Welcome to the Natural Health for People in Pets podcast, a show that aims to empower you with the knowledge and tools needed to take control of your own health and wellbeing, as well as providing health promoting strategies for the dogs in your life. The world of health and nutrition can be overwhelming, so what better way to understand what works and what doesn't, what's evidence based and what's not, then to hear it from someone in the know.
So, please welcome your host of the show, accredited Naturopath and nutritionist Narelle Cook. Welcome back to Natural Health for People and Pets. I'm co-host of the show, Glen Cook, and I'm gonna introduce the host of the show and also the newly claimed director of the wonderful product, canine Ceuticals. Nelle Cook.
Hello everyone. Yeah, life has been busy, to say the least, hasn't it? I mean, for the past two years, but particularly the last couple of months in launching my new dog supplement range, canine Ceuticals. Mm. I know we've talked about this on the show before and we've mentioned how busy you've been, but I don't know if people really get the full rundown of how busy you actually have been with the whole product. Eight hour days, seven days a week. Um, eight. Hours. Oh, that sounds lovely. .
Yeah, it's probably more than that, right? Yeah, we'd. Be more on a daily basis. Yeah. And it is seven days a week. I've got two businesses now. I've got my clinical practice as well as canine Ceuticals. So it, it really is around the clock when you're doing it yourself. So the great thing is the launch was successful. You did a launch day on a straight day of January. It was very successful. You got a lot of really good feedback, and more importantly,
you got a lot of good purchases. So a lot of people stood behind the product. They're very excited about it. What was also nice was to see people's Instagram profiles where they were doing their little unboxing and showing their arrivals because you boxed it up so nicely. That was wonderful. I really appreciated people doing that. And I mean, part of Ceuticals is it's an experience. Mm-hmm.
So when people do receive their order, you know, we want them to feel good and they are getting something special for their dog. So we wanna represent that in the way we package our product. The other great thing about it too is you've been getting some great support. You've had a few people that have really got behind you and helped you out with the product and really been putting some great time into investing with you as well. So that's been a wonderful thing. It has.
I really appreciate all the help that I've been getting because it is pretty impossible to do everything yourself, unfortunately. Yeah. So I do rely on people to sort of get me through so I don't end up in a pile of a breakdown. Yeah. So. Big thank you to the people that have also been behind the scenes in canine Ceuticals in helping Narelle out, getting it going. Very much appreciated. So you can check out my new [email protected] au.
So that's canine as in the dog, C A N I N E C E U T I C A L ss.com au. Canine ceuticals is a difficult word to spell when you are thinking about it. 'cause I typed c u e first, so it's c e u. Yeah. I guess as a practitioner, ceuticals is sort of a commonplace word, so I, I was surprised a little bit when people were like, ceuticals, how do you spell that? But once you find the site does bookmark it and you will never lose it again. Also.
A big shout out to the sponsors behind every episode. Nelle, who are they? The first sponsor is Big Dog, pet Foods, big Dog r an Australian company that have been manufacturing raw pet food for 20 years now. They only use human grade ingredients in their products. There's nothing synthetic or artificial added in their raw food. Patties are nutritionally complete and balanced, which is great. So that's according to the official Afco guidelines.
And I love that because you know, all of our dogs are on Big Dog and. That's because we want them to be on Big Dog as well. We don't, uh, we don't get free products, a big dog. We actually buy it because, and we bought it first because the product's great. The dogs do so well on it. You've researched it extensively before you even became affiliated with Big Dog thanks to Krost and the team down from Canine Resolutions in Melbourne, they got us onto the Big dog range.
And it's so convenient. Like people are busy. I'm, you know, crazy busy and it's just such a great peace of mind to know that I can feed my dogs a ready-made commercial raw food. Mm. And that they're gonna be getting everything they need for good health. Every episode I do talk about their raw food patties, but they actually have some really healthy and natural dog treats as well. So their treat range is called Freeze-Dried little bites.
And they're available in a range of different flavors. Things like kangaroo, chicken, lamb, Tasmanian, salmon. So you get around 48 little bites per pack. I think they're around 160 grams per pack. So they make like an awesome, healthy training treat. You can use them as a meal topper for small dogs because they're nutritionally complete and balanced like the patties, they can even make a complete and balanced whole meal. Mm. So great option. Jump onto the website to check out their treats.
