Know 5 to Stay Alive: Be Kind to Your Colon
#1: Play with the
#1: Play with the "pros"
Yes, there are such things as "good" bacteria. They're called probiotics, and they live in our intestinal tract. As the "white knights" of bacteria, probiotics help us digest food, mediate our immune system and fight off their bad-seed cousins, the more pathogenic bacteria strains like salmonella.

Probiotic bacteria can help our body ward off colo-rectal cancer by breaking down carcinogens in food and relieving inflammation in the GI tract, says Gary Huffnagle, Ph.D., department head of internal medicine at the University of Michigan. They also help thicken the mucosal barrier to more pathogenic bacteria. When we've depleted our internal supply of probiotics — whether through medicine, infection, diet or stress — we can replenish the ranks by eating:

  • Yogurt — a prime probiotic.
  • Aged cheese
  • Miso
  • Culturelle — capsules with the probiotic strain called Lactobacillus GG, or LGG.

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