Blended excerpts from various sections of Potential Within YOUR DOG’S HEALTH Authored by Franco Cavaleri ISBN 0-978-0-9731701-1-5
Original post: September 15, 2010
This article is composed of multiple excerpts to result in tone and content shifts and reference numbering that may be out of order.
Probiotics for Digestive Wellness
Some of BNHR research and findings presented in heavily referenced book in order for the body to extract the nutrient building blocks and essential nutrition from food, the gastrointestinal tract must be healthy. The benefits of any diet—healthy or otherwise—cannot be delivered if even mild gut insufficiencies hamper digestion and the absorption of nutrients. Poor gastrointestinal health can result in premature aging in younger animals and accelerated aging in older ones. Anxiety due to separation, depression, excessive physical work, poor quality food, illness, injury, or the stress of surgery all interfere with digestion and nutrient availability.
Poor mineral absorption can be caused by gastric acid deficiency and intestinal disease. Mineral deficiencies lead to hormonal inefficiencies and antioxidant impotence that in turn lead to illness that may never be linked to mineral deficiency. Gastrointestinal inefficiency will eventually result in multiple illnesses. And illness increases the demands for nutrients to aid recovery, setting up a digestive problem that can grow exponentially. RESTORING GUT-FRIENDLY BACTERIA The gut-friendly bacteria of the gastrointestinal tract can make up 40-50percent of immune system activity. Antibiotics, stress, poor quality feeds, chemical toxins, microbes, and more can obliterate this health supportive bacterial culture in a matter of days.
Although many advocates of alternative medicine are passionately against the use of antibiotics, I don’t know where we’d be without these marvels of medicine. It is true that they are overused, and this has resulted in the evolution of drug-resistant strains of microbes, or “superbugs.” However, without antibiotics many common illnesses that are treatable today would otherwise result in mass death, as they did before the introduction of antibiotics. To combat the ill-effects of antibiotic use or simply restore the good bacteria after a stressful time, gut-friendly bacteria (probiotics) must be re-introduced to the digestive system. Otherwise pathogens in the form of yeast, other fungi, or more dangerous invaders like e.coli or streptococci strains can infiltrate and weaken the immune system.
Restoration of these delicate gut-friendly bacteria can be accomplished by administering a variety of the Lactobacillus and bifidobacterium micro-organisms at about fifty billion live organisms per day for two weeks. Products can range from 1 billion per capsule to 50 billion per capsule and more for the mixed blend. Read the label of the probiotic product carefully to determine the potency (live organism count). Keep in mind that the label shows a measure of the potency at manufacturing, so take into account the manufacturing date to establish a comfort level for the product’s potencyat the time of use.
Also make sure that specific strains required for a dog’s gastrointestinal tract are supplied, such as the Lactobacillus reuteri, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, and Bifidobacteriumbifidus. These strains will be detailed in the ingredient list. Once the gut-friendly bacteria have been re-established, a month of maintenance dosing should follow. A daily treatment with a potency of five billion is sufficient to maintain your dog’s healthy state after the two-week inoculation period. After at least six weeks of treatment, probiotic maintenance supplementation should be done one week a month as a precautionary measure, and this regular priming is especially necessary for seniors and animals with recurring ailments.
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