Special Section
Probiotics , Prebiotic Fiber & Healthy Pregnancy
by David Perlmutter , M . D ., Board Certified Neurologist , # 1 New York Times Best-Selling Author & Fellow of the American College
It has been only recently that we have embraced a dramatic shift in our perception of bacteria and the role that they play in terms of human health . Far from being the agents of infectious diseases , by and large , we now recognize that most of the bacteria that live within us are actually supporting our health .
There ’ s an astounding amount of research being published these days revealing the important role of probiotic gut bacteria in terms of regulating our blood sugar , controlling inflammation , stabilizing our immune systems and even producing various brain chemicals that affect our mood from moment to moment .
And perhaps nowhere is the research more exciting than in the areas of prenatal and postnatal health . How exciting and indeed empowering it is to embrace the notion that the health and diversity of the organisms living within the mother ’ s intestines ( her microbiome ) have a profound role to play in terms of the health outcome of her baby .
There are several important mechanisms that relate fetal development to the health and diversity of the mother ’ s gut bacteria :
1 . A healthier mother makes for a healthier baby . In all of us , having healthy gut bacteria helps control body weight as well as blood sugar . Excessive weight gain as well as elevated blood sugar not only represent direct health threats to women when they ’ re pregnant , but also lead to significant increased risk for health issues in newborn babies .
2 . Mother ’ s gut bacteria manufacture some important chemicals that affect fetal development . Look at any prenatal vitamin , and no doubt you will see that it contains a healthy dose of folate . The reason folate is included in prenatal vitamins is because it ’ s clearly been shown that when folate is deficient , there is an increased risk for neurological problems in terms of fetal development . As it turns out , folate is aggressively produced by our gut bacteria , especially the Bifidobacteria .
3 . At the time of birth , the emerging newborn passes through the birth canal . And this event is a critically important process in establishing a newborn ’ s microbiome in terms of his or her gut bacteria . When the baby is born , his or her initial microbiome very much reflects the array of bacteria acquired during the actual birth process . New research reveals that the mother ’ s gut bacteria significantly influences the diversity of the bacteria in the birth canal , and as such , influences the newborn ’ s microbiome as well . Mother ’ s gut bacteria are actually transported throughout her body . They can be found in the placenta , the umbilical cord and even in the birth canal where they , in turn , seed the newborn , basically anointing the baby with the seeds for his or her developing microbiome .
26 Extraordinary Health ™ • Vol 28