When you think about probiotics, your mind probably goes straight to your gut. After all, the right probiotics help keep your gut microbiome – the trillions of bacteria in your gut – balanced and healthy. And that helps you sidestep things like gas, bloating, constipation and diarrhea. 

Those probiotics also help secure your protective gut barrier. That barrier keeps toxins, food particles, and pathogens (bad bacteria) locked safely inside your gut and out of your bloodstream. Plus, probiotics produce important compounds like essential vitamins and special short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that your body needs for optimal health.  

So while the many benefits of probiotics start in your gut, they don’t end there. In fact, scientists keep discovering new ways that the right probiotics help keep every organ and system in your body healthy… far beyond your gut. But to enjoy those whole-body upgrades, you need clinically studied strains of probiotics – the ones proven to deliver targeted health benefits. 

10 Scientifically Proven Ways Probiotics Promote Vibrant Health 

Practically every day, scientists discover surprising new ways that probiotics affect your overall health.1 Those discoveries include things like helping you fight infections… helping you lose weight and keep it off…  and even improving cancer outcomes. That’s because your gut microbiome plays a part in every aspect of your health and you’re your life. 

Here are ten of the most exciting ways probiotics can keep you alive, strong, sharp, and abundantly healthy. 

1. Manage and Prevent Type 2 Diabetes

Taking the right probiotics can have a dramatic effect on blood sugar levels. Probiotics help your body manage blood sugar more effectively and efficiently, helping move sugar out of your bloodstream and into your cells where it’s needed. Studies show that probiotics help: 

• Lower fasting blood sugar (2)  
• Lower HbA1c, a measure of long-term blood sugar control (3) 
• Improve insulin sensitivity and reduce insulin resistance (4) 

2. Improve Cholesterol and Triglycerides Levels

Your body needs just the right amount of cholesterol and triglycerides. When levels rise too high, these blood lipids (fats) can affect your circulation and heart health. When they drop too low – which can happen with cholesterol-lowering drugs – that can damage your brain health and hormone production. Probiotics help keep cholesterol and triglycerides in just the right balance by: 

• Increasing HDL (good cholesterol) levels (5) 
• Keeping total cholesterol at the right level (6)
• Lowering LDL (bad cholesterol) levels (7 ) 
• Reducing high triglycerides levels (7)

Probiotics tackle cholesterol in three key ways: (8)

• Produce SCFAs, such as propionic acid, that reduce cholesterol production in the liver 
• Break down bile acids, which forces the liver to use existing cholesterol to make more bile acids 
• Eat excess cholesterol as a preferred food 

3. Control Blood Pressure

Blood pressure measures how hard your blood pushes on the walls of your blood vessels as it flows through. When you have high blood pressure – also known as hypertension – the force of your circulating blood is too much for your arteries to manage. That increases your risk for several severe health problems, including stroke, kidney disease, and dementia. Probiotics help keep your blood flowing smoothly at just the right level of pressure. And studies show that probiotic bacteria can: 

• Reduce arterial stiffness, which helps those blood vessels remain flexible and elastic so they can handle variations in pressure (9) 
• Lower blood pressure levels, especially when it’s elevated (10)
• Treat hypertension to reduce the risk of complications (11)

4. Prevent Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular disease – conditions that affect your heart and blood vessels – is the leading cause of death in the U.S. It kills more than 655,000 Americans every year… causing a death every 36 seconds. But with the help of clinically studied probiotics, you can keep your whole cardiovascular system performing properly. Along with tackling cholesterol and taming blood pressure, probiotics also help your cardiovascular system by: 

• Lowering levels of a compound called TMAO that’s associated with heart attacks and strokes12 
• Decreasing oxidative stress, which is closely linked with several cardiovascular conditions including blood vessel disease and heart failure13 
• Significantly reducing inflammation by lowering levels of pro-inflammatory compounds called cytokines 

