When you get the flu or a cold, you know you’ve come intocontact with a virus that’s settled into your body and set uphouse. But did you know your gut and the bacteria living therecould prevent a virus from sticking around and causing you to getsick?

Your gut and the friendly bacteria stored there have a lot ofimpact on your overall health – from preventing viruses fromentering your blood stream to also helping your digestive system.These friendly bacteria are called probiotics– and people often associate them with eating yogurt.

Probiotics are making a lot of news these days, and BrendaWatson is talking about them in her “Road to Perfect Health”discussions on public television. She discusses how probiotics attack viruses andother unhealthy invaders in the intestines and in the blood streamto help keep you healthy. But as people get older, their bodiesdon’t produce as many good bacteria – especially Bifidobacterium -potentially leading to the person getting sick or having morefrequent digestive issues.

Yogurt doesn’t have enough probiotics to tackle the bad bacteriawanting to invade your body, which is why many people take probioticsupplements. The four things Watson recommends a person looksfor in probiotic supplements are:

1. A high culture count, which is the total amount of activefriendly cultures in one serving. Get at least 15 billion culturesin one serving.

2. Multiple strains, which refers to the different types offriendly bacteria. There are more than 1,000 strains identified,and it’s important for your supplement to contain strains thatstart with an L for Lactobacillus acidophilis or a B forBifidobacterium.

3. Delayed release delivery so that the probiotic can reach yourintestines without being broken down by the acid in yourstomach.

4. Potency of the supplement by the expiration date. You wantthose bacteria working just as strong for you on the date thesupplement expires as it did when you first bought the product.

Ultimate Flora brand from ReNew Life Formulas meets all theserecommendations. Taking this probiotic supplement can help youimprove your digestive system and upgrade your health. Visitwww.renewlife.com for more information about how probiotics canhelp you balance out the good bacteria in your body so you can feelbetter.