So that's Big Dog Pet foods.com. Go to their resource center. It's got lots of great articles and guides and frequently asked questions on raw food feeding, natural diets, general health and nutrition for both dogs and cats. They've got a great Facebook page and they've got an amazing Instagram page as well. So check out all of that for Big Dog Pet Foods. Keep up the great work, big dog Pet Foods.
Absolutely. Our second sponsor is Ballen Bone. So again, Ballen Bone are an Australian company that make a range of dental sticks, collagen sticks, they've got superfood treats as well, and they've got freeze dried treats. All of the ingredients in the Ballen bone range are natural and healthy with real meat as the number one ingredient. And look, the reason I like their dental sticks is that they contain two key active ingredients that have been proven to fight plaque and titer.
So there's no point giving our dogs dental sticks without these active ingredients because it would just be like us cleaning our teeth with just the toothbrush and no toothpaste. Mm-hmm. So, you know it's gonna do something, but it's not really gonna hit the spot. So you can find Bell and Bone online or in store at your favorite pet store Australia wide. That's bell andone.com au. B E L L A N D B O N e.com au.
And as an ongoing special for listeners of the show, you can get 20% off the full ball and bone range using the coupon code Ladybug. So, so cute. All one word ladybug. So jump onto the Ball and Bone website and go crazy. 20% off. Yeah. And our dogs love 'em as well. Yes. And look, before we move into the show proper, I just wanna give a shout out to Sasha Packer. Mm-hmm. , she's a canine nutritionist in Sydney, but she's also an admin of the Facebook group. Fresh Food, feeding for Dogs,
kibble, feeders, welcome. Mm-hmm. . But recently Sasha has put together a recipe book just for puppies. All the recipes are nutritionally complete and balanced according to official guidelines. And a lot of pet owners may not realize how tricky it is to get puppy diets right. They do have specific nutritional needs that are different from adult dogs. So Sasha has taken all of the hard work out of that for you.
So jump onto their Facebook page, you'll be able to find the resource and the links there to her puppy recipe book. Hasn't she been a great iconic figure in healthy feeding for dogs, especially in Australia, but just for people in general who are struggling and trying to find their way through this maze of dog feeding. Been such a rabbit warren for such a long time. Sasha and also Brittany. Brittany Young. Yeah. Brittany Young have really jumped in and navigated the rough waters on that.
So thank you Sasha and Brittany for bringing the truth to people so people actually know what's beneficial for their dogs. And doing a lot of hard work behind the scenes. And so generous in what they give away for free and what they create in their educational materials. Yeah. So hats off to them because I don't know how they find the time to manage all of that and their own businesses, but they do. And it's amazing.
And just before we do jump into it, just some condolences to Sasha also for losing her, um, beloved dog, her great Dane Gavin. Mm. I think he had some problems towards the end and unfortunately Sasha and her partner had to make a very troubling decision to having peacefully put to sleep. And, uh, we're very sorry for that, Sasha. And you know, the community hearts break when one of our dogs pass. Mm-hmm. And our how hearts broke for you as well. So. Yeah, let's move on to the show. Mm-hmm.
So today I wanna talk about gut health, but I wanna focus specifically on the probiotic species, smis Boi. That's. What it is. 'cause just before we started the show, you said the title was SB for Dogs, and I said, what's sb? And you said, well, you'll learn in the show. That's. Right. The industry lingo instead of who wants to say smis Boi every time? So we just abbreviated to sb. Okay.
And I've actually had a few messages over time where people will say, oh, I can't find the brand sb, but it's not a brand. You can find SB as an ingredient across a lot of different products and a lot of different brands. A lot of brands will have it as a pure supplement, which is what I do for Canine Ceuticals. I've got my pure SB 10 mm-hmm. product. And as we go through the show, you'll learn like why I love it so much and why I've chosen to have like a pure
single ingredient mm-hmm. probiotic product in my range. Can I just add there, I'm not trying to do a flog for canine ceuticals, but go ahead. But go , cheeky. A lot of the reason the development of this came about was because of Ladybug. And we've told this story to other people, but it's worth noting for people who are listeners of this show. So Ladybug, who's our French bulldog, we've done the show, what happened to Ladybug and so on and so on. It was her that lit the fire under Norelle.
