Your gut is more than just a digestive powerhouse—it’s a central hub for your overall health. From supporting your immune system and mood to playing a role in fat loss and cholesterol, the gut plays a vital role in how you feel every day.*^
In this guide, we’ll go beyond digestion to explore how probiotics can support immune health, mood, colon health, vaginal health, and more.* Plus, you’ll also get a clear breakdown of key probiotic strains and what each one does for your body. Whether you're just beginning your wellness journey or looking to deepen your understanding of the microbiome, this guide offers the foundational tools (and powerful probiotic solutions) to help you keep feeling your best from the inside out.
Ready to give your body what it needs? Meet Mycrobiome Complete: a powerful 3-in-1 probiotic with clinically studied strains that support many important components of gut health—all in one convenient formula.
How the Gut Works
Your gut is a thriving ecosystem, home to trillions of microorganisms that make up your gut microbiome. These microbes live primarily in your intestines and form a symbiotic relationship with your body: you provide food and shelter, and in return, they help regulate digestion, immune health, cholesterol, and even mood.1
Many factors shape your gut microbiome: diet, stress, exercise, medications, and environment all play a role. When balanced, your microbiome supports good health. But when disrupted, it can have a negative impact on digestion and many other aspects of your overall wellness.
Think of your gut as a garden. When nurtured with healthy habits and a targeted probiotic, it can flourish. But without care, harmful bacteria can take over like weeds, disturbing the natural balance. Maintaining this internal harmony is essential to feeling your best—physically and mentally.
Keep reading for ways to support your gut through healthy lifestyle choices and a carefully crafted probiotic formula.
Healthy Habits for Good Gut Health
To keep your microbiome balanced and resilient, it’s important to adopt habits that nourish and protect it. Try incorporating these five tips into your daily life:
- Eat a Fiber-Rich, Plant-Forward Diet: Fiber is the fuel that feeds beneficial gut bacteria. A diverse, plant-based diet encourages microbial diversity, which is key to a healthy microbiome.
- Include Fermented Foods: Fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, and kombucha contain live cultures that can help populate your gut with beneficial bacteria. Probiotics found in food support digestion and help maintain microbial balance.
- Stay Hydrated: Water helps move food through the digestive tract and supports the mucosal lining of the intestines, which is essential for nutrient absorption and microbial balance.
- Manage Stress: Stress can disrupt the gut-brain axis and overall health of your microbiome. Practices like meditation, journaling, and adequate sleep help regulate stress hormones and support gut health.
- Include a Daily Probiotic: Probiotic supplements help support gut health, digestion, immune health, and more.* When taken daily, they can help balance your microbiome so your body can thrive.
Probiotics For More Than Digestion
Probiotic supplements can have a major impact on gut health and digestion. But they can also play a role in supporting immunity, mood, colon health, and more.*
Immune Health
Scientists report at least 70% of the immune system is located in the gut.2 And new research suggests a healthy gut microbiome can help train your immune system to better recognize and eliminate harmful microbes.3 That means gut health is more important for overall health than we may have realized, and using a probiotic to fine tune the right balance of microbes can have a significant impact on your immune system.*
Mood
Research suggests that the gut and brain are linked through biochemical signaling between the nervous system in the digestive tract, called the enteric nervous system, and the central nervous system, which includes the brain. Both our gut and brain contain an abundance of neurons, and these neurons in our stomach and skull are connected by and communicate via those peripheral nerves. This brain and gut connection has prompted research that found that probiotics may help support mood and cognitive function and help with occasional stress.*4
Weight
Ever since the link between metabolic health and gut microbiota was discovered, there has been increasing interest in exploring the potential use of probiotics to help manage weight. Probiotics may help by regulating healthy gut bacteria, which can play a role in weight gain and loss.*5
Vaginal Health
Of the many microbial communities in the human body, the vagina’s microbiome is unique. There are 28 bacterial species common to the vagina, and scientists recently identified 135 unique combinations of strains of those species, each of which has different functions and cohabits with other strains. Probiotics for women can support vaginal health by helping dial in the optimal balance between the various strains.*6
Colon Health
The colon is a vital part of our digestive system that is integral to the microbiome and can benefit from probiotics in food and supplements. The most important job of the colon (also known as the large intestine) is to store, process, and dispose of waste. It also absorbs nutrients and water as part of this process. Interestingly, there are hundreds and maybe thousands of bacteria in the colon that make up the gut flora and microbiome.7
Specific Probiotic Strains to Support Your Microbiome
Expert-formulated probiotics often contain multiple strains that play different roles in a healthy gut. These are just a few of the most popular that are particularly effective when taken in a daily supplement:
- L. acidophilus: Lactobacillus acidophilus offers digestive support, immune support, and more.*8 Look for a probiotic supplement that includes acidophilus in the ingredients list and has at least 10-15 billion colony-forming units (CFUs).
