Probiotics
Probiotics provide an extra layer of strength. The behave like soldiers in your intestinal tract to combat pathogens - Dr. Mary Ellen Sanders
image by: Suneng ATOMY online
HWN Recommends
Why you’re probably wasting your money on probiotics
Perhaps you've seen over-the-top ads for probiotics — live yeasts and bacteria that you can take for a rainbow of wonderful effects: "Strengthen your natural defenses!" "Burn fat and flab!" "Improve gastrointestinal function!"
The first thing to know about probiotics is that most of these ads are wildly exaggerated. As UpToDate, the guide to medical research for physicians, put it dryly: "Enthusiasm for probiotics has outpaced the scientific evidence."
But that doesn't mean probiotics are useless. There's actually decent evidence that they can be effective to treat specific ailments. And it's quite possible that scientists could find…
Resources
Google results for probiotics are totally unreliable
Initial search results for probiotics may not tell the full story.
What Is Tepache, and Is It Really As Healthy As Kombucha?
Packed with probiotics, tepache is a fermented, fizzy drink that kombucha fans are definitely going to want to stock up on, stat.
Do probiotics actually do anything?
For now, Ciorba says, it’s not necessary—or even prudent—to take probiotics if your digestive health is pretty good. But if you are keen on trying them, do it in a rational way, he says. If a month of daily probiotic supplements don't make you feel noticeably better, it's probably not worth spending your hard earned cash on these misunderstood bugs.
Is it worth taking probiotics after antibiotics?
Taking a course of antibiotics could harm the beneficial bacteria living inside us. So should we be taking probiotics after we finish them? The answer may not be so simple.
Probiotics Are Often Mislabeled - Here's How To Tell
If you walk through a grocery store, you'll see probiotic kombucha, probiotic yogurt, even probiotic chocolate across various isles. These "probiotic" foods advertise numerous benefits for your health. You might even pick up that probiotic sweet, justifying some extra dessert after dinner.
So Really, What Are the Benefits of Probiotics?
People take probiotics for digestion, immunity, depression, you name it. We looked into whether they're worth it.
Those Probiotics May Actually Be Hurting Your ‘Gut Health’
The newly fashionable pills and foods meant to increase the variety of healthy bacteria in our bodies can actually have the opposite effect.
Do You Buy Probiotics? New Study Says They May Not Work For You And May Even Be Harmful
The new research featured in two papers, both published today in the journal Cell by scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Tel Aviv, suggests that probiotics might not be quite as good for us as commonly thought and says they could even be harmful if taken after antibiotics.
Dr. Oz’s Probiotics Guide
A variety of fermented foods can help maintain that balance, but supplements are also a quick and easy way to get a decent dose of good bacteria. Follow this helpful guide to find out what you should be looking for in a supplement.
Fact Sheet: Probiotics
Learn more about the “good bacteria” that can boost your immune system, improve your digestion and much more.
Gut feelings: the future of psychiatry may be inside your stomach
The right combination of stomach microbes could be crucial for a healthy mind.
Have You Had Your Probiotics Today?
There are 100 trillion good bacteria in your gut. Here's how probiotics and prebiotics work and what you need to know.
Health Check: should healthy people take probiotic supplements?
Advocates of probiotics have hailed them as the answer to all sorts of health issues and conditions. But what exactly are probiotics? And, more importantly, should you be taking them?
How To Tell Which Probiotic Is Right For You
While taking the advice of a friend over dinner might not be dangerous, there are better ways to spend $60 than on a bottle of probiotics that will be neutralized as soon as it hits your stomach acid or is meant to treat an entirely different condition than what you intend. Microbiome researcher Dr. Brian McFarlin of University of North Texas who oversees clinical trials of probiotics, shares that the challenges for consumers trying to locate the right probiotic for any particular gut condition is a lack of regulation and published research. Many companies do test them but don’t publish their findings.
Making the most of probiotics
How these probiotic microorganisms deliver health effects for consumers is still not very clear. However, many studies suggest that they support the native gut microorganisms to colonise, or live successfully in the gut, thereby enabling proper digestive processes and other essential functions.
Making the most of probiotics
The point is that probiotics may have potent effects on the body. Like medication. We ought to give them their due—and not assume they’ll only do what we want them to simply because they’re natural, or served up sweet.
Probiotic Food and Supplements That Really Work
Foods, drinks, and supplements with probiotics are everywhere these days, but only some probiotic strains are proven remedies for common health issues, like tummy troubles.
