The #1 supplement every man should take

It’s a tough world out there, and often the things that seem to be beneficial on the outside are insidiously chipping away at your health on the inside.

Conventional and industrial crops, for example, are grown in depleted soils, robbing you of rich sources of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients your body needs.

While things like antibacterial soap, hand sanitizers, and antibiotics sound like positive items to include in your lifestyle, they are changing your relationship with beneficial microorganisms and weakening your immune system.

Good bacteria, aka probiotics, play a critical role in supporting and maintaining a healthy immune system. If you disrupt the balance between the beneficial and harmful bacteria in your gut — which makes up about 80 percent of your immune system — then you place your physical, emotional, and mental health in jeopardy.

That’s because there’s something called the brain-gut axis, which is a bidirectional communication highway between the cognitive and emotional areas of the brain and your intestinal functions.

Therefore, if your gut bacterial environment is out of synch, it not only can cause all types of physical problems—ranging from infections to headache, autoimmune disorders, and nutritional deficiencies, for example — it also can affect your mood and ability to think and reason.

Conversely, signals also travel the other way. If you are anxious about giving a speech or confronting a coworker, signals from your brain can cause your digestive tract to react with stomach upset (“butterflies”) or discomfort.

One solution to the challenge of having a sufficient amount of beneficial bacteria in today’s modern world is to include foods rich in probiotics in your diet. These include fermented items such as tempeh, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchee, and some yogurts. However, it can be difficult to get the probiotics you need from the limited number of foods that provide them.

Therefore, another solution is to take a high-quality probiotic supplement that contains a variety of bacteria species and strains proven to remain potent and viable both on the shelf and in your body until they reach their destination in the gut.

Take probiotics every day for overall, gut, and intestinal health and well-being, and especially if you have been prescribed a course of antibiotics and/or are experiencing compromised immune system function. Taking a probiotic supplement can help restore the bacterial balance in your gut and kick-start your health, energy, and vitality.