Do You Know These 10 Surprising Health Benefits of Probiotics?

Do You Know These 10 Surprising Health Benefits of Probiotics?

When you think about probiotics, your mind probably goes straight to gut health. And for good reason — the right probiotics help keep your gut microbiome, the trillions of microbes in your gut, balanced and healthy. And that helps support digestive health and combat symptoms like gas, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea.

Probiotics help support your protective gut barrier, helping to keep food particles inside your gut and out of the bloodstream. They help flush out toxins, bad bacteria, and other pathogens. Probiotics also produce important compounds like essential vitamins and special short chain fatty acids essential to overall health.

But the health benefits of probiotics don’t end there. In fact, scientists continue to discover new ways that probiotics help support other organs and systems in your body — far beyond the gut. Here are 10 other ways probiotics can support your health, according to research.

1. Type 2 Diabetes

Taking the right probiotics has been shown to dramatically affect blood sugar levels in a positive way. Research demonstrates that probiotics help your body manage blood sugar more efficiently, helping shuttle sugar out of your bloodstream and into your cells where it’s needed. Studies show that probiotics may help: 

  • • Lower fasting blood sugar

  • • Lower HbA1c, a measure of long-term blood sugar control (three-month average of blood sugar levels)

  • • Improve insulin sensitivity and reduce insulin resistance 

2. Cholesterol and Triglycerides

Your body needs just the right amount of cholesterol and triglycerides. When levels are too high, these blood lipids (fats) can damage your arteries, circulation, and other aspects of heart health. And if your levels drop too low (from lack of exercise, poor diet choices, and/or cholesterol-lowering drugs), your brain and hormone production can suffer. With more than 92 million Americans taking prescription statin drugs, there is a great need for supportive strategies. Probiotics have been shown to help:

Balance cholesterol and triglycerides 

  • Increasing HDL levels (good cholesterol)

  • Reducing amounts of small dense low-density lipoprotein (sdLDL), a dangerous subset of LDL 

  • Lowering high triglycerides levels 

3. Blood Pressure

Blood pressure measures how hard your blood pushes on the walls of your blood vessels as it flows through them. When you have high blood pressure, aka hypertension, the force of your blood is too much for your arteries to manage. That increases your risk for several severe health problems, including stroke, kidney disease, and dementia. Probiotics have been studied and shown to help:

Promote enhanced blood flow and optimal levels of pressure.

  • Reduce arterial stiffness, helping blood vessels remain flexible and elastic so they can better handle variations in pressure 

  • Support healthy blood pressure levels

4. Cardiovascular Disease

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. And rates continue to rise — according to the National Institutes of Health, cardiovascular deaths increased in both 2023 and 2022. Probiotics have shown promise for supporting overall cardiovascular system health. Studies reveal that certain probiotic strains may help:

  • Promote healthy cholesterol levels
  • Improve blood pressure numbers
  • Lower Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a compound linked to an increased risk of heart disease

  • Inhibit oxidative stress, closely associated with cardiovascular conditions like blood vessel disease and heart failure

  • Suppport healthy inflammation responses in the body by calming cytokine levels

5. Liver Health

Probiotics have been shown to help your liver work more efficiently, including enhanced toxin removal and nutrient storage. When your liver isn't working effectively, your overall health can be severely affected. Probiotics can help support your overall liver health and function. Studies show probiotics provide benefits for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), cirrhosis, rate of hospitalization in liver-related hospital stays, and liver cellular health.

6. Weight Management

The health of your gut plays a key role in appetite and metabolism. So, it’s not surprising that researchers have discovered certain strains of probiotics that support healthy weight loss and maintenance. Dozens of clinical trials have shown that probiotics may help:  

  • Lower the risk of obesity

  • Promote weight loss

  • Reduce BMI (body mass index)

  • Decrease waist and hip measurements

7. Brain Health

Your brain and gut communicate continually over a pathway called the gut-brain axis. The messages your gut sends are heavily influenced by gut bacteria, and can have a huge effect on your mood, thoughts, and emotions. Studies show that probiotics may help: 

  • Improve memory and cognition

  • Slow cognitive decline

  • Reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety

8. Strong Bones and Healthy Joints

Probiotics can helps promote bones strong and joint comfort, according to research. Studies reveal probiotics may help: 

  • Improve bone turnover, the process of replacing brittle bone cells with healthy new bone cells

  • Promote and speed fracture healing

  • Protect against osteoporosis and boost bone density

  • Relieve osteoarthritis pain by helping promote healthy inflammation responses

9. Autoimmune Conditions

Your gut microbiome plays a huge role in immune function. That includes helping your immune system calm down when there’s no threat present. Immune system overreactions are a hallmark feature of autoimmune conditions. Scientists have found that autoimmune disease patients who take probiotics experience fewer flare-ups and less intense symptoms. Autoimmune conditions shown to benefit from probiotics include: 

  • Rheumatoid arthritis

  • Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

  • Multiple sclerosis

  • Lupus

10. Fibromyalgia

A study of more than 150 women found a major link between gut dysbiosis and fibromyalgia — including symptom frequency and intensity. Researchers discovered that fibromyalgia sufferers have significantly different levels of 19 species of bacteria in their gut microbiomes. They also have much lower levels of butyrate due to dysbiosis. Those differences can interfere with neurotransmitter production and function, and lead to confused pain signals, a driving factor in fibromyalgia pain.  

Other studies back up this gut dysbiosis-fibromyalgia connection. In one, researchers found the majority of fibromyalgia patients suffer from gut dysbiosis, which can lead to altered pain signaling. A second study found that people with fibromyalgia have significantly reduced levels of beneficial bacteria responsible for managing key neurotransmitters.  

 

The more we learn about probiotics and the microbiome, the more important it becomes to nourish and replenish this vast network of friendly microbes. With their remarkable ability to transform your health for the better, the right probiotics may just be your best friends forever.

 

PowerBiotic

PowerBiotic

PowerBiotic is a high potency, clinical-grade probiotic formula that works quickly to help flush out bad bacteria in the GI tract, while supporting healthy microbiome balance, robust immunity, and optimal digestive function.*

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