Elfin Recite

Why it’s important: You’ve perhaps heard about probiotics, those friendly microbes that help normalize digestion- But to utilize more of them, you require probiotics, carbohydrate fibers (i.e. oligosaccharides) that your stomach and small intestine can’t digest. Once these fibers reach your large intestine, bacteria break them down, feeding the good microbes. “Probiotics increase the number of beneficial bacteria in the intestine and help maintain the populations of friendly bacteria already present there,” says James Versalovic, M.D., Ph.D., the director of microbiology at Texas Children’s Hospital and an associate professor of pathology at Baylor College of Medicine.

How to make the grade?

Along with taking a daily dose of a billion units of probiotics, consume 5 grams of probiotics. Quality yogurts and other fortified dairy products provide plenty of the former, artichokes, wheat-based cereals, onions, garlic, and bananas are particularly rich sources of the latter. Probiotic-fortified foods are also available—look for the words inulin and fructooligosaccharides on a product’s list of ingredients. Or mix a 3-gram scoop of Jarrow Formula’s Inulin FOS with juice or water and drink it twice a day.

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