Lana Asprey

“Probiotics are one of the best supplements you can take to avoid an intestinal imbalance. They strengthen the intestinal walls and manufacture vital nutrients. They also help the body to use nutrients and fight harmful microbes in the GI tract. Your body actually contains about ten times as many probiotic bacteria cells as it does human cells! You simply couldn't survive without these little creatures. Probiotics protect us from a number of health problems, including food allergies and skin problems. Probiotics also play a key role in the female reproductive system. Like the GI tract, the vagina contains and relies on a delicate ecosystem for optimal health. The Lactobacillus strains that populate the walls of the vagina make the environment too acidic for most intruders, thus protecting the vagina and the womb from infection. Just like the GI tract, however, this ecosystem can easily become disrupted by the exact same causes: antibiotics and stress. Spermicides and birth control pills can also cause an imbalance. Imbalances can usually be remedied with therapeutic doses of Lactobacillus acidophilus. When you buy probiotic supplements, it's important to know which strains of probiotic bacteria are in the supplement. Each strain and substrain offers its own unique benefits. The Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains are found naturally in the human GI tract and offer countless health benefits. They're the most prevalent strains you'll find in supplements. Lactobacillus GG, sold as Culturelle, is the best studied. Bacillus subtilis is a wonderfully beneficial probiotic that does not occur naturally in humans but is found in many probiotic supplements. It's excellent at killing pathogens and unwanted microorganisms. If B. subtilis is on the ingredients list of your probiotic supplement, you have a gentle friend offering powerful protection. Probiotic supplements come in capsules and powders. They're alive yet dormant when you get them in this form and become active when exposed to warmth and moisture inside your body. Either form is fine, but it's critical to take them on an empty stomach (when your stomach acid levels are low). Even though they can live in the intestines, most probiotics don't survive stomach acid. Enteric-coated capsules help, too. During pregnancy, the advantage to taking probiotic supplements instead of fermented probiotic sources like kombucha, kefir, or yogurt is that the exact strains you're getting are tightly controlled. The cultures used in fermented foods aren't always tightly controlled, so you run the risk of ingesting organisms like yeasts, which produce toxins.”
― Lana Asprey, The Better Baby Book: How to Have a Healthier, Smarter, Happier Baby

“Soy Even though a wide range of products made from soybeans have been marketed as a health food in recent years, research proves that (unfermented) soy is extremely unhealthy. Most soy products in the United States are not fermented. Unfermented soy is a problem for the following reasons: 1. It contains dangerous quantities of antinutrients, which are substances that block the body from absorbing important nutrients. The most notable are hemagglutinin, goitrogens, and phytic acid. Hemagglutinin promotes unhealthy blood clotting and blocks oxygen. Goitrogens prevent iodine from reaching the thyroid. Without iodine, the thyroid can enlarge and malfunction. Phytic acid blocks the body's absorption of essential minerals like calcium and magnesium. 2. It has lots of phytoestrogens, which do damage by mimicking estrogen inside the body. 3. It contains lysinoalanine, a known toxin, and nitrosamines, which are known carcinogens. 4. It has harmful levels of the mineral manganese and dangerous amounts of aluminum from being processed in aluminum containers. 5. It has a high risk of contamination with mycotoxins. 6. It is almost always genetically modified. As you can see, soy has pretty much everything going against it. Fortunately, it's easy to avoid processed soy in the United States because it must be listed as an ingredient on product labels. Most soy in Asian cuisine is different because it's been fermented. Fermentation greatly decreases the antinutrient and phytic acid levels. Fermented soy products include tempeh, miso, and natto. Most of these products are still highly processed and artificial, though, and soy sauce naturally contains MSG. To avoid GMO soy, make sure that any fermented soy product you eat is organic, or better yet just don't eat it at all. Even in areas of the world like Asia where fermented soy is common, people actually don't eat much of it. A 1998 study found that Japanese men eat only about eight grams of soy per day (a teaspoon or two). The average misguided American consumes far more than this when he drinks a glass of soy milk or eats a soy burger (and these soy products aren't even fermented).”
― Lana Asprey, The Better Baby Book: How to Have a Healthier, Smarter, Happier Baby