Protect your body with probiotics

Yakult has a unique strain in its milk drink that has been proven to boost immunity. Excerpts from an interview with Raneen Tenbakji, a Clinical Nutritionist at Yakult Middle East, on the importance of probiotics

What are probiotics?

Probiotics are live, naturally occurring microorganisms that live in our bodies. In other words, they are beneficial bacteria. The word bacteria is often viewed as something harmful, but with probiotics, it is not the case.

Aside from occurring naturally in our bodies, they have also been found in fermented foods such as yoghurt, kefir, kimchi and are now given as supplements as well.

Many studies are being performed to witness the benefits of probiotics and what good they bring to our bodies. Some of these benefits include: regulating our bowel movements, managing symptoms of various digestive disorders, fighting the occurrence of cancer cells and boosting the immune system.

How is the immune system boosted with probiotics?

With more than 100 trillion bacteria, both good and bad living in our body, the number of beneficial ones must outnumber the harmful ones to keep our body in balance. It has been proven that 70 per cent of immunity lies within our guts.