Did you know...
If you straighten all the folds and bends of the intestine, then its surface can take up to 400 square meters. m - this area is comparable to the size of the basketball court.
The total weight of the microflora of our intestines is from 3 to 4 kg.
The fact is that bacteria are much smaller than our own cells.
If beneficial microorganisms are prevailing, then the person is cheerful, fresh and workable. However, in the time of Mechnikov, there were no special functional products promoting the natural growth of useful microflora. By the beginning of the XXI century, such products have appeared. One of the most effective and easy to use is yoghurt "Hermigurt Prebiotic". Light, delicious, and most importantly, useful for our microflora, and therefore - for our health in general.
Basically , our microflora consists of bacteria. Most of it lives in the intestines. The entire microflora can be conditionally divided into two warring camps. On the one hand - useful bacteria, the most famous of which - bifido - and lactobacilli. On the other - harmful, pathogenic. To overestimate the influence of microflora on health and general tone of a person is impossible. When the beneficial intestinal microflora prevails over the harmful one, it is able to render our body truly invaluable help:
digest the insoluble components of food;
protect the body from harmful pathogenic flora;
maintain immunity;
to develop vitamins;
lower cholesterol;
nourish the cells of the large intestine;
prevent intestinal cancer and other serious diseases.
Intestinal microflora is able to break down some components of food (primarily carbohydrates), which our body can not digest independently. For example, splitting vegetative fiber and extracting substances from it, we can only thanks to a beneficial microflora.
The second most important function of useful microflora is to protect our body. The logic of this protection is simple: the more "good" microorganisms, the less harmful. Creating around a friendly microenvironment, a useful microflora suppresses and "survives" harmful bacteria, preventing them from multiplying. There are other, equally important for health "services" of useful microflora.
When processing useful bacteria for certain carbohydrates, short-chain fatty acids are formed, which have a positive effect on metabolism. Moreover, our intestinal cells use these acids as a source of energy. Useful microflora also helps us to absorb calcium. And everyone knows that calcium is necessary for strengthening bones, and for normal work of the nervous tissue and all muscles.
In addition, a useful microflora produces substances that the body itself can not create - for example, vitamins that have a beneficial effect on the intestine and the entire body as a whole.
Another very important property of useful microflora is that it helps us to lower the level of cholesterol in the blood, which means it reduces the risk of atherosclerosis.
And, finally, scientific research has perfectly proved that normal healthy microflora prevents the development of a number of very unpleasant diseases, among them - intestinal cancer.
All these important functions useful microflora can easily be performed when it is in a normal state. But, unfortunately, the useful microflora is vulnerable, like a greenhouse plant; harmful, the same bacteria, on the contrary, as is often the case in life, incredibly tenacious. It is worthwhile to weaken the useful microflora, its abundance is sharply reduced, and its "territory" is occupied by pathogenic bacteria.
Uncontrolled growth of harmful microflora leads to various unpleasant consequences, the most common of which is dysbiosis. Dysbacteriosis - this is the state of the disturbed balance of microflora, when harmful bacteria begin to dominate the body. In modern society, especially among the urban population, dysbacteriosis is extremely common. It is believed that it is present in 70% -80% of the townspeople. In this case, in many cases, dysbiosis can generally not be manifested externally. It seems that a person is healthy, only his kind is always tired, diffused, unhappy and, of course, not optimistic. So the state of the disturbed balance of the microflora can manifest itself.
If we take into account all the factors that influence the appearance of dysbiosis, then we are all at risk. But young children, adolescents, pregnant women, elderly people and those of us who often get sick are especially prone to dysbacteriosis. The microflora of the intestine can also affect the health status.