Individuals who choose to follow what's referred to as a "Paleo" diet — referring to eating only foods that could have been eaten by our early ancestors, staying away from modern chemicals and foods — may be challenged to add probiotics to their health regimens.
Probiotics can be added to the diet through foods, and in fact, some people believe it is the changing diet patterns of the past decades that have eliminated some of the natural ways in which we get probiotics. For instance, fermentation was a common way of saving food in the days when refrigeration wasn't available – and fermented foods are a source of probiotics.
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Fermented foods like yogurt, cheese, and fermented vegetables and fish can be added to the Paleo diet,
according to the website PaleoLeap.
The website, which explains the Paleo lifestyle and offers tips for making changes in your diet, addressed the challenge of whether people following the prehistoric diet need to take supplements. In the author's opinion, probiotics may be one supplement that most people on the Paleo diet need.
"I think everybody coming from a western or vegetarian diet, especially those who took antibiotics in the past, have a damaged gut flora in some way," the author wrote. "It can be minimal or very debilitating and can be contributing to a leaky gut, but everybody should take care of their gut health because most modern problems come from a disrupted digestive system."
The website recommends a "high potency and high quality probiotic" with multiple strains of lactobacillus and bifidobacterium.
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"I think probiotics need special attention because they’re much harder to get the natural way nowadays. There were no antibiotics and nothing was sanitized in the time of our ancestors," the site said. "They also ate dirt all the time. Today, everything is sanitized and antibiotics are everywhere, even in the meat we eat."
Dr. Leon Cordain, considered the founder of the Paleo lifestyle movement,
maintains a website called The Paleo Diet. It also recommends eating probiotic-rich foods to affect gut bacteria in positive ways.
"The Paleo lifestyle promotes a healthy gut microbiome, but certain medical conditions warrant additional support, including natural probiotic supplements and cultured foods," The Paleo Diet site said. "The Paleo diet eliminates some cultured foods, like fermented dairy and salt-brine-pickled vegetables, but not all of them."
"If you are making the transition to a Paleo Diet and would like additional gut health support, supplements which improve intestinal integrity and which may reduce intestinal permeability include probiotics, prebiotics, Vitamin D3, fish oil (EPA and DHA), and Zinc," the website explained.
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