are organic.  These include frozen produce as well.

The Dirty Dozen are :

• Celery

• Peaches

• Strawberries

• Apples

• Domestic blueberries

• Nectarines

• Sweet bell peppers

• Spinach, kale and collard greens

• Cherries

• Potatoes

• Imported grapes

• Lettuce

“It’s critical people know what they are consuming,” the Environmental Working Group’s Amy Rosenthal said. ” This list is based on pesticide tests conducted after the produce was washed with USDA high-power pressure water system. The numbers reflect the closest thing to what consumers are buying at the store.”

Babies and children are the most as risk due to their developing brains.  We don’t yet know why we are seeing so many more children with ADD, Autism, allergies, asthma, autoimmune diseases and cancer.  Pesticide exposure during pregnancy and during early childhood certainly could play a part in the development of these chronic illnesses.

“To the extent you can afford to do so, [parents] should simply buy organic, because there have been some very good studies that shows people who eat mostly organic food reduce 95 percent of pesticides [in their body] in two weeks,” said Dr. Philip Landrigan, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/01/dirty.dozen.produce.pesticide/index.html

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Rethink Your Sports Drink

As a pediatrician, I often ask kids: “What is the healthiest drink for an athlete?”  No, it is NOT Gatorade, I find myself saying all too often.  It is water.  “But aren’t sports drinks good?” I hear parents ask.  No!  In fact, most sports drinks are closer to poison.

Have you ever looked at the ingredients in sports drinks?  Water, high fructose corn syrup are the first two ingredients.  Yes, water and lots of poor quality sugar – 10 1/2 sugar packets per 20 oz bottle to be exact!

In other words, one 20 oz Gatorade contains 34 gms of sugar, equivalent to 12 pieces of Starburst!

However it’s even worse because HFCS is genetically modified, contains traces of the neurotoxin mercury, damages our liver and quickly turns into glycogen. What is glycogen? Stored sugar.  What happens to stored sugar?  It turns to fat!

The University of California at Berkeley warns that “students who drink one 20-ounce sports drink every day for a year can gain about 13 pounds!”

Granted, if you were running a marathon, a little glycogen can be a good thing.  But for the average athlete or person exercising, we want to use our glycogen stores, not create more.

How about the rest of the ingredients?  Depending on the flavor, there are natural and artificial flavors, salt, sodium citrate, yellow 6, glycerol ester of wood rosin, brominated vegetable oil (BVO), and red 40.  Most of these are toxins, with BVO being the most dangerous.  BVO is labeled as unsafe by the FDA, capable of causing multiorgan damage, birth defects and growth problems.

Yes, there are electolytes in sports drinks but the negatives of the other ingredients completely outweight any potential benefit.

Don’t think that the other commercial sports drinks are any better.  If you have any diet version, such as Propel, you are substituting the HFCS with sucralose.  This decreases the calories, but now you are drinking a chlorocarbon, similar to DDT and Lindane.  No long term (>12months) human studies have been performed on sucralose.  However, in animal studies, sucralose caused liver and kidney inflammation and damaged the immune system. Don’t be fooled by Vitamin Water which contains crystalline fructose which is very similar to HFCS.  While PowerAde has less salt, it is likely the most toxic sports drink having 40% more sugar, in the form of HFCS, and also chemical sweeteners phenylalanine (which converts into formaldehyde) and sucralose.

If increased weight gain and all the toxins aren’t convincing enough, consider your teeth.  Sports drinks dissolve tooth enamel, but the damage is far worse in athletes who drink them while exercising. This is due to reduced saliva during exercise, frequent sipping, and the fact that most sports drinks have a pH < 3, consequently causing 30x more erosion than if an athlete just drank water.

While water is sufficient hydration for most athletes, coconut water is great for serious athletes.  Coconut water is high in potassium, chlorides, calcium, and magnesium, with a modest amount of sodium, sugar, and protein. Add a pinch of Celtic Sea salt to add a few more trace minerals and sodium and it’s perfect.  Often called “natures’ sports drink,” coconut water is even given intravenously for dehydration in tropical areas.

The next time you want a drink, READ the ingredients and THINK for yourself about what’s in it and what you are trying to achieve.

Your body will thank you for it!

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In my pediatric practice, I routinely advise kids to eat a variety of vegetables and fruits every day to maximize health. Ideally, kids should strive to eat at least 3-4 servings of vegetables and 2-3 servings of fruits every day.  While my own kids eat a quite healthy diet, enjoying cauliflower, snap peas, and carrots for lunch frequently, it is still challenging to get them to consume enough vegetables and fruits on a daily basis.  Consequently, I suggest supplementing kids’ diets with a  whole food supplement, such as Juice Plus.

I had heard about Juice Plus from patients for years, but never recommended them, nor gave them to my family, because one of their first ingredients was corn syrup. However, now the company removed the corn syrup, decreased the sugar content, and added fiber, making them far better than any other whole food supplement that I have found.

What I like about Juice Plus:

• It is made from fresh, ripe, real vegetables and fruits, not synthetic vitamins.
• The chewables (gummies) taste very good and only contain 2 grams of sugar per child serving (1 gram/chewable).  My kids think they are terrific and remind me to give it them.  They even bring them to school as their treat.
• The farmers don’t use pesticides or chemicals on their produce and never use genetically modified seeds. Furthermore , the finished fruit and vegetable powders are tested regularly for the presence of pesticides and herbicides and shown to be free of any detectable contaminants.  And to verify this, the product is now certified by the National Safety Federation - part of this certification is verifying the product is safe and contains no detectable chemical residues.
• They are kosher certified.
• They are essentially gluten free – regularly tested to be <20 parts/million of gluten, which is the standard in the US to be considered gluten free.
• They use tapioca syrup and organic cane syrup as sweeteners, not corn syrup.
• Juice Plus has solid research showing bioavailability and clinical benefit for children and adults.  This research is ongoing and currently being studied by multiple hospitals and independent organizations.
• Juice Plus has a fairly long shelf life and only needs to be ordered every four months, making it convenient for parents.
• It is endorsed by many well respected doctors, including pediatricians Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Sears.
• Furthermore, I love that they offer free Juice Plus for a child if a parent is purchasing Juice Plus for themselves and they agree to participate in their study.

