What Are Probiotics?
What Are Probiotics?
In the past few years, probiotics have become increasingly popular in health and wellness conversations. But what are they actually? For many, they sound like a too-good-to-be-true magical pill, while for others they are the long-awaited answer to overuse of antibiotics and chemicals.
Probiotics are live, beneficial micro-organisms (bacteria and yeasts), often referred to as “healthy bacteria” or “friendly bacteria”. There are countless types of these friendly bacteria, but the most common in the probiotic world play key roles in the natural equilibrium of their respective environments. As probiotics, these natural abilities can be harnessed and directed to solve problems.
In human medical settings, probiotics are often used to improve the overall performance and health of the digestive system.
But the transformative power of probiotics extends far wider than the medical community. Probiotics are now also used to improve health and vitality in animals, plants and entire ecosystems, and natural ways to treat wastewater, clean up pollutants, and eliminate odors. Because they are a safe and natural alternative to destructive chemicals and antibiotics, there are many growing applications for the use of probiotics.
How Do Probiotics Work?
The most common family of probiotics are called aerobic bacteria. For these bacteria, their effectiveness begins with their natural digestive process. They use organic matter (the main component of most fecal or chemical waste) plus oxygen as food sources, with water and carbon dioxide as the outputs. This reaction is nature’s way of removing toxins and pollutants harmful to animals, plants, and other bacteria.
Whether it’s organic matter in the digestive tract of a human, in the sludge in a pond, or in the gut of an animal or a fish, eliminating this waste plays a vital role in controlling contamination and eliminating the habitat for harmful bacteria to grow and cause harm.
This digestive process produces a number of enzymes, nature’s decomposition tools, to break down the organic matter, but also other enzymes – depending on the specific probiotic – to break down other molecules, both desired and undesired.
Lastly, although less well-understood, many beneficial bacteria have been shown to directly impede the growth of harmful bacteria colonies. As competitive creatures, these beneficial bacteria can outgrow the harmful colonies and prevent disease or odor from spreading.
QB Labs Offers US-Made Probiotic Water Treatment Products
If you are looking for probiotic solutions to your wastewater or aquaculture problems, please contact us today for more information.
We are an industry-leading bioscience organization that creates cutting-edge microbial and probiotic water treatment solutions. For 20+ years, our US-made, beneficial bacteria-based water treatment products have been used worldwide for various applications in a broad range of industries.
We manufacture our beneficial bacteria-based products both under our own QB brand, as well as through private label arrangements with distributors around the world. We offer wholesale products in concentrate or bulk. We also offer custom formulations as well as contract packaging, international registration expertise, labeling, and logistical support. Please contact us for more information.