It was something that I know that you'd thought about, but never really wanted to pull the trigger on. And because of Ladybug and the condition and our endless research for trying to get good quality products for her, this is why all this came about. And a big part of her recovery was also good gut health as well. So I know the only reason I know all this is because Nelle educated me on the
way. So I had no real clue on what to do or spinal regenerative compounds or herbs or tonics or tinctures or whatever you were putting together for it. But when we're talking about Nelle study time, the amount of time she spent online and researching scientific literature was to find out how do we actually get ladybug's brain and her, well, how. Do we save our dog? How do we save a dog? Yeah. More importantly, but also how do we get our brain to talk to her back legs? Mm-hmm.
That was fundamentally the big catalyst for getting all of this to come together. And then Nara would say to me, but it's not just this, it's not just about the herbs for whatever she was putting together to get the nervous system to regenerate, it was also gut health. So sorry to hijack, but I just thought it was really important for people to know this because I don't think people really understand. That one also compliments the other.
Uh, absolutely. And look, as a clinical practitioner for humans, for many years, I'm so used to using or having access to like the highest quality supplements for my human clients. And when it came to dogs, I'm in a position where, yeah, I can grab a human supplement and know if it's safe and know how to dose it accordingly. But you know, I can't really pass that information on to other people because the average pet owner doesn't know how to assess safety and dosing for their particular dog.
Mm-hmm. So, you know, part of it was trying to bring that high quality to a product that's labeled for dogs, that's dosed for dogs that, you know, everything in there is on the label, nothing hidden, you know, full transparency. But talking about gut health, I always come back to, you know, as a naturopath, we are taught Hippocrates thousands of years ago, stated that all disease begins in the gut. Mm-hmm.
And it's only in recent decades that, you know, current science is really starting to catch up with that concept that has been around for so long. And it, it's truly the case for us to be, well, for our dogs to be well, gut health has to be optimal. So, you know, that's what we'll sort of be touching on today. So getting back to sb, it's a beneficial probiotic. And although we only tend to think of probiotics as bacteria, SB is what's called, it's a non colonizing, non-pathogenic yeast.
So a yeast is a type of fungus, so that might surprise some people. Mm. But SB look, it's probably one of the most researched probiotics out there. Definitely for humans, I'd say. But you know, in the animal world too, it's got a lot of research behind it. When we think of yeast because of, you know, yeasty ears and yeasty skin and candida and all of that sort of stuff, we tend to only think of yeast as bad or. Beer and bread. Oh yeah, they're . That was where my go-to on the yeast .
But sb, it's definitely one of the good guys. So it is a yeast, but it's a beneficial yeast. Mm-hmm. , and there's good science to show that it can help against pathogenic yeast like candida and things like that. So I guess I've just said that it's non colonizing.
So I wanna expand on that a little bit because again, I think a lot of listeners, you know, believe that when you take a probiotic supplement, or you know, you give it one to your dog, that it colonizes the intestinal tract, meaning that, you know, it goes in, takes up residence, it starts to multiply, and you know, it becomes a permanent fixture of the microbiome, whether that's for months or years to come. But that's not actually how it works in like the majority of cases.
So most probiotics that we take are considered transient, which means that, you know, they might hang around for a few days or a few weeks, but then they're eventually like cleared from the body. So they're still metabolically active as they move through the body and they, you know, they might grow and they might divide, but they're not expected to replicate to high enough numbers or to be able to displace members of what's called our, like our native gut microbiota.
Which makes sense because, you know, we've got trillions of species like bacterial species, you know, yeast and things like that in our gastrointestinal tract. So to put in a probiotic, it's like tipping your bottle of water out in the ocean. It really is like a drop in the ocean. Mm. So, which might have people now going, well, what's the point? But there's definitely a point.
So don't throw out your probiotics just yet because they're absolutely beneficial and they can influence our gut microbes in a direction that's really healthy and beneficial. So I'll talk a bit about how generally they're working, and then we'll get a little bit more specific about ssb. But probiotics are amazing because they can competitively inhibit less desirable
species. So a good way to think of that, let's say you've got like a, a backyard lawn that's really thick and lush and like really even it's really hard in that instance for weeds, not that I'm a gardener, but for weeds to sort of take hold because there's such a barrier of that sort of even lush lawn. Mm. But if you've got a back lawn that's patchy and there's gaps in it, then that's easier for weeds to sort of get in, take hold because they don't have to compete for the space.