Probiotics Are Becoming More In Vogue
"In the past, probiotics were marketed mainly to women and for irritable bowel syndrome, but are now finding a wider audience due to expanded treatment applications, including antibiotic-related diarrhea, diverticular disease and even anxiety," Cooperman said. "Meanwhile, too much calcium has been shown to pose increased risk of cardiovascular disease, while high-dose vitamin C appears to increase the risk of kidney stones and cataracts. The benefits of fish oil now seem largely limited to people who don't eat fish or have high triglycerides."
Probiotics are drugs, so we should test them like drugs
Only a few probiotic pills have actually been proven to work, despite all the health claims supplement companies make about them.
Probiotics are mostly useless and can actually hurt you
The research also showed that while probiotics colonised the gastrointestinal tract of some people, the gut microbiome of others just expelled them. There was no way of telling from their stool sample which category people fell into. “Some people accept probiotics in their gut, while others just pass them from one end to the other,” says Elinav.
Probiotics Could Control "Inflammaging"
When it comes to solving issues with gut diversity, one proposed option for resolution is probiotics. This class of bacteria is known to provide a host of benefits including controlling inflammation.
Probiotics: a first look at what’s going on in the gut
We now know that the microbes in our guts have important effects on our health. They can reduce inflammation, help us lose weight , and reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease. So we want to know if probiotics change the composition of our gut microbes to help improve our health.
Should You Take a Probiotic?
The popular supplements might be more about marketing than beneficial microbes.
So, What the Heck is a Probiotic?
In terms of which specific strain of probiotics you should take, the answer is complicated and depends on many factors. Each person has a unique set of microbes and may respond differently to probiotics.
The Future of Probiotics
Hippocrates said that all disease begins in the gut. A gastroenterologist's predictions on how new treatments will begin there, too.
The Problem With Probiotics
For too long we’ve assumed that probiotics are doing some good and little harm. That might be true for some, but it’s not assured in the current environment.
Will Probiotics Ever Live Up to the Hype?
Changing your microbiome takes more than just swallowing a pill full of bacteria.
Why you’re probably wasting your money on probiotics
But if you do decide to try them, consider seeking out probiotics that have at least been studied in humans. This guide to probiotic supplements, recommended to me by Gregor Reid at the University of Western Ontario, is helpful, listing the products that actually have evidence behind them. In the future, as researchers gather more evidence and deepen their understanding of the microbiome, we may find more uses for probiotics. Perhaps one day they could prove a promising treatment. For now, though, don't expect any miracles.
TOP 10 Probiotic Supplements
LabDoor analyzed 30 best-selling probiotic supplements in the United States, measuring amounts of total anaerobic bacteria, genera-specific bacteria, and potential contaminants (mold, yeast, and pathogenic bacteria, including E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., and Staphylococcus aureus).
GoodBelly
What you eat and drink has so much to do with your overall health. And where does that health get started? In your gut, your digestive tract — your belly. That’s why you should start every day with a GoodBelly. Every shot or glass has the probiotic digestive helpers your body needs. You’ll feel so good, you’ll make GoodBelly your daily go-to. Because when your belly smiles, the rest of you does too.*
MedicineNet
While some studies have shown many health benefits of probiotics, more research still needs to be done to be sure that they are safe and effective as a supplement and in foods. This is especially true for children, pregnant women, elderly people, and people with compromised immune systems. For people with suppressed immune systems due to disease or treatment for a disease (such as cancer chemotherapy), taking probiotics may actually increase your chances of getting sick.
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
Our understanding of probiotics is a work in progress. Although probiotic products are marketed for many different uses, scientific evidence supporting specific uses is still limited, and the FDA has not approved any health claims for probiotics. Before using probiotics, learn as much as you can by talking to your health care provider and researching reliable sources of information.
Fortify
Digestive balance is key to overall health and wellbeing. That said, there are many things that can negatively impact the balance of good bacteria in your intestinal tract, including stress, travel, diet and age, just to name a few. That’s why it’s important to replenish and fortify your digestive system on a regular basis through a healthy diet, exercise and a probiotic supplement such as Primadophilus® Fortify™
Introducing Stitches!
Your Path to Meaningful Connections in the World of Health and Medicine
Connect, Collaborate, and Engage!
Coming Soon - Stitches, the innovative chat app from the creators of HWN. Join meaningful conversations on health and medical topics. Share text, images, and videos seamlessly. Connect directly within HWN's topic pages and articles.