5. Protect Against Liver Disease

Probiotics help your liver do its most important jobs, such as removing toxins from your body and storing essential nutrients. And when your liver can’t work effectively, your overall health can go downhill very quickly… but probiotics can help prevent that by: 

• Effectively treating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) by reducing liver inflammation and improving liver health (14) 
• Treating cirrhosis, an end-stage liver disease, by reducing liver scarring (fibrosis) (15)  
• Reducing disease severity and rate of hospitalization for patients with end-stage liver disease (16) 
• Prevent or treat liver cancer (17) 

6. Weight Management

Probiotics play a key role in appetite and metabolism, so it’s no wonder they can have a dramatic impact on your weight. Dozens of clinical trials have shown that probiotics help: 

• Prevent obesity (18)
• Promote weight loss (19) 
• Reduce BMI (body mass index) (20) 
• Decrease waist and hip measurements (20) 

7. Improve and Protect Brain Function

Your brain and gut communicate constantly over a pathway called the gut-brain axis. The messages your gut sends are heavily influenced by gut bacteria, and can have a huge effect on your thinking and emotions. Studies show that probiotics help: 

• Improve memory and cognition (21) 
• Slow cognitive decline (22) 
• Reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety (23, 24)

8. Strengthen Bones and Joints

Probiotics do much more than you’d expect to keep your bones strong and joints comfortable. In addition to controlling inflammation – which goes a long way toward relieving joint pain – probiotics also: 

• Improve bone turnover, where your body removes old, brittle bone cells and replaces them with fresh, healthy new bone cells (25)
• Promote and speed fracture healing (26)
• Protect against osteoporosis and increase bone density (27)
• Relieve osteoarthritis pain (28)

9. Moderate Autoimmune Conditions

Your gut microbiome plays a huge role in immune function. That includes helping your immune system calm down when there’s no threat present. Immune system overreactions cause autoimmune conditions, and patients taking probiotics suffer from fewer flare-ups and less intense symptoms.29 Probiotics have been found helpful for patients suffering from autoimmune conditions such as: 

• Rheumatoid arthritis (30)
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (31) 
• Multiple sclerosis (32) 
• Lupus (33)  

10. Prevent and Treat Cancer

Probiotics show great promise in the fight against cancer. Dozens of studies show that probiotic supplements help prevent and treat cancer. (34, 35), On top of that, probiotics also substantially reduce the unbearable side effects of standard cancer treatments like chemotherapy, vastly improving patient outcomes., (36, 37) Probiotics can benefit many different kinds of cancer including: 

• Colorectal (38) 
• Breast (39) 
• Prostate (40) 
• Lung (41)  

Using the Right Probiotic Formula Matters 

You won’t get this amazing range of benefits from just any old probiotic you grab off the grocery store shelves. For your best health, you’ll need the specific probiotic strains proven to deliver healing effects. Look for a probiotic formula that contains these scientifically proven strains: 

• B. longum (42) 
• L. acidophilus (43) 
• L. casei (44) 
• L. rhamnosus (45) 
• L. salivarius (46) 
• L. lactis (47) 
• B. lactis (48) 
• S. thermophiles (49) 

Each of these ‘friendly’ bacterial strains delivers targeted health benefits. And when you combine them in a single powerful restorative formula, they can keep your entire body strong and healthy. 

To boost their probiotic benefits, look for a formula that includes special prebiotic fiber like Modified Citrus Pectin to nourish and sustain them. Plus, you’ll want to add in probiotic-protective herbs like ginger and fennel that help maintain a healthy gut microbiome.  

You can get all of this in a live-fermented, fast-acting certified organic probiotic formula containing 19 digestive herbs that are activated by the power of fermentation. This unparalleled pre + probiotic formula is making a significant difference for people seeking advanced GI support and relief of digestive discomfort.  

The more we learn about probiotics and the microbiome, the more important it becomes to nourish and replenish this vast network of friendly microbes. With their remarkable ability to transform your health for the better, the right probiotics may just be your best friends forever.