If the path­o­genic bac­te­ria gain the upper hand we speak about a dis­turbed colony or dys­bio­sis. The healthy bac­te­ria have re­duced ca­pa­bil­ity to carry out their phys­i­o­log­i­cal tasks such as pre­vent­ing coloni­sa­tion of path­o­genic bac­te­ria, viruses and fungi.

Dys­bio­sis can re­sult from a low-fi­bre diet over an ex­tended pe­riod or from the con­sump­tion of an­tibi­otics. In the worst cases, the dys­bio­sis can lead to per­me­abil­ity of the in­testi­nal mu­cosa. Harm­ful sub­stances that af­fect the im­mune sys­tem can then be ab­sorbed into our sys­tem more eas­ily and the im­mune sys­tem is under con­tin­u­ous stress. We often be­come ill and de­velop ten­den­cies to­wards al­ler­gies or neu­ro­der­mati­tis.

Fur­ther in­for­ma­tion

• Ar­ti­cle "Pre­bi­otics in fol­low-on foods"
• Overview "Health ben­e­fits of pre­bi­otics"