Lifestyle
Go Pro, Probiotic That Is!
By
Aug 24, 2010 - 3:11:56 PM

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Probiotics have become a household term in the last few years mainly due to the many yogurts now available, giving us reports of numerous health benefits. Probiotic literally meaning for-life is defined as any product with sufficient amounts of live micro-organisms that simultaneously encourage beneficial bacteria to flourish in our body while hindering the growth of harmful microorganisms.

Yes, we do have beneficial bacteria that live in, flourish and nurture our body, and their species and amount vary. They live in our G.I. tract from our mouth to our anus and in the vaginal tract of women. They also reside on our skin. Much ongoing research has shown a significant role of probiotics in human physiology. They're involved in the health and healthy development of our immune system, prevention of infection from harmful microbes and they're also involved in the maintenance of our intestinal barrier function, which helps to keep infection from entering our blood stream. For a variety of reasons, the normal native bacteria that lives within us may not always perform these functions on an optimal level. This is one reason that probiotics from food and supplements (and prebiotics, which we will discuss at a later date) are being studied and used to improve these functions vital for our health.

The Probiotic Benefits currently being researched

Immune Function. Known as up-regulatation or down-regulatation immune function, probiotics may up-regulate immune function, which may improve the body's ability to fight infections or inhibit tumor formation; probiotics may down-regulate immune function, which may prevent the onset of allergy or intestinal inflammation.

GI tract disease. Probiotics may help prevent and treat acute gastroenteritis (inflammation of G.I. tract caused by viruses, bacteria); they may reduce lactose intolerance, diarrhea; they may be beneficial in management of ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, pseudomembranous colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome. (The beneficial effects of probiotics and, especially, the clinical use of probiotics in the management of diarrhea diseases, including Rotavirus diarrhea, Traveler's diarrhea and others are well accepted; quote from "World Journal of Gastroenterology").

Misc. Probiotics are being considered for research for wound healing, urogenital infections, autism, vaccine delivery, and skin microbiology. In one article published by The World Journal of Gastroenterology, probiotics have shown to have beneficial effects for our liver by aiding the regulation of fat metabolism, and aiding the balance of gut flora, both playing a key role in reducing low grade inflammation in our body (Certainly more beneficial implications to our health then I can even try to explain here!). A condition known as fatty liver has been steadily on the rise in our country due to the rise of obesity rates, which probotics may also play a helpful role. And since there is a connection between inflammation and cancer, let's look for more research on this connection between probiotics and cancer.

Of course, my favorite source of probiotics is yogurt, so much so that I eat at least "A Yogurt a Day"! The health promoting bacterial strains in yogurt can be particularly helpful during those times we do need to take antibiotics (don’t take at the same time though), replenishing the good bugs in our gut. The probiotics in yogurt can help our gastrointestinal system fight the bacteria that we ingest, which would cause us to get sick (food poisoning for example, but they will not necessarily prevent it) while we are getting other healthy benefits from this important dairy food. Some studies have also shown that yogurt is linked to an improved resistance to infection in general and other studies have pointed to yogurt as having anti-cancer properties. Let’s not forget that keeping our gut flora in balance can aid our immune system and health in general by enhancing the absorption of the nutrients we eat from all foods.
Studies have also reported that regular intake of a yogurt drink containing active live cultures (look below for a list of these long named bugs) reduced nasal levels of some potentially serious bacteria (Streptococci and Staphylococcus; See below sources.). These nasal bacteria have been known to cause common infections in hospital patients. Additional studies report that eating yogurt regularly suppresses the growth of the common H-Pylori infection, which can produce symptoms similar to an ulcer or make us susceptible to one. Can we really ask for much more?

Let's check our yogurt labels, which should read "Active Live Cultures" and while there are different strains for each bacteria, we can make a choice based upon the yogurt containing multi cultures. What active live cultures should we look for according to research as a good start?

Active Live Cultures in Yogurt Drinks & Yogurt to look for are, Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, L. Casei, and Streptococcus thermohilus. So, have we had our yogurt today? I consider it to be one of my most important staple foods for our health, and beyond.

June M. Lay M.S.

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Please seek the advise of your Doctor, for any medical concerns.

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Sources:
International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics, an International non-profit collaboration of scientists to advancing the science of probiotics and prebiotics, www.isapp.net

Am J Clin Nutr. 2004;80:737-741; Am J Health-Syst Pharm 58(12):1101-1109, 2001. © 2001

American Society of Health-System Pharmacists; Zemel, The role of dairy foods in weight management, Jam Coll Nutr. 2005 Dec;24(6 Suppl):537S-46S

Silvia Wilson Gratz, Hannu Mykkanen, and Hani S El-Nezami; Probiotics and gut health: A special focus on liver diseases; World J Gastroenterol. 2010 January 28; 16(4): 403–410. Retrieved by pubmed.

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