The beauty benefits of probiotics

The key to true health and vitality both inside and out is affected by a number of factors including the food we eat, the environment around us, what we put on our skin, a good night's sleep and regular movement.

You are more likely to ooze a radiant glow on the outside if you're feeling tip top on the inside, and here nutritional therapist Natalie Lamb from Bio-Kult explains more.

1. Healthy, Glowing Skin
Our skin is one of the body's routes of elimination and is utilised if other routes such as the bowels aren't working optimally. Ever been on a detox and come out in spots on your face? Our gut flora is known to bind to and remove toxins from the gut daily. Taking a probiotic supplement, like Bio-Kult (www.bio-kult.com) could help maintain regular healthy bowel movements, essential to remove waste substances and toxins from the body. Eczema is an inflammatory skin condition, where the skin becomes dry and itchy. Probiotics have been shown in numerous studies to rebalance the gut flora, improve immune function, reduce severity of symptoms and reduce the need for medication.

2. Long and Lustrous Hair
Our gastrointestinal tract contains trillions of different microbes including bacteria and yeasts. A diverse gut flora is imperative for efficient digestive function, helping us to breakdown our food into tiny nutrients ready for absorption through the gut lining and travel via the blood to every cell in the body. Our life dependent organs use these up first then what's left can supply our hair follicles with the nourishment they need for happy, long, strong and lustrous hair! Our hair is made up of mostly protein so ensuring good sources of these in the diet is important. Try consuming pasture fed meat, free range eggs, wild fish, nuts, seeds and well soaked legumes.

3. Preventing Wrinkles
Oxidative damage to our delicate skin from excessive sun exposure is said to enhance the skin ageing process. Early studies are indicating a potentially beneficial role of probiotic supplements on the protection of skin from sun damage. This could be via the immune system and/or via greater absorption of skin protecting antioxidants and omega 3 fats. For those with IBS the loss of fluids via an over reactive bowel could lead to dehydration of the skin. Probiotics have certainly been shown to help regulate bowel movements and relieve symptoms in those with IBS. However, is it such a bad thing to embrace our enhancing years of wisdom gracefully with a few age lines?

4. Keeping You Slim
Our resident gut flora has been shown to be very different between those who are lean and obese. We already know that the gut flora has an important role to play in the digestion and absorption of food but findings are now suggesting that it may also affect how much we eat, how efficiently we are able to break down food and how much is stored as fat in the body. Probiotics are already showing positive results in weight loss studies. By topping up the good guys and reducing the overgrowth of sugar loving yeasts probiotics could just help stop your craving for sweet and processed foods high in refined carbohydrates that can pile on the pounds!

5. Energy Boost
Eating a more natural whole food diet should provide all the nutrients our bodies need to thrive and survive and to keep energy balanced. A diverse gut flora has been shown to help us absorb essential nutrients from our food more effectively, to keep mood lifted and to help with B vitamin production needed for energy production in every cell in the body. Regular bowel movements will also help keep you feeling lighter and more energetic!

www.bio-kult.com