As we age our gut ages before us. There is a little city of bacteria that live inside our intestines throughout our lives. As we get older, they get older too, causing a lot of intestinal disturbances.
One of the most common intestinal issues that people face, as they age, is lactose intolerance. Many people say “I was never lactose intolerant until ….”. The reason is due to the lack of a bacteria called lactobacillus. This is the main bacteria that is needed to digest dairy and milk- unfortunately, it is one of the first ones to die off.
I recommend to all my patients over 50 to take a probiotic daily with mixed bacterium, 30 billion or higher, to assist in your digestion of all foods. It is very important because 70% of our immunity comes from our intestines—it is these bacteria that protect us from the bad bacteria like E. Coli. So please balance your gut by taking a probiotic. Choose a probiotic, like MD Logic, that is individually wrapped to preserve the live bacteria until you are ready to swallow the pill. Most probiotics are thrown in a container and when the bottle is opened the bacteria are exposed to outside elements and they die. It is very difficult to cultivate these bacteria so it is very important to preserve them with individually vacuumed packaging, with no exposure to outside elements. Your probiotic should go from the package to your mouth- giving you the potency your body needs to digest and protect.
Dr. Roxanne Carfora, D.O., P.C. is Board Certified in Anti-aging and Functional Medicine and has been practicing Family Medicine for over 25 years. Dr. Carfora is an international lecturer for PCCA (Professional Compounding Centers of America) on Female Hormonal disorders, as well as, published many articles for cardiovascular disease prevention, women’s health issues, and healthy living topics. Her articles appeared in Newsday Wellness, Image magazine, and Long Island Pulse.
