Entrobal is a Probiotic. Probiotics contain friendly protective bacteria that colonise our digestive tract and assist the digestion by breaking down the food into micro-sized component form. This enables the nutrients to be absorbed into the bloodstream and to be used to build body tissue, provide energy and support the bio-systems that work within us to keep the body alive and well. These friendly bacteria are also involved in the manufacture of important B vitamins within the body. The word comes from Latin, "pro" meaning for and "biosis" meaning life, i.e. for life = probiotic. It could be argued that any substance that supports life could be called a probiotic, but the name has universally been accepted as meaning a product that has been formulated to contain viable cells of friendly bacteria. Today more than ever, many people recognise the importance of taking responsibility for their own health. Many are becoming more pro-active in improving and protecting their well-being by having a greater understanding of the detrimental effects that lifestyle, environment and stress can have on the body. This greater awareness can help to reduce the the occurrence of illness, and therefore the necessity of having to just treat symptoms with drugs whenever possible. Probiotics fit well into this revival of the natural approach to maintaining good health. By using natural holistic substances that have the advantage of being dual purpose, one can benefit from the fact that they can both prevent and treat undesirable, and often avoidable, conditions. . There is strong scientific evidence to show that regularly taking a Probiotic has numerous benefits, some direct, as in simply aiding digestion, as well as other indirect and ancillary benefits for the whole body. Over 100 years ago a Russian bacteriologist, Elli Metchnikoff, observed that ingestion of friendly bacteria significantly increased lifespan. He noted that many Russian peasants living in very hard conditions were outliving their richer counterparts, and indeed, many of these peasants were living to be over 100 years old! He discovered that what was common amongst all the peasants was that they ate sour milk. Metchnikoff tested this sour milk and discovered that it contained billions of active friendly bacteria.As a result of this work, further studies were made by a Fellow of the Royal College of Edinburgh, L. Douglas, and he eventually wrote the first book about probiotics entitled "The Bacillus of Life"Our understanding of bacteriology has come a long way since those early days, but what has not changed is the belief that friendly bacteria play a significant role in maintaining good health. There is considerable research to suggest that without doubt, everyone can benefit from regularly taking a Probiotic. It is especially beneficial to babies and the elderly, but can also have a significant effect for most people. For example, stress is known to have an adverse effect on the balance of bacteria inside the digestive tract. This can, and often does result in an upset stomach, or even diarrhoea, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) or Colitis as more severe symptoms of stress. It is even thought that ME is a symptom of more extreme stress. We believe that a probiotic may have an indirect benefit by improving the absorption of key nutrients that would otherwise be excreted unused, thus helping the body to protect itself more efficiently. A great deal of research is being done by scientists world-wide in an attempt to establish for certain just how beneficial probiotics can be in supporting our health in a natural way. One area of important ongoing research is in investigating the potential of probiotics in reducing the incidence of bowel cancer. It is believed that the friendly bacteria prevent the formation of carcinogens (cancer forming agents) in the colon. This research work to date seems very promising, and we all look forward to more reports on this important scientific study.