Extraordinary Health Magazine Extraordinary Health Vol 28 | Page 28

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.

26 Extraordinary Health™ • Vol 28

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.