They don't have to compete for the nutrients from the soil or the moisture or the light. Does that make sense? I. Guess it's a reasonable analogy. Yeah. Mm. You know, if our gut health is compromised and you know, we don't have the numbers or the diversity of the good bacteria that we want in our systems mm-hmm. , it just allows that space for the less desirable species to sort of take hold and Yeah. And flourish. Yeah, that makes. Sense.
Whereas probiotics, when you consume them, even though they're not sort of hanging around forever, they can still fill those spaces and stop the bad guys from getting in and taking home. Yep. Probiotics also produce toxic compounds that can inhibit and kill off less desirable species. They produce beneficial substances like vitamins, fatty acids, sugars, things that can actually feed and promote the growth of our beneficial microbes.
They can work to promote a stronger immune response, they can help with the health of the gut barrier itself, and they can down regulate inflammation. So all of that's hugely beneficial to us and our dogs. So even though they're passing through, still worth taking. But having said that, people need to understand that to get the ongoing benefits of a probiotic, you really do need to take it on a consistent basis. Mm-hmm.
. And you know, the degree to which you do that, I guess we'll come back to the health condition that you're trying to treat, but if we sort of talk about SB specifically, just a little fun fact of how it was discovered. It was only discovered a hundred years ago when a French microbiologist named, I can't do accent, so I won't try. Henry Bullard was visiting China during a cholera outbreak. So cholera is a potentially life-threatening bacterial infection of the small
intestine. Mm-hmm. . And you know, while he was there, he noticed that the people for the most part were drinking this tea that was prepared by cooking down the skins of mangosteen and chy fruits to help prevent the diarrhea that comes with infection from cholera. Mm-hmm. . So, you know, as a good microbiologist, he examined the tea and he was able to isolate a particular strain of yeast that was then named after him Croise his boii. There you go. There you go.
I love little history stories. Yeah. As I said, ESPY's a yeast, it's not a bacteria. So as a yeast, it's got quite a few unique properties that differentiate it from bacterial probiotics. So it's got a completely different cell structure, larger in size than bacterial probiotics. And because of, you know, these differences, it's actually recognized differently in the body and can create a different immune response from the body than bacterial probiotics.
It also operates really well at body temperature, like human and dog body temperature. It's not killed off by really acidic gastric acid, which is absolutely key when it comes to probiotics for dogs. Mm-hmm. So if a lot of probiotics are sensitive to low pH, so acidic environments, but SB is great, it's not killed off by bowel salts, which just another compound in the body that have antimicrobial properties and it's also resistant to enzymes produced in the body.
But I guess one of the biggest benefits of SB as a probiotic over say the bacterial species, is that it's resistant to antibiotics. So we should all know by now that antibiotics only kill bacteria. Mm-hmm. , which is why we should never take antibiotics if we've got a viral infection or a fungal infection, otherwise we're just creating, you know,
greater antibiotic resistance. Again, we know particularly in well humans and dogs, that one of the largest side effects of antibiotic use is the destruction of beneficial bacteria in the gut. And once you kill off enough beneficial bacteria, again, that allows those opportunistic pathogenic bacteria to come in.
And that's where you get the symptoms of diarrhea that a lot of people experience, a lot of dogs experience when they're on a course of antibiotics, SBS being shown to inhibit the overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria during antibiotic treatment. Mm-hmm. , that's one of the key reasons why I wanted it in my range, because nearly every dog client I see on them the intake form. You know, there's a history of antibiotic use,
so it's really important that we address that. But I just wanna say, talking about antibiotics, a lot of pet owners assume that if it's natural, if it's a herbal antimicrobial compound, that it's only gonna kill off the bad bugs and it's completely safe. But a lot of herbs are broad spectrum antimicrobial. So a lot of herbal medicines will kill off the good as well as the bad. So you've gotta keep that in mind. So if you've got a dog and you've got it on an antimicrobial formula,
that is not ideal to be doing everyday long term. Okay. You're gonna cause as much damage as. It's good to know as. A prescription antibiotic. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I was thinking one day I should do a show on something like that. I think that would probably be beneficial, just so people are fundamentally aware of what's happening. Okay. Noted. Yeah. So if we look at some of the specific benefits of giving SB to our dog, so it's been shown to improve nutrient digestibility,
particularly improving fiber digestibility. So, you know, I see online it's quite a topic of conversation, you know, whether dogs need plants, whether dogs need fiber because you know, they're carnivores mm-hmm. , all of that sort of thing. Well. They're omnivores really, aren't they? I mean, a cat is a true carnivore. A cat is a meat eater. Yeah. So a cat's an obligate carnivore. Yep. Dogs are faculty, I can't say that word carnivores, because of the way they've evolved alongside humans.
