The Ultimate Trifecta for Healthy Gut and Immune Support*

Did you know your body is teeming with life that’s invisible to the naked eye – and the majority of it isn’t even made up of your own cellular or genetic material?

As strange as that may sound, this invisible life inside you is key to your survival. It influences many things that make you “you” – your weight, mood, brainpower and even how well you sleep at night.

Here’s the thing... this invisible life can work for you, or it can work against you.

Fortunately, you have control over how it behaves simply by how you treat it. Treat it well, and it can reward you well. When you ignore or mistreat it, the consequences can be far-reaching.

So what is this invisible life? I’m talking about your microbiome – the extremely complex community of microorganisms that live in your gastrointestinal tract or gut, which includes trillions of bacteria, viruses, fungi and other life forms.

According to the most recent estimates, the number of these microorganisms are at least 100 times the number of your own cells.

Just like your fingerprint is unique to you, so is the makeup of this invisible life. The diversity of your gut microbiome began when you were an infant, and continues to be influenced today by your lifestyle, genes and especially your food choices.

The diversity and composition of your microbiome has a tremendous influence over your health, including your psychological well-being and mental health.

Let’s take a closer look at your microbiome – how it affects your body and mind, what can harm it and one simple step you can take to help it thrive.

How Your Microbiome Influences Your Weight, Sleep, Mood, Cognitive Function and Overall Health

How can your gut have major effects on your health – and even affect your brain, body composition and ability to get a good night’s sleep?

Researchers have discovered these effects are related to both the diversity and balance of your gut microbiome. Here are some of their recent findings:

• Overweight individuals tend to have a less diverse gut microbiome – as much as a 40% decrease in diversity. Plus, they were found to have greater numbers of potentially harmful inhabitants and fewer beneficial ones.
• Your microbiome affects your mood and mental health. Gut microbes influence the stress and anxiety pathways in your brain in a way that can alter mood and behavior.
• An imbalance of gut microbes may be linked to heart and blood pressure issues. Rat studies demonstrate how changing and balancing the makeup of the gut microbiome can support optimal heart health.*
• Gut microbes affect your body’s circadian rhythms and sleep quality. Just one week of insufficient sleep alters the function of 711 genes, including those that control stress, inflammatory response, immune function and metabolism.
• Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) produced by your gut microbiota enable your microbiome to communicate with your brain.

As you can see, the diversity and composition of your microbiome have a tremendous influence over your psychological well-being and mental health. Some researchers even believe the mix of microbes in your gut helps mold brain structure as you’re growing up and may determine how your brain is “wired” – or how you think and react as an adult.

Your brain, immune system and your gut microbes are intricately connected. Considered your “second brain,” your gastrointestinal tract has its own nervous system – the enteric nervous system.

The enteric nervous system and your central nervous system are connected via your vagus nerve – a cranial nerve that runs from your brain stem down to your abdomen.

Your vagus nerve serves as an information highway for your gut bacteria to communicate with your brain.

GALT – Your Body’s “First Responders” to Any Immune Challenge

Did you know your gut also has its own immune system? It’s called GALT – for “gut-associated lymphatic tissue.”

GALT makes up 70 to 80% of your body’s total immune system and includes some of its most important fighter cells, such as memory T-cells.

Your gut communicates continually with every other immune cell in your body. When confronted by a challenge it can’t handle on its own, your gut sends an alarm to the rest of your immune system.

The beneficial, or good bacteria, is part of your GALT, and acts as your body’s “first responders.” They alone monitor and educate your entire immune system as well as help keep it vigilant.

Because your GALT is so critical for maintaining overall heath, including brain health, supporting the health of your digestive tract should be one of your top priorities.

One of the ways probiotics support health is through their influence on the GALT. Beneficial microbes are crucial for proper GALT development and function, and probiotics support healthy intestinal barrier function in your gut.*

Why does your gut barrier function matter so much?

Because it is made up of immune cells, intestinal bacteria and epithelial cells held together by what’s known as “intercellular tight junctions.”

Tight junctions protect your body against toxins and pathogenic bacteria, and they’re involved in the modulation, or balancing, of your body’s immune response. This modulation is key to preventing an immune overreaction – or cytokine storm – that can lead to extensive tissue damage.

Certain strains of probiotics, through their modulating effects, can support your GALT and a healthy, normal inflammatory response – and, in turn, immune function.

