What are probiotics?

Considerable scientific research is now being directed to the health benefits of probiotics, which are dietary substances containing potentially beneficial bacteria or yeasts. The official definition of probiotics is live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host. According to Lynne V. McFarland, Ph.D. of the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Healthcare System, when speaking at the International Probiotic Association World Congress in 2008, “The Food and Drug Administration provides little regulation of probiotic products, and products available to the consumer vary greatly in quality and the level of evidence supporting their label claims.”

Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when offered in adequate amounts, provide health benefits. Yogurt with live cultures has Lactobacilli and bifidobacteria that have probiotics. Other fermented dairy and some nondairy foods also have these cultures.

Research suggests probiotic cultures may help keep your immune system healthy and help maintain the "good" bacteria in your intestine.

Probiotics are beneficial bacteria (sometimes referred to as "friendly germs") that help to maintain the health of the intestinal tract and aid in digestion. They also help keep potentially harmful organisms in the gut (harmful bacteria and yeasts) under control. Most probiotics come from food sources, especially cultured milk products. Probiotics can be consumed as capsules, tablets, beverages, powders, yogurts, and other foods.

Probiotics should not be confused with prebiotics. Prebiotics are complex sugars (such as lactulose, lactitol, a variety of fructo-oligosaccharides, and inulin) that are used as fuel by healthful bacteria to stimulate their growth and activity while suppressing the growth and activity of harmful organisms. Other foods that may support probiotic activity include Japanese miso, tempeh, kefir, raw milk, kombucha, bananas, garlic, and onions. When prebiotics and probiotics are combined in one product, it is called a synbiotic.

Probiotics are thought to work by colonizing the small intestine and crowding out disease-causing organisms, thereby restoring proper balance to the intestinal flora. They compete with harmful organisms for nutrients and may also produce substances that inhibit growth of harmful organisms in the gut.

Probiotic bacteria have been found to stimulate the body's immune system. They may also aid in several gastrointestinal illnesses, such as inflammatory bowel diseases, antibiotic-related diarrhea, Clostridium difficile toxin-induced colitis, infectious diarrhea, hepatic encephalopathy, irritable bowel syndrome, and allergies.

Probiotics have been found to enhance the digestion and absorption of proteins, fats, calcium, and phosphorus. They may also help overcome lactose intolerance and restore healthful bacteria after a course of antibiotic therapy has altered the normal gastrointestinal flora.

You should read product labels, and discuss all therapies with a qualified healthcare provider. Natural Standard information does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Probiotics are friendly microflora (bacteria and other organisms) that are vital to our health. Probiotic products include free-dried bacteria available in capsules at health food stores, and also fermented foods such as yogurt, sauerkraut, and kefir. The specific microorganisms found in these products are usually lactobacilli and bifidobacteria species. These bacteria are the major probiotics in the human intestinal tract.

Anytime that you need to take an antibiotic or an acid-blocking drug it is vitally important to supplement your diet with probiotics. This recommendation is especially important if you are undergoing major surgery. Just prior to and after major surgery you will be given antibiotics to reduce the likelihood of an infection. That is very important, but without probiotic supplementation you run the risk of developing not only pseudomembranous enterocolitis (PME) but other gastrointestinal infections as well.

As the name suggests, probiotics are “for life.” They are your friendly neighborhood gut bacteria—the stuff you want in your body. Whereas antibiotics kill harmful as well as beneficial bacteria, probiotics in supplement form replenish the beneficial bacteria.

Whenever you take antibiotics, have diarrhea or an upset stomach or some type of food poisoning, make sure to take a therapeutic dose of probiotics for anywhere between two weeks to two months, depending on the severity of your symptoms.

Sixty to 80% of our first-line immune defense system is found in our gut, where trillions of good bacteria live—good because we need them and good because, for the most part, they cannot cause infection unless they are allowed to escape our gut and enter our bloodstream. These probiotics are cultures of beneficial bacteria that are normally present in a healthy digestive tract. They include L. acidophilus, B. bifidus, L. planetarium, L. salivarius, L. bulgaricus and L. casei. When these little guys are upset, so too is your immune system.

For over a century, probiotic bacteria—specifically species of the lactobacilli and bifidobacteria genera—have been recognized as potential therapeutic agents. Recently, numerous clinical studies have suggested that these bacterial inhabitants of the human GI tract play an important role in the dietary management of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and chronic degenerative conditions. Such insidious ailments lead inevitably to alarming increases of free radicals in the digestive tract.