Like they do have the ability to consume a much broader diet than they originally potentially were designed for. Mm-hmm. . But the thing, I think plant matter and fiber is so important, and all of our dogs get, you know, some really beautiful plant matter from their big dog patties. So I don't have to worry about that.
But when ladybug coming back to ladybug and gut health, when she had her spinal injury, I mean, she, and she still does have degree of fecal incontinence, so she's gonna poo, she can't control that it, if it's gonna come out, it's just gonna come out. Yep. It's like watching the Easter Bunny lay eggs. It. Is. Yeah. So when you've got a dog with fecal incontinence, you want their poos to be a hundred percent awesome a hundred percent of the
time. Mm-hmm. five has been just a godsend for managing ladybug. So in addition to the plant matter, she gets in her big dog patties. Two years ago when she first had her accident, I added in an additional fiber supplement, which is now the gut protect that I sell. Mm-hmm. through canine Ceuticals. We have not had a single, not. She hasn't had diarrhea since the day she had her accident. She. Hasn't even had sticky poo. No. 'cause you we're on carpet here.
So even sticky poo would be problematic. , it's been amazing. Well-formed. And some of the, I know it's not nice talking about poos, but it's been the nicest poos Yeah. That you could ever hope for in a dog that's got problems and just poos at whim. . Yeah. . But it is important, and it is, important's dog owners understand the importance of good poos. So I think we're talking to the right audience here. And.
The amazing thing about ladybug is that when you look at the poo sometimes you just can't believe that such a little dog could do such huge amount of poo. Yeah. Yeah. Back to fiber and sb Yeah, . So SB, because it helps in the digestion of fiber. It then goes on to help with the production of what's called short-chain fatty acids. It's actually a term that's starting to be used more and more online in, you know, blogs around dog health, but short-chain fatty acids.
There are things like acetate, propionate, butyrate, so particularly butyrate when it comes to sb. But they're compounds that have such a powerful effect on our health, like beneficial effect in terms of protecting our cells. They fuel our cells, they can produce antimicrobial compounds. They basically keep the whole colonic environment healthy. Okay.
And as part of that, people are familiar with leaky gut. They're also, those short chain fatty acids are sort of helping to minimize and prevent, but also heal situations of leaky gut. So that's a really important feature that SSB helps to promote. Mm-hmm. SB enhances what's called brush border enzymes. So these are enzymes that are produced in the intersite.
So an intersite is a cell line in the small intestine. So again, this is maybe another area that many of the listeners are not familiar with. So a lot of people will know that the pancreas produces a variety of different pancreatic enzymes. Things like amylase for carbohydrate breakdown. We've got proteinases for protein breakdown, lipases for fat breakdown. But enzymes are also produced in the intestines. Now, the best way to think of the whole situation is that the pancreas does the heavy
lifting, so to speak. So if we pick an example, let's say we talk about amylase. So you've got pancreatic amylase, which is gonna do most of the work in helping our bodies to break down and digest carbohydrates. But they're still in pretty large fragments that the body can't really utilize or absorb.
So once those larger breakdown products from the pancreas move further down the small intestine, that's where these additional brush border enzymes kick in to help break down those fragments even further. So people don't need to know the names of all the brush border enzymes, but one that you'll be familiar with is lactase. So lactase is the enzyme needed to break down the sugar compound lactose that
we get in dairy food. So, you know, someone who's lactose intolerant, they just don't have enough of that enzyme lactase to help deal with the dairy coming in. And that's where you'll often get symptoms like, you know, diarrhea, bloating and gas. Mm-hmm. , if they exceed their threshold. Now puppies, they do produce some lactase, but once they're weaned and they're onto solid foods, they pretty much stop producing lactase. And it's the same with humans after infancy,
we don't really have a lot of that lactase enzyme. And as an average, you know, maybe 65% of adults have a reduced ability to digest lactose. But in some cultures, you know, or in some parts of the world, particularly people of East Asian descent that can be nearly a hundred percent of the population just don't handle dairy. Mm-hmm. So milk is not their friend. Mm-hmm. Which reminds me of a funny story that we have, but. , it's about the milk . Milk . Um, so long story. That one.
