Probiotics are friendly, non-pathogenic microorganisms living in our body. They help prevent pathogenic bacteria from invading the host body and grow. This functionality resembles enhanced immunity. And we will show you how probiotics can help prevent bad bacteria from invading, growing in our body, and causing unwanted symptoms. 

Probiotics can live in different places such as the oral, digestive tract and gut, excretory system, including the vagina and perineum. For today, we will show you how probiotics living in the small intestine do their work.

The inside of the small intestine may look like a smooth tube with many folds from the normal eye. However, the small intestine is where most of the nutrient absorption from food takes place. Inside the small intestine exist tiny finger-like projections called Villi (singular: Villus) that consist of special cells which help to absorb nutrients from food and release them into the bloodstream. Villi significantly increase the surface area for food absorption. 

Reference: https://sites.google.com/site/bodyssystems/rabb-yxy-xahar/lasilek

Image 1.2 How “Villi” projections support the small intestine by increasing the surface area of food absorption to gain as much nutrients into the bloodstream as possible.

Furthermore, there are probiotics living in the small intestinal mucosa since the host body is young. Some probiotics are the type to inhabit naturally in our body that grow and increase the amount by consuming nutrients (prebiotics). On the other hand, there are also types of opportunistic microorganisms in our body that take advantage of health issues such as declining health, less immunity, or continuous intake of antibiotics medication which can cause unwanted diseases. 

Image 1.3 Microorganisms in our body.

Image 1.4 Normal to great health. Probiotics and opportunistic microorganisms cover most areas of small intestinal mucosa, preventing pathogenic bacteria from attaching to the intestinal wall and invading into the bloodstream. These pathogenic bacteria will be removed through an excretory system.

Another important quality of probiotics is that they can produce acidic stage to the surrounding environment. This acidic environment prevent the growth of pathogenic bacteria and thus the reason why “opportunistic microorganisms” can cohabit with probiotics and function the non-pathogenic mechanisms when there is an adequate amount of microbiotics in our body. 

However, when health is declining and the amount of probiotics is decreased such as not consuming enough food that contain prebiotics and taking food with probiotics, or having to take antibiotics continuously for a long period, the “opportunistic microorganisms” will grow in amount and start the pathogenic mechanisms, as the environment is less acidic. This also allows pathogenic bacteria to enter and grow in the body as well.

Image 1.5 Acidic environment produced by probiotics prevents pathogenic bacteria from attaching themselves to the intestinal wall and grow. In addition, the acidic environment also prevents opportunistic microorganisms from seizing the opportunity to attack the host body.

Image 1.6 The reduced amount of probiotics due to “prebiotics” deprivation. Probiotics cannot reproduce in alignment to the area of the body that needs protection from its acidity to prevent growth of pathogenic bacteria

Now that you know about how tiny helpers work, don’t forget to take good care of your health and ensure to consume prebiotics that will help with probiotics growth and functionality to enhance your immune system. Or if you wish to take probiotics supplements to increase the amount of these friendly bacteria inside your body, please be reminded to opt for the ones with no less than 1 million living probiotics per 1 gramme of the supplement.