Bacteria are really important microbes – life on earth couldn’t exist without them! Bacteria have only one cell, shaped like a sphere, rod or spiral. A single one, called a bacterium, is really tiny; millions would fit on the head of a pin! Bacteria have been around for millions of years and they can live in any area of the earth, no matter how hot or cold. Very few bacteria are harmful to you, most help to keep you healthy.
GI Jake is one of the very good guys in your gut! He is a probiotic, a living micro-organism that can help to keep you healthy, as long as you consume enough of it. Probiotics work very hard to keep you healthy and have more benefits than nutrients like vitamins and minerals. They fight disease and protect you from bad bacteria like Pat O’Gen. When your gut is healthy, you are healthy!
Bacteria are very simple but very clever. No matter how hot or cold, dangerous or poisonous, bacteria have adapted to live everywhere. This includes lots of places where humans couldn’t survive. Bacteria need different things to survive depending on where they live, but they all need nutrients to grow and to make copies of themselves. If they don’t have the right conditions, they just hibernate until the right conditions come along!
Bacteria aren’t all bad, in fact you couldn’t survive without some bacteria! Good bacteria in your gut, probiotics like GI Jake, help digest your food and fight invading microbes. Good bacteria are used in making some of the dairy products you like to eat and also some types of medicines! Bacteria are some of the best decomposers – they break down dead and decaying organic matter, from leaves to insects. Best of all, bacteria are being used to clean up oil spills to keep your environment healthy too.
You cannot escape bacteria, they are everywhere! The good thing is that very few bacteria are harmful, but bad bacteria aren’t much fun. Bad bacteria like Pat O’Gen make you sick, while other bad bacteria spoil your food and water, making it unsafe. Bad bacteria love when you or your environment is unhygienic or dirty. They take any chance they get to take over! Remember, bacteria can make copies of themselves very quickly so just one bad bacterium can make you sick or spoil your food!
Probiotics are live micro-organisms that, when you eat enough of them, are good for your health. GI Jake is a Probiotic - he works to help your gut stay healthy by fighting disease and protecting you from invasion by other micro-organisms. When you have enough good bacteria and Probiotics in your gut, there just isn’t room for the bad guys to grow! You can find Probiotics mainly in yoghurts, which are very tasty to eat!
| Bacteria | Viruses | Fungi | Parasites |