Long story, not for the show, but. . You know, you don't need to give your dog milk. I, I sort of cringe when I hear people saying they're putting out bowls of milk for their dogs and cats. It's not necessary. Mm. And they're not really gonna tolerate it for the most part. So before we get into some dog specific studies around ssb, like I said, I've done a lot of writing around SSB from when I used to work for a human
health company as a research officer. So in the human world, a lot of the clinical research around SB has shown that it's, you know, significantly beneficial in reducing antibiotic associated diarrhea, Clostridium difficile infection. So usually that's abbreviated to c diff. What's. That? Bacterial infection. Okay. Yep. Dogs get it too. It's a really common one in dogs. Acute diarrhea, persistent diarrhea,
diarrhea that comes when people are tube fed. Travelers diarrhea, Helicobacter pylori infection. Espb is also being clinically shown to help in cases of like Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, any sort of parasitic infections. Blastocystis hominini, which is just referred to as blasto. So you can see like the research is really strong around SB for diarrhea.
So if you've got diarrhea or your dog's got diarrhea, there's a lot of good research around why you should be taking SB and the benefits of that. Well, nobody could ever accuse you of under researching products. . Well, like I said, my background is research and a lot of the can pharmaceuticals range, I've researched extensively for the human equivalences. Yeah. I know it , I do know it. . Um, and the beauty of that is the regulations around human supplements is really
stringent. So you've gotta dot your i's cross your T's and you've gotta have, if you're gonna claim something, you've gotta have. Evidence to support. It. The science Yep. Behind it. Mm-hmm. . So if we have a look at a couple of dog studies, there was one as recent as 2018 that looked at the effects of simas bii in dogs with chronic enteropathy. Now that was a double-blinded placebo controlled study,
which means it was a good quality study. So the term enteropathy, that's just referring to any pathology of the intestines. And because it's chronic, it's been going for, you know, a few weeks or longer. So in this study they had, you know, various breeds of dogs or various ages that had just been diagnosed with like chronic gut issues basically. And they were given either SB or a placebo for 10 days.
Now what's really important to note is that in the study, the dose given to the dogs was 1 billion colony forming units per kilogram of body weight twice daily. That means a 10 kilogram dog would receive 10 billion colony forming units twice a day. A 20 kilo dog would get 20 billion twice a day, et cetera. The canine ceuticals, pure SB 10, it contains 10 billion colony forming units per capsule. Mm-hmm. . So it makes it really easy to sort of dose according to the research. Mm-hmm.
, and this is a really important point because I see it all the time in clinic, is clients not taking the therapeutic dose that has been clinically proven to get them the results that they need. So someone might have arthritis and I'll say, you need to take fish oil. And they'll say, I've tried that didn't work. And I'll say, how many fish oil capsules did you take? And I'll say, one or two a day.
And I sort of like, oh. Because a lot of the times they'll be buying a, a low strength fish oil where they might need to take eight to 10 capsules a day to hit that mm-hmm. therapeutic dose that's been clinically shown to reduce symptoms of arthritis. But who's gonna comply with 10 capsules a day? So one, that's why you should get a high quality, high strength formula. But sometimes it's unavoidable, whether it's a dog or a human.
Sometimes you literally just need to take a lot of something, tablets or capsules to hit the therapeutic dose for at least a short period of time. Mm. Because unfortunately manufacturers and like the reputable companies will actually dose according to the research, and unfortunately they can't always fit enough in a single tablet or a single capsule. Mm-hmm. to get to that required dose. Yeah,
that makes sense. Otherwise, the capsule will be huge. Well, they'll be like horse tablets and then no one's gonna comply with that. Well then you choke on it either . So, which brings me to another point, is just because an ingredient is listed in a product, it doesn't mean it's at a strength that's gonna have a benefit. Mm-hmm. . So some companies that are less reputable will just include the name of an ingredient and people will associate that ingredient with a particular benefit. Mm-hmm. .
