Episode 30: Probiotics in Children

Episode 30: Probiotics in Children

Today, I wanted to share some simple information about probiotics, prebiotics, and how they can help keep our gut and immune system in “tip top” shape.

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https://nourishwithkarina.com/feedingbabies
https://nourishwithkarina.com/3-week-feeding-kids-reset

Highlights:

Introduction (00:00.00)
Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Gut Health (00:30.638)
Gut Health and Probiotics (02:32.878)
Probiotics for Gut Issues (04:57.102)
Gut Health and Probiotics (07:18.574)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

Today, I wanted to share some simple information about probiotics, prebiotics, and how they can help keep our gut and immune system in “tip top” shape. In this episode, we’ll cover:

1. Understanding Probiotics: What they are, how they benefit our gut, and why they’re essential for a robust immune system, especially in children.

2. The Cellular Magic: How probiotics work at a cellular level to fortify our gut lining and protect against infections.

3. Beyond the Gut: Exploring the role of probiotics in managing allergies, eczema, irritable bowel issues, and the impact on mood and food metabolism.

4. Natural Sources vs. Supplements: Discovering where we can find probiotics in natural foods and when supplements can be particularly beneficial.

5. The Power of Prebiotics: Unveiling the importance of prebiotics as food for our gut bugs, including which dietary fibre are essential for gut health.

If you’re a mum looking to boost your child’s immune system, manage gut issues, or simply improve overall health, this episode is for you! And don’t forget to leave me a review if you like what you hear!!

Learn more about my membership program, head over to: https://nourishwithkarina.com/membership

Introduction (00:00.302)
You're listening to the Easy Feed Podcast, episode number 30, probiotics in children. Hi there, I'm Karina Savage and with over 20 years experience feeding children, including my own, I've learned all the secrets that busy mums need to get their children eating better and actually enjoying healthy foods. So a huge welcome to the Easy Feed Podcast.

Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Gut Health (00:30.638)
Hi and welcome back. Today we're talking about something that I literally talked about three, four hours ago on live national TV, Sunrise 7. I was asked to do a segment on probiotics and I thought what a perfect podcast topic. I love this area as you know, being a gut geek. So I thought I would share a little 101 on probiotics, prebiotics and gut health with you today. So.

Let's dive into, first of all, what are probiotics? Well, probiotics are live bacteria or yeast that when we ingest them, give us health benefits. So probiotics act to top up the good bugs in our gut. We have bugs in our gut. It's called our gut microbiome. And we want a good balance of good bugs and bad bugs in our gut.

Because that is crucial to make sure that our immune system, which is mainly in our gut, is working at full capacity. So we need our immune system to be working at full capacity so we don't get sick. So our children don't get sick. And that's where probiotics can definitely play a role because they can top up the good bacteria and they can just make sure that they are in good balance and basically in balance with

the bad bacteria so that our immune system works to its full capacity.

Probiotics at the gut cellular level, and I didn't have time to go into the detail today, but at the gut cellular level, they help to tighten the cell junctions and provide a thicker mucus layer so that it's more protected against bacteria and viruses that are presented to the cell surface in the gastrointestinal tract. So we want to have a nice tight cell junction and thick mucus layer.

Gut Health and Probiotics (02:32.878)
so that we don't get sick. And I actually did talk about this a little in my podcast episode number 27 on gut health in kids, because we do want that really tight cell junction. We don't want it to be leaky. I think I used the analogy of houses that were too far apart and that were too leaky. We wanted like literally two houses that were slammed together. Actually, we wanted a semi where there's literally no gap between the two houses.

And because we don't want anything getting through into our system, we don't want a leaky gut. So that's where probiotics can definitely help to support really solid gut integrity so that we don't get sick, so that our children don't get sick. Probiotics can also help with conditions such as allergies, especially children outgrowing or trying to outgrow allergies, eczema, gut issues, irritable bowel, or when we're having to take antibiotics.

Probiotics can definitely be beneficial during those times to help reduce the negative side effects of antibiotics. Probiotics also play a role in mood and they also influence how we metabolise food. So probiotics can definitely be valuable to our health. So if we talk now about where we get probiotics from food naturally. Probiotics are naturally found in fermented food products such as cassia.

you've got yogurt, you've got fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut or kimchi, got fermented soybeans, otherwise known as tempeh, miso, you've got kombucha. So there's lots of fermented food products that offer you natural probiotics. They're in lower concentrations than what you would find in supplement form.

But supplement forms can be useful for particular situations. So for example, when you need to take antibiotics, robotics can definitely be helpful to reduce nausea and diarrhea that can be caused by antibiotics. Make sure you take them two hours apart from antibiotics though. That's really important tip there. Probotics, as I said, with children who have food allergies and you're trying to help them outgrow their food allergy, the LGG robotic is very beneficial for.

Probiotics for Gut Issues (04:57.102)
that situation. Also, people with IBS can sometimes benefit from probiotics and that's a good combination is the LGG and the SB Fluoractives. So there's a brand that does a combination of those. Actually, there's a few brands that do a combination of those too. Or even one or the other would be better than nothing if you are wanting to try probiotics for gut issues. The LGG probiotic has also been shown to be beneficial for people suffering with eczema.

And look, it's not going to work to everybody, but it's certainly worth a try if you haven't tried it. The next thing I want to talk about is prebiotics. Now prebiotics are the food for the probiotics. It's their breakfast, lunch and dinner. And we want to make sure that our gut bugs are well fed because then that keeps the good gut bugs healthy and active. And that's what we want. Remember for our good immune health. So we want to feed them.

good food so that they stay healthy and well -fed. So prebiotics are really dietary fibers and dietary fibers is what we need to be eating on a daily basis to make sure that our gut bugs are well -fed and it just keeps everything working well. It also helps to bulk up our poo and keep it moving through our bowel well so that we don't get constipated. So dietary fibers are really important.

for many reasons, but definitely they are a valuable probiotic for our gut bugs and we need to be including them daily because if we don't, then our gut bugs turn on themselves. Not sorry, not turn on themselves. Because if we don't, then our gut bugs turn on our own mucus lining to eat the fiber in that. And then that's what makes our gut leaky. So we don't want that. We need the gut bugs to be well fed. So

feeding our gut bugs with dietary fibers such as fresh fruits. So bananas are a really good one. Apples, pears, vegetables, especially your leafy greens. We want to make sure that we're giving our kids fiber -rich breads and cereals. So grainy bread or wholemeal bread and, you know, cereals that have oats in them or sultana bread or wheat bix or muesli or granola or peanut butter on toast. You know, all of these foods that I've just

Gut Health and Probiotics (07:18.574)
mention are rich in dietary fibre. And that's what's going to be really valuable for their gut health. So in summary, we've got the probiotics, which are the live bacteria or yeast that when we eat them, they give us health benefits and they help to top up the good bugs that are already in our gut. And they're very useful on a regular basis, but especially after you might've been sick or had a bad gastric because it just helps to

put those good bugs back into your system. And then you need to feed them and keep them alive and well and keep them growing in good communities. And that's where we need the prebiotics to feed our gut bugs. And that's the dietary fiber. That's the fresh fruit and vegetables, the nuts, the seeds, the oats, grainy bread. And that's going to keep those gut bugs in good health and keep our immune system and our children's immune system firing to its full capacity.

which means they're happier, they're healthier, their mood is better, their behavior is better, and there's less trips to the doctor. So there's the little 101 on probiotics, prebiotics, and gut health. If you've got any questions, please send me a message on Instagram, flick me an email, I'd love to hear from you, and please leave me a review if you get the chance. Have a beautiful week and can't wait to chat soon. Bye for now.