Support Grows for Healthy Bacteria

US News & World Report
By Katherine Leitzell
Posted 7/27/07

Yogurt's not just a food anymore. It has emerged as a dietary supplement that promises benefits far beyond a slim waist. The old staple, along with other foods such as aged cheese and the dairy drink called kefir, contains newly touted probiotic bacteria. From improving digestion to preventing allergies, the reported properties of probiotics sound almost too good to be true—but a growing body of research suggests that some healthful bacteria, at least, might live up to the promise.

Probiotics include a variety of "friendly" microorganisms—certain types of bacteria and yeast—that may provide consumers with health benefits. It might seem counterintuitive to gobble bacteria for better health, but a healthy human gut teems with hundreds of varieties of bacteria, most of them harmless or even beneficial. Those friendlies, most commonly Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria, vastly outnumber the body's human cells and help maintain a healthy digestive system in part by inhibiting the growth of potentially infection-causing microbes. It's a delicate balance.

Probiotics may be most useful when that balance becomes disturbed. Sometimes, a weakened immune system or a bad hamburger tips the scales in favor of the unfriendly microbes; at other times, a course of antibiotics that kills bacteria indiscriminately can leave the digestive system vulnerable. In such situations, probiotics may restore a healthy balance. Moreover, some experts say, taking a daily probiotic supplement might help prevent infections in the first place—and also combat allergies and even some chronic diseases.

However, the strength of the supporting evidence varies from one potential use to the next. While some health benefits from probiotics are well documented, others are only in early stages of study.

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My Comment:

If you click on "read more", you can view the entire story. My favorite quotes in the article are:

"It's like an atomic bomb in your gut," says Gary Huffnagle, professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan and author of The Probiotics Revolution. Taking probiotics to complement an antibiotic treatment is a "no-brainer," he says.

As Kopp-Hoolihan likes to say, "A few million probiotics a day keep the doctor away."