3 Forces That Can Disrupt Your Gut Microbiome

The health of your microbiome depends on a proper balance between beneficial bacteria and potentially pathogenic bacteria, as well as the health and integrity of your gut lining.

When your microbiome loses its healthy balance of microbes or diversity of beneficial bacteria, or your gut lining becomes compromised, it can impact many processes in your body. The most powerful forces that work to disrupt or harm your microbiome can be divided up into three categories:

1. Exposure to substances that upset the balance of or destroy beneficial gut bacteria

   The list of substances that can alter your gut microbial balance or remove the good guys is long. It includes chlorine and fluoride in drinking water, processed foods and sugar, agricultural chemicals found in non-organic foods and conventionally raised meats and dairy, and air pollution.

2. Lack of nutrients to optimize and support beneficial microbes in your gut

   Because of the many things that can harm your microbiome, you need nutrients to restore and support it. Few people regularly consume traditionally fermented and cultured foods containing healthy live bacteria (this doesn’t include most grocery-store bought yogurt). Plus, most people don’t include spore-based probiotics in their regimen, which help re-establish a healthy gut microbiome.

3. Stress

   Stress affects your gut in a number of ways, including hindering the production of enzymes and absorption of nutrients, and reducing oxygen levels and blood flow. Even short-term exposure to stress can impact the makeup and diversity of your microbiome, and increase intestinal permeability.

The good news is you have the power to change, heal and nourish your microbiome for optimal health.

The Power of Soil Microorganisms to Support a Healthy Microbiome

In ancient times, people received beneficial probiotics from the soil. Hunters and gatherers regularly came into contact with the earth. In fact, there’s solid evidence that people have included traces of dirt in their diets throughout the ages.

Think back to your own childhood. Your family may have kept a garden and, if so, you likely helped out by pulling weeds and planting seeds – with your bare hands.

Back then, it was also normal for children to play outside and get dirty. It was just part of life.

It turns out that getting your hands dirty was a good thing – and still is. Researchers now realize that exposure to a wide range of bacteria, including strains naturally found in dirt, appears to support the development of a child’s healthy immune system.

Beneficial microorganisms in the soil and on plants can help you, even as an adult, reeducate your immune system.

Our habits today are much different from years past. Rather than playing for hours outside in the dirt, kids choose to sit in front of computer screens. If you have a garden, you probably wear work gloves to keep your hands clean.

Today, we’re obsessed with cleanliness. We try not to touch dirt and we make sure our vegetables are scrubbed spotlessly clean before we eat or cook them.

And the use of antibacterial soaps and sanitizing hand gels provide a second level of “protection” to remove any remaining grime and bacteria – in the name of keeping us healthy. But is that really so?

How Soil-Based Organisms (SBOs) Work Together With Regular Probiotics to Support Your Gut Health

One of the newest health trends today is soil-based organisms (SBO) probiotics. They’ve become recognized as one of the best ways to restore and replenish beneficial gut flora.

What exactly are SBOs, and how are they different from regular probiotics?

Soil-based organisms, or SBOs, are naturally occurring probiotic strains that live in soil. You can typically find them on unprocessed vegetables and fruits if the produce was grown in healthy soil containing abundant nutrients.

With today’s farming methods, however, you are less likely to find them on mass-produced, non-organic produce. If you’re not a big vegetable or fruit eater, you likely get few SBOs in your diet.

These soil organisms from the natural environment act as “reconditioning” probiotics. Sometimes called the “gut police,” SBOs condition your gut and prepare it for reseeding by beneficial probiotic bacteria strains. They support the growth of beneficial bacteria.

Produced by nature to survive extreme environmental conditions that might normally kill regular probiotic bacteria, SBOs – or spore-forming bacteria – offer three major advantages in your gut over non-spore-forming, regular probiotics:

1. Spores can survive the low pH of your stomach to deliver the entire dosage to your small intestine (unlike some Lactobacillus species).
2. Spores resist breakdown from enzymes, solvents, and hydrogen peroxide as they travel to your small intestine.
3. Spores are heat-stable, so the product can be stored at room temperature without losing any potency or effectiveness.

When the spores reach your small intestine and are exposed to the right nutrients, they germinate. This process, which takes just minutes, allows water to enter the spore and break down, removing the spore coats. Freed of their protective layers, the beneficial probiotics can resume cell growth inside your body.

For optimal gut health, you need both spores and regular non-spore-forming probiotics. One doesn’t replace the other, as they perform different functions in your gut.

