Striving4Zen

Probiotic strains differ in many ways:

Acid and bile resistance

Many probiotics are not able to survive the acid in the stomach and bile in the small intestine to reach the desired location in the gut (in some cases, fewer than 25% can make it through) – look for acid and bile resistant probiotics.

Colonizers vs. transients

Many probiotics are not able to colonize in the gut, they provide health benefits only on their way through the gut. Colonizers multiply and continue to provide benefits when they reach their destination. This is one of the reasons that some probiotics start with very large numbers of bacteria (often less than 25% even make it to the gut) and then the benefits are very transient. Colonizers can multiply from 100 to 200-fold so 5 billion will become 500 billion or more.

Production of enzymes

Some probiotics are able to produce enzymes that aid in digestion – proteases, lipases, amylases, cellulase and lactase. Natural production of digestive enzymes declines with age so it helps to have the microflora produce additional enzymes.

Production of vitamins

Some probiotics are able to produce vitamins to help the user meet nutritional needs. This is particularly important with vitamin B12 since we lose the ability to absorb B12 as we age.

Production of natural antibiotics

Some probiotics can produce other helpful substances like bacteriocins that reduce numbers of harmful bacteria (one example is acidophilin produced by Lactobacillus acidophilus DDS-1). Certain strains (like DDS-1) can produce hydrogen peroxide that helps to reduce Candida albicans (responsible for yeast overgrowth).

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Labels: bacteria, digestion, digestive enzymes, healthy eating, Holistic Health, nutritional information, Probiotics, vitamin B12

With a few exceptions, few restaurants go out of their way to publish the nutritional information about their food, at least not in any obvious way offline. Much the way D+caf Test Strips have blown the proverbial lid open on caffeine content, however, Fatburgr is a new site that puts together in one place the nutritional facts about a variety of fast-food restaurants and chains.

Some 20 restaurants are currently listed on Fatburgr—including McDonald's, Subway and Chili's, for example—and more are being added every day, the company says. For each of them the site lists the calories, fat, carbs and fiber content for each menu item, and users can sort the list by any of those criteria. Listings can also be searched by food type, and all data is available by iPhone for those needing to make ordering decisions on the go. Fatburgr is free to use.

Besides equipping consumers with information that can help them stay healthier, of course, Fatburgr is also a nice example of what our sister site trendwatching would call transparency tyranny, leaving companies with nowhere to hide the facts they might prefer not be known. On that note, Fatburgr has even set up a "wall of shame"—though it's still empty—for restaurants that won't fork over their nutritional information. Restaurants around the world: Be prepared to open up the truth about your food, or this could happen to you! ;-)

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Labels: Calories, fast food, Fat, innovative, junk food, nutritional information, restaurants