Probiotics. I think
we have all heard of them. And many
mainstream yogurts have live active cultures, which are probiotics. For years the mainstream pediatric medical
community has accepted them as helpful, especially with antibiotic treatment or
diarrhea illness. But what does live
active cultures mean? And which bacteria
are in yogurt? What bacteria are
prescribed? And are these the same as the over-the-counter supplements? Should you take supplements or eat foods with
live active cultures in them? And how young can you start feeding kids
probiotics? What are other people doing
and trying? And does this ever cause
people to get sick? Is acidophilus enough
or should you be taking more than one kind? How often? Why?
How long have people been using probiotics?
As I previously mentioned, when I started writing the
probiotic post I thought it would be fast and easy. Now it is going to take more than one post
and more research than I have already completed. In fact, I discovered a textbook called Probiotics:
A Clinical Guide that I seriously
want to get my hands on. But, the
general idea is that probiotics can be helpful for certain conditions. And this is what I have found so far on
specific types of illnesses and which probiotics are helpful. If you are looking for supplements you should
be able to check the label to see if it contains the ones you are looking
for. Next week I’ll talk more about
foods that include these helpful organisms.
My lacto-fermented salsa is not ready yet, so no news on that
front. Although, my dear husband did ask why we were
waiting to eat it and I told him about lacto-fermentation.
Diarrhea
I believe that to date probiotic treatment of diarrhea
is the area of probiotics that has been most studied and used. The most effective probiotic treatment for antibiotic
associated diarrhea (AAD) is Saccharomyces boulardii in
combination with Lactobacillus rhamnosus
and Bifidobacterium. For AAD, the recommendation is
that probiotics should be started with the antibiotic and continued for 30 days.
Atopic
Disease (allergies)
Probiotics have also been shown effective for atopic diseases such as allergic
runny nose, eczema, and asthma in adults and children. For allergic problems
like these a combination of L. bulgaricus, L. paracasei, Streptococcus thermophiles and L.
rhamnosus have been shown in the research to be helpful. It is also recommended that
GOS/beta-1,3-glucan prebiotics be given with the probiotic. We talked about GOS prebiotics when we talked
about fiber. Beta-1,3-glucan is also food for good bacteria.
It is found naturally in the cell wall of yeast, the bran of grains like
oats, barley, and certain mushrooms like shitake and reishi. Just in case you
were wondering, it is the beta glucan in oats that is thought to reduce
cholesterol.
More
Some other conditions that research has shown probiotics to be helpful
with are irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, vaginal yeast
infections. Scientists have only just
begun to study synbiotics (probiotics and prebiotics) and different diseases,
so expect more information to come out all the time. For instance, they are studying synbiotics
and other immune system caused illnesses such as multiple sclerosis and
diabetes.
There is so much more to tell you about probiotics, so look for another post next week.
References
http://msj.sagepub.com/content/17/6/743.short
