Let's take a brief look at the bacterial population in your gastrointestinal track and see how it affects your acne and health in general.
As I'm sure you are aware there are both good (probiotic) and bad (pathological) bacteria residing inside you. Most of them are found in your small intestine and colon, but they are also in other parts of your body – including your skin. Actually the number of bacteria is 10 times higher than the number of cells in your body. Combined they weight up to 4 pounds.
Those bacteria are not just parasites residing in you. You live in a complete symbiosis with them. As long as we provide them with a reasonable diet and as long as they remain in good health, these bacteria provide excellent service in return.
It seems to be that in order for everything to work properly and you to remain in optimal health at least 85% of the bacteria population should be good bacteria. I presume that you have acne, so it's very likely that the bad bacteria have taken over.
Let's take a look at how these probiotic bacteria benefit you:o They manufacture various vitamins
o They manufacture milk-digesting enzyme lactase o They produce antibacterial substances that kill or deactivate
hostile, acne-causing bacteria.
o Some probiotic bacteria have shown to have powerful
anticarcinogenic features
o They improve absorption of nutrients
o They reduce high cholesterol levels
o They neutralise many toxins in your body
o They help to recycle estrogen (female hormone) which
reduces the likelihood of menopausal symptoms and
osteoporosis
o They protect you against food poisoning
o Improve your immune system
One could summarise that they fight against and counterbalance the effect of harmful bacteria has on your body. Earlier we looked at how overgrowth of harmful bacteria leads to acidity, acne and poor health in general. You could say that the most important function of probiotic bacteria is to keep harmful bacteria at bay.
Maintaining correct balance of good and bad bacteria in your gastrointestinal track is probably the most effective way to fight acne.
How you can then encourage growth of beneficial bacteria in your body. Well, not surprisingly, what's beneficial to human health in general is also beneficial to probiotic bacteria within you. We'll explore that in detail later.