But it might be the tiniest little amount of that just so they can do naming rights. Yep. On the labels. So anyway, something to be aware of. So in this study, you know, they did heaps of tests on all the dogs. They did blood tests, fecal tests, and at the end of the study they found that dogs given the SB at that dosing that we've just described, they had significantly fewer or no clinical signs compared to the controlled dogs that just got the placebo.
So what that mean in this study is that they had reduced fecal frequency, which is awesome if you've got a dog with diarrhea mm-hmm. , you know, you want less of it. They had improved stool consistency. So firmer stools again, awesome. Improved body condition score. 'cause a lot of dogs with chronic gut issues struggle to maintain condition. So these dogs actually improved with their body condition, um,
and improved activity level. 'cause they probably felt like so much better. Mm. Of course, the study didn't report any adverse effects during the treatment with the sb. There was no interactions with any other medications that some of the dogs were taking at the time, like immunosuppressive drugs and antibiotics. So really strong research that matches what we've been seeing for a lot of years now coming through on the human research side of things.
And there was another study done looking at SB in dogs given Vancomycin the antibiotic, and they concluded that it was an effective cure for diarrhea in the dogs that were given the Vancomycin antibiotic. So if we just dig a little bit deeper, because it's one thing to say, and maybe this is just me, I don't know. It's one thing to say, okay, yeah, SB is beneficial for diarrhea. But then I go, well, how, why? Mm-hmm. , how is it actually working to stop my dog from getting diarrhea?
So if we just touch on a couple of the wises. So firstly, if we look at infection, so the most common enteric pathogens in dogs and cats are things like Clostridium, e coli, and salmonella. So if you look at Clostridium, it's often associated with antibody associated diarrhea. And there's a lot of research around c diff and SB supplementation. So when a dog is infected with C diff, what's c diff again? Clostridium bacteria. Mm-hmm. pathogenic bacteria.
So it produces a couple of toxins, toxin A and toxin B. So SSB actually prevents the Clostridium toxins from binding to the cells in the gastrointestinal tract. And it also helps to break apart the actual Clostridium bacterium themselves. So that's how SB is working to prevent and heal ciff infections. If we look at e coli, I mean, e coli primarily damages the gastrointestinal tract by breaking apart those tight junctions, which leads to, you know, the whole leaky gut syndrome.
But to do that, e coli first has to adhere or bind to the cells of the gastrointestinal tract. So SSB actually physically prevents e coli from making contact with the intestinal cells. And it also protects the integrity of those cells to prevent the leakiness and to reduce inflammation. If we think about salmonella, I mean, salmonella is everywhere in the environment, but it doesn't usually become a problem for us or our dogs unless we're
immunocompromised. And in terms of helping against salmonella, ssb, immobilizes, salmonella. So it stops it from being able to do what it needs to do. So it stops it from invading the cells of the gut, and as a result, the salmon allergist gets excreted from the body. So, I mean, they're all really important mechanisms of action for like a single yeast compound. Mm. I mean, I find that fascinating just to understand how it's working.
Like it's breaking apart the bacteria. It's neutralizing toxins, it's stopping adherence of those pathogenic bacteria. So that's really awesome. It also has really powerful anti-inflammatory effects. So, you know, inflammation can be triggered by so many different things. And it's almost at the point now where the research is saying that inflammation is the root cause of every disease. Mm-hmm. , you know, there's an inflammatory component to everything.
But SB helps in this situation by downregulating those pro-inflammatory compounds, while at the same time upregulating anti-inflammatory factors that are, you know, helping to protect and repair the gut. So that's really important.
And probably the final point that's worth mentioning when it comes to SSB is that it also promotes the production of an immune compound called secretory, I g A. So we just shorten that to S I G A. So it's important for us and our dogs because it's like the first line of defense against the entry of any foreign substance into the body.
So if you think about it, all our mucosal surfaces, and I guess we're more acutely aware of this now after the last couple of years of covid, but our mucosal surfaces, the eyes, the nose, the throat, all our sinuses, the urinary tract, the gastrointestinal tract, they're all entry points for disease causing pathogens. Mm-hmm. So that's where bugs can get into us.
