We were designed to eat whole foods that contain the necessary proteins, fats, carbohydrates, fiber, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other nutrients our body needs for proper nourishment and health. While optimal nutrition is best achieved from a whole foods based diet, this is difficult to achieve with our over-processed food supply. Supplementing your diet with whole food nutritional supplements may be necessary to support overall health.

 Whole food based supplements have high nutritional integrity because they contain the micronutrients, both known and unknown, that are found in whole foods. This makes whole food based nutritional supplements a great alternative to isolated vitamins and minerals that do not provide a complete food matrix of “satellite” compounds found in nature.

 So far, more than 25,000 different micronutrients (phytochemicals) have been discovered in whole fruits and vegetables. Researchers are now discovering that these phytochemicals work in concert to orchestrate a natural harmony in our bodies.

 Garden of Life nutritional supplements are made from organically grown (when available), nutrient dense whole foods from around the world to provide you with high quality formulations. Over a hundred years ago, Nobel Prize winning scientist Ellie Metchnikoff proposed that the health, well-being and longevity of Bulgarian peasants was the result of their consumption of large quantities of fermented milk products.The current use of probiotics in fermented foods to promote good health by means of an improved balance in intestinal microflora evolved from Metchnikoff's theory. Microorganisms primarily found in fermented foods and used in probiotic supplements include various species of lactobacilli or bifidobacteria used individually or in combination with one another. Fermented foods have been used for centuries for their health promoting effects. What history and world cultures have long recorded and known about fermentation is now becoming increasingly studied, tested and accepted in the scientific world.

 To optimize our products, Garden of Life uses probiotics in many of our formulas and select ingredients are produced through our proprietary Poten-Zyme™ fermentation process to make the nutrients in these ingredients more available to the body.Probiotics are beneficial living microflora that play a critical role in maintaining good health.* These are the same or similar microorganisms as the ones used in the fermentation of healthful foods. The healthy human intestine contains billions of microorganisms – both good and potentially harmful. The good bacteria in the intestine are considered an integral part of normal immune system support.Probiotics are also important because they can synthesize certain vitamins and short-chain fatty acids to support a healthy intestinal lining and bolster immunity. * When your intestinal lining is occupied by healthy beneficial flora it leaves unwelcome micro- organisms deprived of both space and nutrients.

Healthy people usually have a ratio of approximately 85% good and 15% potentially harmful organisms in the intestinal tract. In some cases, however, even those who appear to be well might have an unfavorable ratio as a result of daily exposure to environmental toxins and a modern lifestyle. Taking antibiotics and drinking chlorinated water, for example, may often change the optimal microbial balance essential for good health.

 Large scale use of pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals has changed the bacterial balance in the soil and depleted our natural supply of probiotics. In order to regain the probiotic benefits we historically obtained from consuming foods cultivated in healthy soil, Garden of Life developed a Homeostatic™ Soil Organism Probiotic Blend utilizing several species of beneficial microorganisms. Many Garden of Life formulations contain Homeostatic™ Soil Organisms to help you maintain a balanced, healthy internal environment