What Are Probiotics?
Probiotic supplements and probiotic foods contain active cultures and healthy bacteria found naturally in the human microbiome. You can find probiotics in fermented foods, milk, yogurt, and other dietary supplements. The most common types of probiotics include:
- Lactobacillus (such as Lactobacillus rhamnosus or Lactobacillus acidophilus)
- Saccharomyces boulardii
- Bifidobacterium
- Streptococcus
- Escherichia
- Enterococcus
What Is the Human Microbiome?
The human body hosts billions of good and bad bacteria, viruses, and fungi called the microbiome. When the harmful, infection-causing bacteria outnumber the good bacteria, you can get sick. A balanced microbiome supports health in both children and adults.
All the good bacteria the microbiome contains are essential to basic bodily functions, such as:
- Digesting food
- Absorbing vitamins and nutrients
- Fighting against germs.
Unfortunately, a child’s microbiome can become easily unbalanced. It is also different compared to an adult’s, so it is essential to give your child the correct probiotic strains.
You can check out the brands we use here at Tastyganics, including Holle, Hipp, and Lebenswert, which have all the good bacteria and live cultures your child needs to grow up healthy and strong.
What Are the Benefits of Giving Your Child Probiotic Supplements?
The integrative health benefits of probiotics for kids are the primary reason why taking a probiotic supplement every day can provide such a significant head start in life, especially for infants. A complementary and integrative health approach focuses on treating the body as a whole. It takes diet, good bacteria, and immune health into account.
The effects of probiotics vary based on the strain and type your child consumes, but they all help improve overall health and wellness.
Improves Digestion and Gut Health
Giving your child a daily probiotic can help improve gut health and digestion. As a parent, you know how fast your child is growing every day. That rapid growth is why adding probiotics to your child’s diet is incredibly important.
Giving your child probiotics provide them with the essential nutrients and gut bacteria they need. Probiotics help your child’s digestive system:
- Easily break down food
- Strengthen the intestinal lining
- Ensure proper nutrient absorption
Probiotics can even help relieve the symptoms of gastrointestinal disorders, like irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease.
Another common issue for very sick infants is antibiotic-related diarrhea. Giving probiotics to babies suffering from this can help relieve their symptoms as much as a day earlier.
Helps Prevent Certain Medical Conditions
Are probiotics safe? Yes, they are. In fact, certain foods with active cultures and probiotics help prevent certain medical conditions in children, such as respiratory infections, acid reflux, and colic.
Upper respiratory tract infections, such as colds or sinus infections, are extremely common for children. Giving your child probiotics can help prevent those infections. Providing your kids with protection against these illnesses is invaluable, especially for children with compromised immune systems in the age of COVID-19.
Have you spent the night caring for a colicky baby? Probiotics could be the solution you are looking for to help your little one. A study from the American Academy of Pediatrics found that certain probiotic bacteria strains, like Lactobacillus reuteri, relieved colic symptoms so effectively that the babies even cried less.
Supports Immune Health
No parent wants their child to have a compromised immune system. However, giving probiotic supplements to your little ones can help them fight off bad germs.
Did you know that over 70% of the human immune system is in the gut? By giving your child probiotic-rich foods or probiotics in supplement form, you support healthy immune function. The good bacteria in the probiotics ensure that the immune system effectively responds to harmful germs before they impact your children’s health.
Improves Skin Health
Probiotics can also improve skin health. Evidence-based research focuses on probiotics’ effects on certain skin conditions, like atopic dermatitis (eczema), psoriasis, and even acne. Probiotics can help your child have healthy skin from the inside out by:
- Keeping their gut lining healthy
- Relieving inflammation
- Increasing the number of good bacteria in the gut
A study published in Clinical & Experimental Allergy showed that infants given yogurt regularly for the first year of life have up to a 70% lower risk of developing eczema and allergies. Those numbers are a powerful incentive to give your little one probiotic supplements as part of their daily regimen.
Give Your Child the Good Start in Life They Need with a Probiotic Supplement
As parents and caregivers ourselves, we know how important your children’s health is to you. You can help your child stay happy, healthy, and thriving with Tastyganics probiotics. The health and wellness benefits of probiotics for kids include improving digestion, gut health, and immune health. Order Tastyganics probiotics today and give your child the best possible start in life.