What are probiotics
Probiotic food is a concept. This was introduced to the world when Nobel laureate Elie Metchnikoff postulated that consuming yoghurt improved longevity in humans. He cited the example of yoghurt consuming Bulgarian peasants to justify his statement. The WHO defines probiotics as those live microorganisms, which if consumed in adequate proportions, confer a health benefit on the consumer.
A more refined definition, which enjoyed the consensus of the WHO and the FAO, was given in October 2001. They defined microorganisms as those substances that when consumed in reasonable amounts by the host may benefit his health. Later, the two organizations mentioned above came up with a document titled “Guidelines for the evaluation of probiotics in food”.
How can probiotics improve kidney health
The effort of the WHO and the FAO received a shot in the arm when government authorities supported probiotics after understanding its benefits. It is observed that chronic kidney disease affects almost 20% of the adult human population above 20 years of age or even older. Such type of kidney disease requires dialysis for its curing. Consuming more good bacteria in the form of probiotic food and fermented food will help a person afflicted with kidney disease to flush out all the bad bacteria present in his body. This supports kidney health. Chronic kidney disease is the disease caused when hypertension is ignored.
One can detoxify the body by employing the tips mentioned below:
- Drink lots of water
- Take the adequate fruit intake
- Include berries in fruit intake
- Incorporate barley into the diet
- Keep away from alcohol, caffeine or chocolate
- Avoid protein
- Include apple cider vinegar in your daily diet
- Drink one or two cups of pure cranberry juice every day
Having given the tips above, it is pertinent to mention that having too much water too affects the kidney health adversely. If you drink too much water, the blood will be diluted resulting in the kidneys not being able to filter it fast enough to maintain the proper sodium balance of the body. Therefore, it can be safely said that the remedy of consuming probiotics to keep kidney disease at bay is a safe cure. Probiotics and fermented foods will flush out the toxins from the body, thus supporting kidney health. Hence, probiotics is a potent solution for keeping the kidneys in top condition.
Conclusion
We praise probiotics as the new way of healthy living, but all this talk should be taken with a pinch of salt. One important condition for probiotics to be effective is that the probiotics must be safe for intended use. The FAO and the WHO recommend minimum tests to assess the suitability of the probiotics for a certain use. These tests include:
- Determination of antibiotic resistance
- Assessment of certain metabolic activities
- Assessment of side effects of the probiotics
- Epidemiological surveillance of adverse effects in consumers
These tests should be carried out on the probiotics before they are administered to the consumers. Only safe bacteria will produce results beneficial for human health.