Here is a great video to start with...

Probiotics - Optimal Colon Health

Probiotics are live microorganisms (in most cases, bacteria) that are similar to beneficial microorganisms found in the human gut. They are also called "friendly bacteria" or "good bacteria."

There are several reasons that people are interested in probiotics for health purposes.

First, the world is full of microorganisms (including bacteria), and so are people's bodies—in and on the skin, in the gut, and in other orifices. Friendly bacteria are vital to proper development of the immune system, to protection against microorganisms that could cause disease, and to the digestion and absorption of food and nutrients. Each person's mix of bacteria varies. Interactions between a person and the microorganisms in his body, and among the microorganisms themselves, can be crucial to the person's health and well-being.

This bacterial "balancing act" can be thrown off in two major ways:

1. By antibiotics, when they kill friendly bacteria in the gut along with unfriendly bacteria. Some people use probiotics to try to offset side effects from antibiotics like gas, cramping, or diarrhea. Similarly, some use them to ease symptoms of lactose intolerance—a condition in which the gut lacks the enzyme needed to digest significant amounts of the major sugar in milk, and which also causes gastrointestinal symptoms.

2. "Unfriendly" microorganisms such as disease-causing bacteria, yeasts, fungi, and parasites can also upset the balance. Researchers are exploring whether probiotics could halt these unfriendly agents in the first place and/or suppress their growth and activity in conditions like:

Infectious diarrhea, Irritable bowel syndrome, Inflammatory bowel disease (e.g., ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease), Infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a bacterium that causes most ulcers and many types of chronic stomach inflammation, Tooth decay and periodontal disease, Vaginal infections, Stomach and respiratory infections that children acquire in daycare, and Skin infections.

Another part of the interest in probiotics stems from the fact there are cells in the digestive tract connected with the immune system. One theory is that if you alter the microorganisms in a person's intestinal tract (as by introducing probiotic bacteria), you can affect the immune system's defenses.

Scientific understanding of probiotics and their potential for preventing and treating health conditions is at an early stage, but moving ahead. In November 2005, a conference that was cofunded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and convened by the American Society for Microbiology explored this topic.

According to the conference report, some uses of probiotics for which there is some encouraging evidence from the study of specific probiotic formulations are as follows:

To treat diarrhea (this is the strongest area of evidence, especially for diarrhea from rotavirus)

To prevent and treat infections of the urinary tract or female genital tract

To treat irritable bowel syndrome

To reduce recurrence of bladder cancer

To shorten how long an intestinal infection lasts that is caused by a bacterium called Clostridium difficile

To prevent and treat pouchitis (a condition that can follow surgery to remove the colon)

To prevent and manage atopic dermatitis (eczema) in children

The conference panel also noted that in studies of probiotics as cures, any beneficial effect was usually low; a strong placebo effect often occurs; and more research (especially in the form of large, carefully designed clinical trials) is needed in order to draw firmer conclusions.

There are many types of probiotics on the market to buy. The most popular form is in pills. If you decide to go this way, make sure they are refridgerated. Since they are a "live" organism, think of them as you would your food kept fresh in your fridge at home. You can also buy probiotics in liquid form - concentrate or single serving drinks. Purchasing makes it easy but you can make your own probiotic drink in your own kitchen for much, much less. Plus, making your own, it's fresh and more potent than what's been sitting on the shelves at the store. The drink you are about to learn about is called Rejuvelac.

Rejuvelac is a tart acidophilus-containing drink made by fermenting sprouted wheatberries or sprouted rye or other grains. The sprouting of the grains creates some sugars by enzymatic conversion, and these sugars are then eaten by friendly bacteria (naturally present on the grain hulls) during the 'fermentation' process, creating lots more of the living probiotic bacteria.

You may like to add honey, agave or stevia to it before you drink it which makes it more palatable. Sort of like a lemonade.

For those of you prone to candida infections, (most of us have candida - whether we know it or not is the question) there are two things to note. First, lay off the sweetner. Candida thrives on sugar. I have heard that Xylitol is minus one carbon from sugar, the candida doesn't recognize this till it's too late and in their frenzy to "eat" up the Xylitol, it's missing carbon starves the candida and it dies. Sounds like a good thing but do your research on Xylitol first. It gives my 10 year old son severe migraine headaches.

Second, (and this really goes for all beginers) work your way up to drinking a quart of rejuvelac a couple of times a week. Most of us can use a good 8 oz of rejuvelac every day. It may need some getting used to, so start where you can and work your way up.

How to make Rejuvelac:

Makes 2 litres Rejuvelac.

1 cup of wheat grains, from a health food store.
2 litres of water.
2 litre wide mouthed jar.

INSTRUCTIONS METHOD 1
1. Add the wheat grains to the mason jar. Fill with water and cover with gauze, held securely in place with an elastic band.

2. Leave the jar on a kitchen bench out of direct sunlight. Give the jar a gentle twirl, but not a shake, every 12 hours. Once a light foam develops the Rejuvelac should be ready for use. It may take anywhere from 2-5 days to ferment the Rejuvelac depending on the ambient temperature. In hot weather where it may ferment too quickly (around 24 hours) it is possible for the Rejuvelac go putrid. Rejuvelac should have a pleasant yeasty smell with a lemon like flavour.

3. Decant the Rejuvelac into a flagon and refrigerate. Refill the jar with water and ferment for another 24-36 hours to make a second culture. Decant the Rejuvelac and discard the wheat grains.

INSTRUCTIONS METHOD 2
1. Soak the grain over night. Rinse then lay the jar on its side to drain and leave the wheat to sprout for 1-3 days or until the roots are 1-3 mm long. Keep the jar covered with muslin and rinse periodically to prevent the grains from drying out, and to remove harmful organisms.

2. Fill the jar with water and ferment the culture for 1-2 days or until it has gone milky with a layer of froth on the surface.

3. Decant the liquid and refrigerate.

NOTE:
1. It is possible for Rejuvelac to bad (as it is for sprouts and probably any fermented culture). You can generally tell if the rejuvelac is okay by the smell and taste. It should be acidic with a pH less than pH 3.9. It is good practice to observe, smell and taste the rejuvelac periodically to become accustomed to the changes that occur (as it is for any fermented culture). Rejuvelac should keep in the fridge for a week or more, and will gradually sweeten with time.

2. All bacteria and yeasts have an optimum incubation temperature. Refrigeration will inhibit the growth of some organisms but may give an opportunity for others to flourish. Hot weather or high temperatures, may encourage the rapid growth of pathogenic organisms before the beneficial organisms get started, in which case the culture will smell putrid. If your Rejuvelac culture goes off then discard it, sterilise the jar and wait for cooler weather. In hot weather, it is feasible that a slight acidulation of the water with a little lemon juice at the start of the fermentation, may provide an environment less suited to pathogenic organisms.

3. Let it ferment for about 3 days the first time (you can ferment the same sprouts for a second fermentation, which will only need to be fermented for one day or so). It's temperature-dependent, though.

For more information, my sources are:
Medicine Net
and
Planet Thrive