How Lactobacillus Rhamnosus Promotes Digestive Healing

It has long been understood that various friendly flora are vital to a healthy balance of power within your digestive tract.  Part of this is a simple numbers game wherein you need enough of the friendly types to keep other types in lower numbers. Such friendly flora work hand-in-glove with fiber to assist digestive processes, produce vitamins, and clear toxic waste. There is a lot going on, with various types of bacteria performing various functions. A new study has demonstrated how one strain of friendly flora helps heal the lining of your digestive tract¹.

Lactobacillus rhamnosus is a typical friendly inhabitant of your digestive tract – at least you should hope it is in there. It is typically used in the production of yogurt and other fermented foods, as well as being available as a dietary supplement. It has long been known to prevent the adhesion of unwanted bacteria to the lining of your digestive tract.

As it now turns out Lactobacillus rhamnosus promotes the healing of the epithelial cell barrier that protects your digestive lining from the potentially hostile contents within your gut. Any infectious attack or toxic insult against the lining of your gut means that epithelial cells are invaded or damaged. This process injures parts of the epithelial barrier, exposing your digestive tract lining to inflammation. Maintaining the integrity of your epithelial cell barrier is essential for your front line of defense.

The new study shows that as Lactobacillus rhamnosus comes into contact with an epithelial cell it actually triggers the production of a free radical within the epithelial cell. While I often discuss free radicals in terms of damage, many types of free radicals are used in normal chemistry processes in your body and this is an example of that. In this case, the free radical triggers the production of focal adhesions, structures on intestinal epithelial cells that act as anchors for their movement. In turn, this enables the epithelial cell to reform the matrix that connects them together to fill in the injured area with a new protective coating.

The epithelial cells that comprise your digestive lining are in a constant state of turnover. The outer layer is new every day and several layers down is new every three days. This study proves that certain types of friendly flora are essential for this process to work well, especially if some type of inflammatory insult has damaged the lining. In this regard, friendly flora would be synergistic with many other nutrients. I recently reported that DHA Docosahexaenoic acid Essential omega 3 fatty acid integral to the health of all cell membranes, nerve and brain function. Must be gotten through the diet via cold water oceanic fish or some very limited plant sources or taken as a supplement. reduces the inflammation in the epithelial cells, helping them to function better in general.  Also, raw materials are needed to rebuild the endothelial cells Single layer of cells that line the internal lining of blood vessels. They are involved with control of vascular tone and blood pressures along with exchange fo gas and metabolic products and extravasation of immune compounds.. Such raw material and related cofactors are present in colostrum as well as whey protein, including specially filtered whey protein that has molecular weights targeted for improved digestive function.  Nutrients such as glutamine and N-acetyl-glucosamine are two other examples. Your goal is to have enough nutritional support to clearly have improved digestive function which means fewer digestive symptoms and preferably no symptoms.