The intestinal bacteria are the first line of defense and support the immune system. We kill our good bacteria with coffee, nicotine, alcohol, sodas, cooked food, cough medicine, antibiotics, drugs, birth control pills, chlorinated water, MSG, dyes, artificial sweeteners and other manmade substances. This lowers immunity and makes us vulnerable to infection and invasion by bad bacteria and yeasts etc… Then we add even more friendly bacteria killing substances into our system in an effort to heal from colds, flu, sinus infections etc…. If we have a raw diet and use natural antibiotics along with probiotics we avoid this cycle of disrupting our body ecology and inviting infection. By preserving our immune system we support a healthy spectrum of intestinal bacteria, which in turn prevents imbalances such as obesity, metabolic syndrome and degenerative disease.

More than ninety percent of intestinal microbes are Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes bacteria, and obese humans had 50 percent fewer Bacteroidetes than their leaner counterparts. The Firmicutes are better able to digest complex carbohydrates, freeing up more calories, thus the increased percentage of Firmicutes means more energy is extracted from food, leading to obesity. Furthermore it was found that intestinal bacteria contribute to changes in appetite and metabolism. Matam Vijay-Kumar, PhD, from Emory University School of Medicine has been studying a mouse strain which was engineered to lack a gene, Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5), which helps cells sense the presence of bacteria by recognizing flagellin…that is the main component of the flagella that many bacteria use to propel themselves. The TLR5-deficient mice were 20 percent heavier than regular mice and had the characteristics of metabolic syndrome including increased appetite, obesity, elevated blood sugar, insulin resistance, increased production of insulin, elevated triglycerides, cholesterol and blood pressure. The TLR5-deficient mice had normal proportions of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes but differed in the type of bacterial species that comprised these families.

This was fascinating--thanks for posting, Janabanana : )

Salt is a bacteria killer, including the "raw" salts. Garlic is also a bacteria killer.

garlic doesnt kill the good bacteria though it only kills the bad.

garlic helps promote good bacteria growth.

How does garlic know the difference between good bacteria and bad bacteria?

A lot anti-bacterial substances will kill the flora if in direct contact. This only becomes as issue though if taking the garlic at the same time as you take probiotics. If you are just eating raw garlic then many of the compounds from the garlic will be diluted and absorbed long before it reaches most of the flora.

The reason garlic is said to build the flora is due to the fructooligosaccharide (FOS) component of garlic. FOS is a prebiotic fiber.

Right; by the time the garlic gets to your duodenum, where the primary flora are located, it's been reduced considerably chemically.