If you are interested in purchasing Juice Plus for yourself, for your children or both, please click here to learn more about it.

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Probiotics are live beneficial bacteria.

The word probiotic means “for life.”  We need probiotics to live.  We have 100,000 billion bacteria living in our gastrointestinal tract, that’s more bacteria than we have cells in our body.   Many of these are healthy bacteria, but some are not.  It is important to make sure we keep plenty of good bacteria in our GI tract. For infants and children, Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus are most important.

I like to compare our GI system to our lawns.  To have a healthy lawn you need to feed it, by giving it sun and water. However, if to start out, the ground underneath is unhealthy and lacking nutrients, the grass won’t grow well.   If you nourish the ground with nutrients, the grass will improve.  If a truck drives over it and destroys some sections, you can reseed and the grass will grow back.  However, if you do not reseed, weeds will plant and spread.  Now, if that truck comes back and keeps driving over your lawn, no matter how much you reseed, you can’t keep up with reseeding and eventually the weeds will overgrow.

Birth by c-section, a mom with unhealthy bacteria in her gut, and formula feeding are examples of how our GI lawns may start out less than healthy.  Antibiotics, infections, unhealthy eating patterns, alcohol ingestion, and hospitalization are a few examples of trucks that can come in and destroy our GI lawns. When those trucks come in, they may destroy our healthy balance of gut bacteria, cause our guts to become leaky, and leave room for unhealthy bacterial weeds and yeast weeds to overgrow.  Taking probiotics helps to reseed our GI lawns, improve GI function, and keeps new weeds from planting themselves and current weeds from overgrowing.  However, no matter how many probiotics we take, we can not truly heal our GI lawns unless we stop the trucks from coming.

How do we stop the trucks?

We must respect our bodies, take in foods that feed our GI lawns and avoid toxins and foods that harm it. Additionally, we must support the entire body with water, rest, exercise, and emotional support to help it heal itself.

Enough with the analogy, let’s talk about what probiotics actually do.

Healthy bacterial serve many important functions:

Prevent overgrowth of bad bacteria

Help heal our GI tract after damage has been done

Make vitamins

Produce energy

Stimulate our immune systems

Metabolize food

Lower cholesterol

Healthy bacteria are the “live active cultures” like those found in yogurt.  This is why people on antibiotics are often advised to eat yogurt to avoid a yeast infection.

So why not just eat more yogurt?  First, many times those “live” cultures in yogurt aren’t still alive when you eat them.  Sometimes, the bacteria in the probiotic supplements aren’t alive either, which is why we recommend specific reliable brands.  Furthermore, probiotics contain more than ten times the amount of bacteria than 1 yogurt.  Consequently, your chances of benefiting from a probiotic is much better than just eating yogurt.

What signs/symptoms suggest that you or your child could benefit from taking probiotics?

Gas, bloating, burping

Taking, or have recently taken, an antibiotic

Recurrent colds or infections

Eczema, asthma, allergies, psoriasis

Diarrhea, caused by a virus, bacteria, or due to an antibiotic

Constipation

Lactose intolerance

Irritable bowel and inflammatory bowel

Gastric ulcer prevention and colon cancer prevention

Any chronic inflammatory condition, such as arthritis, lupus, and MS

ADD/ADHD/ Depression/ Autism

Probiotics are safe.

While any supplement or medication can have negative effects on an individual, the only documented cases of related illness were in severely immunocompromised patients with prolonged hospitalization and after surgery.

Tips to taking probiotics:

• The best time to take  probiotics often depends on the probiotic. On the whole, take the probiotic and don’t worry about timing.  However some probiotics get killed in the stomach if the environment is too acidic.  Thus, either taking the probiotic with food or  on a completely empty stomach (just before bed) will be the best way to ensure the bacteria’s viability.
• If you are taking antibiotics or other supplements that may kill bacteria, ideally take the probiotics at least 15-30 minutes before or after, so the antimicrobial and probiotic are not in the stomach at the same time.
• Keep probiotics refrigerated for longest shelf-life.  They are living and most will live longer if kept in a cool, dry place.  Some brands are more stable and do not require refrigeration.  When in doubt, refrigerate.
• How to give probiotics if you can’t swallow pills?  Open the capsule and put in a spoonful of applesauce or yogurt.  Never add them to hot foods or cook them, as the heat will kill the organisms.

Ideally these bacteria will be happy in your body, and make a home there and reproduce.  However, sometimes they won’t and continued supplementation is necessary.

Sometimes one probiotic may not be as helpful as another strain.  Each person’s gut is different and some trial and error may be necessary.  Certain conditions suggest that different probiotics are better than others.

Bananas, asparagus, and onions are good foods to eat when you are taking probiotics.  These are called pre-biotics or fructooligosaccharides, and they feed the healthy bacteria.  Breast milk is also full of pre-biotics.   Many probiotic supplements contain pre-biotics as well.

A poor diet, excessive alcohol, drugs, including antibiotics, and stress can also throw off the balance of beneficial bacteria.

So, in addition to probiotics, take good care of your body!  Eat lots of vegetables, fruits, and whole foods.  Avoid sugar, get at least 15 minutes of sun exposure daily (without sunscreen)  or take vitamin D3.  Drink plenty of water, exercise, and get at least 8 hours of sleep each night.

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