Question

why Bifido sp bacteria are necessary in GIT health

Answer 1

Bifidobacteria are a group of bacteria called probiotics that normally live in your intestines and stomach. They help your body perform essential functions such as digestion and staving off harmful bacteria.

Members of the genus Bifidobacterium are among the first microbes to colonize the human gastrointestinal tract and are believed to exert positive health benefits on their host. Due to their purported health-promoting properties, bifidobacteria have been incorporated into many functional foods as active ingredients. Bifidobacteria naturally occur in a range of ecological niches that are either directly or indirectly connected to the animal gastrointestinal tract, such as the human oral cavity, the insect gut and sewage.

In fact, they break down most of the dietary fibre in your diet and turn it into good things like vitamins and short-chain fatty acids that are important for health.

So while a healthy gut microbiome can help protect you from infections and chronic diseases like Crohn’s, diabetes type II, obesity, and heart disease - dysbiosis is linked to many problems like depression, Parkinson’s, autoimmune diseases, and allergies.

And this is why Bifidobacteria are so important: this genus of microbes perform a variety of functions that help stabilise the microbiome. They have special weapons to deter potential pathogens from setting up shop in your gut.Theyhelp break down important phytonutrients in your food to make them to your body. And, as if that wasn’t already enough, they even provide food for other bacteria, like the ones that produce butyrase.

These bacteria got inside you and started to build the foundations of a healthy gut ecosystem. In fact, Bifidobacteria make up about 90% of an infant’s gut microbial ecosystem from birth until about 3 years old, after which levels decrease in a dramatic fashion to about 5% of the ecosystem.

These bacteria are able to break down complex carbohydrates (including the dietary fibres and polyphenols contained in these foods).

Studies show that different types of Bifidobacteria are versatile and can thrive on a number of different compounds called prebiotics, mostly found in plant foods such as fructooligosaccharides, galactooligosaccharides, pectins, inulin and abinoxylan.These prebiotics survive the acid bath of the stomach, navigate their way through the small intestine where the body absorbs nutrients it can extract from food, and eventually land in the large intestine where they become dinner.

In addition, gut microbes,including Bifidobacteria,are responsible for breaking down most of the polyphenols in our foods. So polyphenols are also considered to be prebiotics. These phytochemicals are antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents that reduce oxidative stress in the cells, combat cancer, support brain health, and much more.

Much like dietary fibres, only about 5-10% of the polyphenols in your diet are absorbed in the small intestine. Most of them undergo the action of bacteria that makes them available for absorption in the colon.

There are a number of prebiotics that are turned into beneficial compounds by the bacteria too. Think of it like this: as humans, we eat and we poop. Bifidobacteria (and other beneficial microbes) eat our leftovers and then they poop rainbows (sometimes, not always).

These metaphorical rainbows are chemical compounds that do good stuff. Either they benefit the community, the gut, or the immune system.

Bifidobacteria are able to produce a number of magical rainbow compounds including vitamins, short-chain fatty acids, and organic acids while combating invaders that can make you sick.

These probiotic microbes make vitamins directly in your gut. These include several B vitamins and vitamin K.

They also synthesise lactate and acetate that balance the gut pH, making the environment sufficiently stable for a healthful gut microbiome, but acidic enough to deter invaders. These compounds can also benefit the community.

Acetate, a short-chain fatty acid produced by Bifidobacteria, nourishes other bacteria that produce butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) that prevents inflammation and fuels the gut lining.

It is considered to be essential in maintaining a healthy digestive tract. Scientists call this behaviour cross-feeding, because the activities of Bifidobacteria make it possible for other species to exist and thrive.

Not to mention that they are not very neighbourly when it comes to unwanted microbes infact Bifidobacteria actually produce antimicrobial chemicals targeting pathogenic bacteria specifically.

This also prevents the invaders from settling down and doing things that make you sick. At the same time, just by adhering to your gut lining, Bifidobacteria are also able to deter undesirable bacteria in your gut.

Some strains of Bifidobacteria can even help alleviate depression and reduce inflammation.

Bifidobacteria help modulate the gut microbiota, prevent inflammation and protect from many diseases, including colorectal cancer, enteric infections (of the intestines) and diarrhoea, inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis), and even depression.

In addition to broad-ranging health benefits, these bacteria are omnivores that enjoy a number of foods you can include in your diet. And they’re also instrumental in creating delicious fermented dairy products like yoghurt and kefir, so they’re also present in these foods.