Health
Healthy Gut, Healthy You By MAIREAD O’KEEFFE New Leaf Health Store
A healthy gut makes a huge difference to your overall health, not only to your digestive health. Research is showing that gut health plays a role in your mental health, heart health and in your immune system. It may also help prevent some cancers and autoimmune diseases. There is evidence that these bacteria may impact longevity and some gut bacteria may give athletes an edge, thriving in their bodies and improving their performance. Each part of the gut, from the oesophagus to the bowel, has a different job and needs different colonies of microorganisms in order to function efficiently.
Your diet can influence these colonies, so, for example, a diet with lots of sugar rich foods will encourage sugar loving bacteria, which are not the healthiest colonies to live in the gut. A healthy diet, with fibre rich colourful vegetables, encourages healthy colonies and a healthy gut. Fermented foods like yoghurt, kimchi and sauerkraut are also beneficial to gut health. The most common supplements used to rebalance the bacteria in the gut are probiotics. Udo’s Choice Probiotics boast some of the largest bacterial counts available. The Udos range includes probiotics tailored to different age groups and there are also Udos Super 5 targeted at oral health. TerraNova combines Prebiotics with Probiotics. Prebiotic fibres
help feed and strengthen probiotic bacteria. Taking the two in combination can help make your probiotics more effective. Homeopathic Microflora Liquescence may be beneficial in safely improving the health of the gut of people on medications who are concerned about taking supplements. There are also targeted probiotic complexes available. Solgar’s Ultibio Immune is a high quality probiotic with added immune supporting nutrients. Biocare’s Cranberry Intensive, combines cranberry and probiotics and is a very effective supplement for people who suffer from urinary infections. Call in to see us at New Leaf to find your own ideal gut health supplement.
Keeping Your Pets Cool In Summer With the Summer months upon us, I know most of us have our fingers crossed for a spell of fine weather. With rising temperatures in mind, I thought that now would be a good time to remind ourselves of tactics we can use to keep our pets cool and comfortable on warmer days. First things first – never, ever leave your pet alone in a car at this time of year. Cool cars can become unbearable saunas in a matter of minutes, with a pet trapped inside, unable to escape the heat. Dogs in this situation may suffer from heatstroke – a serious condition, which sadly in many cases proves fatal.
On hot days, try to walk your pet early in the morning and late in the evening, avoiding the warmest hours of the day, where your pet (and you!) may struggle to keep cool whilst exercising. Before setting off for your walk, test the temperature of the ground. We need to remember that our feet are protected by shoes, but our pet’s paws are directly exposed to
the scorching heat of stones, roads and hot pavements on sunny days, which can be uncomfortable for our pet and in extreme cases can cause burns to the feet. A good way to test this is to see if you can comfortably hold your palm to the ground for 10 seconds without it becoming too warm; if it still feels comfortable, it will be safe to walk your pet. Make sure you cover the basics too, by always having a plentiful supply of fresh water available for your pet and providing access to the indoors or a cool shady spot. Some dogs may also enjoy splashing about in a shallow paddling pool whilst supervised!
Issue 66 June 17th 2022
DiscoverDuhallow@irdduhallow.com
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By JANE PIGOTT GP vet & consultant Veterinary Cardiologist