Introducing Complete Afterbiotics^® – The Trifecta Formula of SBOs, Probiotics and Probiotic Yeast

Normally, if you wanted the unique benefits of both SBO probiotics and regular non-spore-forming probiotics, you would need to buy two separate products.

We’ve designed our Complete Afterbiotics^® to do double duty – to provide you with the benefits of both SBO probiotics and regular probiotics – for when you need extra support for your gut health.*

For the first time ever, we’ve combined three types of probiotics – consisting of six exceptional probiotic strains – into one formula to enhance microbe diversity, strengthen your protective intestinal barrier and protect your gut microbiome.*

The unique Afterbiotics Probiotic and SBO Blend in Complete Afterbiotic deliver at least 18 billion CFU probiotics from the following probiotic strains:

While each component in Complete Afterbiotics^® stands on its own to powerfully support your gut health, the combination of all three types of probiotics and six individual probiotic strains in one formula allows all the components to work synergistically to supercharge your gut health.*

Up Close: The 6 Probiotic Strains in Complete Afterbiotics^®

Let’s take an up-close look at each strain and how it supports a healthy microbiome:

1. Clostridium butyricum

   An anaerobic spore-forming bacillus, C. butyricum is frequently found in the soil and on vegetable grown in healthy soil. It’s also present in the healthy human gut and colonizes in the newborn following birth. Known for its capacity to produce high amounts of butyric acid, research shows C. butyricum can help prevent and restore disrupted intestinal flora.*

2. Bacillus subtilis HU58

   Bacillus bacteria are nature’s original spore probiotics. They’re stable and hardy, so they pass through the acid conditions in your stomach to your small intestine. B. subtilis HU58 promotes a positive environment for the growth of beneficial bacteria by forming biofilms, or matrixes, to enhance gut adhesion and colonization. Plus, it supports a healthy immune response by stimulating the GALT. HU58 in particular increases levels of SCFA, especially butyrate, and secretes several different digestive enzymes to aid digestion.*

3. Bacillus coagulans SC208

   Working synergistically with Bacillus subtilis HU58 and Pediococcus acidilactici, B. coagulans SC208 supports flourishing and diverse gut flora, especially lactic acid bacteria, which works to lower the pH in the gut to create an environment that’s inhospitable to insults. In a recent study, this valuable probiotic species, along with Bacillus subtilis HU58, promoted healthy gut microbial ecology and reduced membrane barrier damage.*

4. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG

   A particularly potent form of Lactobacillus rhamnosus, the GG form is resistant to stomach acid and bile to allow it to survive its journey through the upper GI tract to the colon. With one of the fastest growth rates ever noted in a non-spore-forming probiotic strain, this notable strain excels in its adherence to human intestinal epithelial cells for potential probiotic benefits.*

5. Pediococcus acidilactici

   This probiotic produces lactic acid and butyrate that help boost populations of beneficial bacterial species and repair the mucosal layer of the gut. As a major lactic acid producer, it helps defend the gut against insults by rapidly creating an acidic environment. Research shows it promotes a healthy inflammatory response in the intestines as well as supporting a healthy immune response.

6. Saccharomyces boulardii

   This unique probiotic strain is not a type of bacteria, but a yeast that functions like a probiotic in your body. Recommended for decades for intestinal issues, S. boulardii supports healthy intestinal barrier function, helps protect the intestinal lining, supports healthy bowel function and modulates immune response.*

Complete Afterbiotics^® contains not just one or two of these exceptional strains, but all of them.

Our formula also contains a special bonus that can help enhance your benefits.*

More Than Just a Base, the Citrus Bioflavonoid Blend Releases Gut Barrier-Protective Ingredients into Your Colon*

Complete Afterbiotics^® includes a Prebiotics Citrus Bioflavonoid Complex – a special blend created from orange and grapefruit whole fruit extracts.

Acting as more than just a base, this natural citrus extract complex is designed to change the composition of your gut microbiome. By doing this, it protects the gut barrier and directly enhances the potential of your gut microbiome, resulting in enhanced gut and overall health.*

A key part of the overall Complete Afterbiotics^® formula, the citrus blend releases active flavonoid antioxidants that provide a unique two-way action on gut health – a direct effect through active metabolites, and support for an already healthy inflammatory response.

