Integrated Learning Therapy places great value on a healthy digestive system. Our knowledge about the importance of nutrition for brain health naturally evolved into a concern for the state of our clients’ guts. More specifically, for the contents of their guts. There is little doubt that having a gut stocked with healthy bacteria and other beneficial organisms (collectively called the microbiome) puts a child at an advantage when it comes to school success. The question is: if you suspect that gut problems are present in your child, how can you try to improve matters? How can you help him or her grow a healthy gut garden? This article is summarized from the book ‘Follow your gut’ by Rob Knight (A TED Book published by Simon and Schuster).
As with any garden, it is necessary to nurture the existing plants by feeding them or preparing the ground for new plants by digging in nutrients. This is where prebiotics come in. There isn’t a universal definition for prebiotics but according to the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics, prebiotics are “nondigestible substances that provide a beneficial physiological effect for the host by selectively stimulating the favorable growth or activity of a limited number of indigenous bacteria.”[1] In simpler language, prebiotics are largely soluble fibres that occur naturally in some fruits and vegetables. They provide nutrition for the cells that line our intestines and also produce some of the benefits of natural high-fibre diets. One of the major benefits is that they stimulate the growth of health-promoting microbes. It is logical then to assume that children who struggle to eat enough fruits and vegetables might lack these fibres and so also lack a healthy microbiome.
There are as yet no clear guidelines as to what you should do to improve matters if your child resists fibrous vegetables but at the very least, it can do no harm to provide a prebiotic supplement.
Secondly, once you’ve dug in some compost, you need to put healthy plants into your garden. These are the probiotics that play such an important role our physical and mental health.
They are mainly bacteria that are found naturally occurring in the human gut or in fermented foods (such as yoghurt, naturally fermented sauerkraut and kimchi). Probiotics are defined as live microorganisms that, when administered in sufficient quantities, benefit health. Briefly, they are the ‘good’ or ‘helpful’ or ‘beneficial’ bacteria. If you suspect that gut health is compromised by a lack of these good bacteria, or if your child has had a course of antibiotics that will effective destroy the entire crop that might have been present before an illness, you may consider trying to replace them with supplements, yoghurts, fermented foods and even suppositories.
The problem is that probiotic products have not been formally approved nor have health claims been accepted by official food and drug organisations. This means that you have to be very careful of the product you choose to buy.
There has been huge interest in probiotics in recent years – especially in view of new insights to the significance of gut health for so many different medical conditions. These range from depression to autism with a myriad of other health conditions along the way, including Crohn’s disease, constipation, insulin resistance and autoimmune diseases like Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and even ADHD. Several clinical trials have been done with plenty more in the pipeline. But there is a big problem.
The problem is that currently, there’s a lot more hype than solid research to give concrete evidence to what strains of probiotics are effective for what conditions and which manufacturers can be trusted. If you visit your Health Shop or pharmacist, you’ll see lots of bottles filled with probiotics that are advertised as guaranteed to make your garden flourish. The downside is the lack of real evidence that any of them will work and no insight to which strains will work for you. In addition, you won’t know whether or not the product contains any live organisms after being freeze-dried and shipped long distances to sit on a shelf. Those in the know will tell you that microorganisms need very specific conditions to survive.
Once you try to overcome these hurdles, you will be faced with the biggest problem. This is that many people assume that any probiotic will do. It’s like saying that you took a drug because you weren’t feeling well without being able to specify what drug or why you chose it. Having a friend recommend a probiotic or a pharmacy assistant hand you one casually might lead to very limited results. The best you can do is to ask your doctor or pharmacist for a brand that has some good results (randomized, controlled trial data) supporting its effectiveness. Better still, try to find one that has proved success in treating the specific problem you identify and describe to the pharmacist.
Failing that, live, unsweetened, plain yoghurt is unlikely to hurt. If your child dislikes yoghurt, blend some fruit into it to make a smoothie. Don’t buy the yoghurt containing fruit. That isn’t a food – it’s a sweet dessert with no particular nutritional value.
So choosing a probiotic is not an easy thing to do. It is, however, worthwhile persevering because from our own experience, ILT practitioners have seen notable improvements in children whose gut gardens have been tended and begin to flourish.
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[1] www.worldgastroenterology.org/assets/downloads/en/pdf/guidelines/19_probiotics_prebiotics.pdf