So the way the body's way of protecting these points of entry is by releasing this secretory iga A in the mucus layer that lines all of those membranes. So this secretory IGA basically binds to invading pathogen and neutralizes them. So in humans, low or reduced decre IGA levels are often seen in people with low immune system function. People who are suffering from allergies, atopic diseases like eczema, psoriasis, people with asthma, chronic gut infections, food sensitivities,
things like that. It's a very similar situation with our dogs. So really important, you can see there's so many different ways that SB is working to promote health and prevent disease in our dogs. And that was, I mean, that was a lot of information and a lot of technical information that we've just
gone through. So to summarize, consistently supplementing with SB has been shown to improve nutrient digestibility, optimize the immune system, like physically and biochemically protect our dogs against the most common gastrointestinal pathogens. It reduces the risk of gastrointestinal disturbances.
It protects against antibiotic associated diarrhea. You know, there was one study I read that I think they concluded by saying that when it comes to animals that SB may be the best probiotic for dogs and cats in terms of preventing pathogen invasion and just loss of that gut health. I think they said, you know, gastrointestinal homeostasis. But you know, that balance that we all need in our dogs' need to maintain good health.
Which brings us back to the very beginning when you're talking about ladybug. And you know, yes, she's a spinal injury dog, but the gut, if that's out of balance, if there's dysbiosis that has such a powerful downstream effect in terms of, you know, creating systemic inflammation that's going to compromise her body's ability to heal, you know, it's gonna compromise her nervous system from being able to repair and increase communication between body parts.
When we talk about health and disease and bodies, we tend to talk about isolated parts, but everything is completely interconnected. So, you know, when we're talking about the gut that's influencing every body system, every organ system that we have, which is what, as a naturopath, we don't just focus on one part. You know, you've got cardiologists, you've got gastroenterologists, like in the mainstream medicine, you've got doctors who specialize in a body part. Mm.
But that's where they specialize their knowledge. And they often, you know, I get clients that come to me that have been to a specialist for a body part, and they've completely ignored how it's impacting other body parts and other parts of their health. Start with the gut. It all comes back to the gut. Well, I always found that interesting because fundamentally, when I've listened to other people talking about this subject throughout time, it might be health related.
Or even without sounding woowoo about the spiritually related aspects, most people who have been doing high level research or been actively involved in these pursuits throughout their life always say the same thing. It's all connected. Mm. Everything is connected. And I think it's one thing that I don't know why we've been encouraged to ignore
that. I dunno why we've been encouraged to look at things in isolated compounds rather than the connection of everything and how one thing can establish harmony or destabilize in another if attention's not given to it. Absolutely. And I mean, when we're talking, I mean, we're talking about probiotics today, particularly sb, but you know, it's often said that we have 10 times the number of bacterial cells than we do human cells. Mm-hmm. in the body.
So we often think that the bacteria in our guts are sort of hitching a ride on us, but it's more like we're hitching a ride on them. 'cause there's more of them than there is of our cells. Yeah. I know it's kind of freaky. I. Haven't explained that well, but it is, it's like mind bubbling. Yeah. Mm. That there's more bacterial cells than human cells in the body. Well, that's enough to cook everyone's brains for this episode, I think it is. So if you've got any questions about sb mm-hmm. ,
you can jump onto the Facebook page. Yep. Natural health for people and pets. If you wanna give SB a go for your dog, go to the Canine ceuticals website, canine ceuticals.com au. So you can look for pure SSB 10. Mm-hmm. , if you wanna email me, you can do that at a couple of emails now. So we've got [email protected] au. You've also got Noelle at natural health and nutrition.com au. So lots of ways to find me if all else fails. Go to your Facebook or your Instagram pages.
Oh yes. Me as the terrible social media person. Yeah. I know you're ter you just, you totally neglected social media all the time. I have Canine Ceuticals Facebook page and Instagram page that's canine dot ceuticals for Facebook and Instagram would let me do it without the dot. Mm-hmm. and yeah. The Natural Health for People and Pets Facebook page to support this podcast. Okay. This episode has been a real passion of mine. I love gut health.
I think gut health, as I've said, is super critical to us and our dogs. And I see such huge improvements in my dog clients when we address the foundations of health, which to me starts with the gut. So do check out the resources and have a read on the Canine Ceuticals website about not just ssb. There are a couple of other gut powders that are really fundamental.
Like I said, the gut protect is what I've had ladybug on for the last couple of years, which have given her the most awesome poos ever. So if you wanna see if your dog can have awesome poos too. . Grab some gut protect, but. What a way to end the show on poos. Perfect way. Thanks everyone. Goodbye. Everyone. Bye.