Since the discovery of penicillin, antibiotics have been a tremendous boon to human society. These drugs wipe out bacterial infection and they’ve saved millions of people.

But because antibiotics eliminate all bacteria, they destroy both the bad bacteria that make us sick, as well as the good type, that help keep us healthy.

This is why, when you take antibiotics, you may experience distressful symptoms such as abdominal cramps and diarrhea — they disrupt the delicate balance of the gut flora.

And this is where probiotics come in.

More than a century ago, Russian scientist and Nobel Prize winner Elie Metchnikoff first introduced the concept that introducing beneficial microbes to replace harmful ones could change the composition of the gut flora.

But their widespread use came only decades later, when it was found that ingesting healthy bacteria could mitigate the adverse effects of antibiotics.

Such use of probiotics to aid digestion is now well-established. But what I find truly exciting is that researchers are discovering that probiotics may be of great use in combatting the following conditions that lead to cardiovascular disease.

• High Cholesterol

• Inflammation

•Blood Pressure

• Diabetes

• Obesity