A full 90 to 95% of the flavonoid antioxidants from the Prebiotics Citrus Bioflavonoid Complex reach your colon intact. There, in your colon, gut microbes metabolize these flavonoids to:

• Promote healthy gut barrier function.*
• Provide an energy source for cells in your gut.*
• Boost levels of glutathione and beneficial short-chain fatty acids.*
• Support an already healthy inflammatory response through their interaction with immune cells.*
• Decrease reactive oxygen species (ROS) through their antioxidant effects to help protect the gut barrier.*

By supporting an already healthy inflammatory response, these flavonoids promote a positive shift in your gut flora that leads to an increase in beneficial short-chain fatty acids, such as butyrate, to support your gut barrier function and immune response in your gut.*

Designed to Optimize Short-Chain Fatty Acids for a Healthy Gut Barrier and Immune Response*

Some researchers believe short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) may be the most important nutrients for a healthy gut and microbiome and immune function.

SCFAs are fatty acids produced by your gut microbiota as fermentation products from unabsorbed food in your small intestine. What sets them apart from other fatty acids is their unique structure. These fatty acids play important roles in the health of your microbiome and gut, including:

• Supporting healthy blood flow, and fluid and electrolyte uptake.*
• Promoting healthy intestinal permeability to help keep your gut wall sealed.*
• Promoting the production of immune cells.*
• Increasing fat metabolism.*
• Supporting the growth of beneficial organisms (lactobacillus and bifidobacter).*
• Promoting a healthy, normal gut and overall inflammatory response.*

The most abundant SCFAs are acetic acid, propionic acid (propionate) and butyric acid (butyrate). They make up as much as 95% of the SCFAs in your colon. Most importantly, the highest concentration of butyrate in your body is in your gut.

Butyrate is essential for your intestinal cells. This key SCFA is an important energy source, and it plays crucial roles in supporting gut barrier function and a normal inflammatory response in your gut. If your level of butyrate runs low, intestinal cells die.*

Diet does not provide a reliable, absorbable source of SCFAs, so it’s up to your “good” gut bacteria to produce SCFAs (especially butyrate).

The Prebiotics Citrus Bioflavonoid Complex in Complete Afterbiotics^® has been specifically designed to increase butyrate production throughout your colon.* In one publicized 12-week study on our citrus blend, the butyrate proportion of total SCFAs rose significantly, and its bioavailability increased.*

These remarkable results make the citrus blend – even without all the other benefits of the product – especially useful for those with occasional gastrointestinal distress.*

A Gut Recovery Formula, is Complete Afterbiotics^® Right For You?

For optimal gut health, you need both kinds of probiotics – spore probiotics and reseeding, non-spore-forming probiotics.

With Complete Afterbiotics^®, you have everything you need in one product for supporting a healthy gut, especially if it is compromised.*

How do you know if your gut health is compromised?

Maybe you’re experiencing occasional bloating and gas, GI discomfort or irregularity. Perhaps your immune function isn’t as good as it could be. These are all signs that your gut microbiome might need extra help.

Your microbiome and gut barrier may also require additional support if any of these situations apply to you:

• You’re under stress, and your gastrointestinal system appears to need some extra attention.
• You-eat factory-farmed meats and dairy.
• You eat processed foods, processed omega-6 vegetable oils, and sweets.
• You drink fluoridated and chlorinated tap water.
• You’ve travelled to another country in recent months (your microbiome can change in as little as 24 hours).

The perfect trifecta of diverse strains, our Complete Afterbiotics^® can be taken by itself for microbiome repair or in combination with our Complete Spore Restore (SBO Probiotic) for creating the optimal environment for probiotic use and our Complete Probiotics for optimal maintenance of overall gut health.*

Experience the Trifecta Approach for a Healthy Gut Barrier and Immune Support With Complete Afterbiotics^®*

By combining three types of probiotics with six extraordinary strains in one formula, I believe Complete Afterbiotics^® is unlike any other supplement on the market today for not only supporting optimal gut health, but repairing damage from assaults.*

To summarize, Complete Afterbiotics^® is a potent gut recovery formula that can potentially help you:

• Improve the condition of your microbiome and gut barrier integrity.*
• Promote tight junctions in your gut epithelial lining.*
• Support an already normal inflammatory response in your gut and body.*
• Enhance digestion and absorption of nutrients.*
• Lower the pH in your gut to promote the growth of beneficial bacteria.*
• Support your body’s immune function.*
• Boost the production of beneficial short-chain fatty acids.*
• Reseed your microbiome with the right kinds of health-promoting bacteria.*

Take Control of Your Gut with Complete Afterbiotics^®, and order today.