- L. plantarum: The probiotic benefits of L. plantarum include digestive, cognitive, and mood support, plus support for occasional stress.* Recent research suggests that L. plantarum can help regulate the intestinal microbiota composition in a positive way, and new approaches such as metabolomics, secretomics, and genomics are trying to understand the mechanisms of L. plantarum.9
- B. bifidum: Digestion is one of the well-established benefits of B. bifidum.* Although more research is needed on other possible perks, B. bifidum has increased in popularity because it’s believed that gut flora can be improved with consistent use.10
- L. rhamnosus: This strain commonly found in the vaginal microbiome supports a healthy pH.* Some studies indicate that probiotic bacteria, including certain strains of L. rhamnosus, may encourage the restoration of healthy vaginal flora.*11
Mycrobiome Complete: Your 3-in-1 Probiotic Solution
Are you ready to invest in your gut health? Meet Mycrobiome Complete—a line of 3-in-1 pre, pro, postbiotic formulas that harness the power of clinically studied strains to help your microbiome thrive.
All seven formulas support digestion and immune health, as well as targeted benefits:*
- Women’s Formula: 28 strains for vaginal health, mood, fat loss, and immune health support*^
- Men’s Formula: 26 strains for colon health, cholesterol, cardiovascular health, and fat loss support*^
- Ultimate Potency: 34 strains for colon health, respiratory health, and immune health support*
- Adult 50+: 28 strains for colon health, cholesterol, mood, and cognitive support*
- Active: 23 strains for cardiovascular, respiratory, fat loss, and exercise support*^
- Mood: 28 strains for mood, occasional stress, colon health, and cognitive support*
- Postnatal: 26 strains for breastfeeding, vaginal health, mood, and occasional stress support*
^In conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise
Mycrobiome Complete uses proprietary Enteric Shield VegCaps, expertly designed to protect fragile probiotics during the digestive process and help them survive harsh stomach acid and arrive alive exactly where you need them: your gut.
You can find select Mycrobiome Complete formulas in the refrigerated section of health food stores. Online orders ship without an ice pack and are formulated to survive without refrigeration for up to 14 days. Always store live probiotics in the fridge.
Your Gut is Your Foundation
Gut health isn’t a wellness trend—it’s a foundation for how your body and mind function every day. Your gut is constantly shaping your digestion, immune health, mood, and more.
The good news? You don’t need a complete lifestyle overhaul to support it. Simple, consistent habits—like eating more fiber, adding fermented foods, staying active, and choosing an expert-formulated probiotic for gut health like Mycrobiome Complete—can make a meaningful difference.
Remember: when your gut thrives, so do you.
Resources:
1 “Gut Microbiome” Cleveland Clinic. my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/25201-gut-microbiome.
2 Selma Wiertsema et al. “The Interplay Between the Gut Microbiome and the Immune System,” Nutrients 13, no. 3 (2021), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33803407.
3 ”Probiotics” Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/14598-probiotics.
4 “Probiotics May Help Boost Mood and Cognitive Function” Harvard Health Publishing. www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/probiotics-may-help-boost-mood-and-cognitive-function.
5 Danielsson, Putri, Marcus et al. “Evaluating Probiotic Efficacy on Weight Loss in Adults with Overweight Through a Double-Blind, Placebo-controlled Randomized Trial. Sci Rep 13, 18200 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-45395-7.
6 Lori Youmshajekian “The Vaginal Microbiome May Affect Health More than We Thought” Scientific American. Dec 2023. scientificamerican.com/article/the-vaginal-microbiome-may-affect-health-more-than-we-thought.
7 “How the Bowel Works.” Bladder and Bowel Community. www.bladderandbowel.org/bowel/bowel-resources/how-the-bowel-works.
8 “Acidophilus” Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/drugs/22650-acidophilus.
9 Noemí Echegaray et al. “A Novel Approach to Lactiplantibacillus plantarum: From Probiotic Properties to the Omics Insights.” Microbiological Research, 2023. www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/lactobacillus-plantarum.
10 Tomotari Mitsuoka. "Bifidobacteria and Their Role in Human Health." Journal of Industrial Microbiology. (December 1990): 263–267.
11 “What Is Lactobacillus rhamnosus?” Healthline. www.healthline.com/nutrition/lactobacillus-rhamnosus#what-it-is.