Probiotics: Your Secret to Health

Not everyone is aware that you have a colony of bacteria living inside of you. But do not be alarmed. A lot of these bacteria are actually good for you. They help maintain good health and well being. They are the good bacteria living in your gut, the probiotics. In 1994, the World Health Organization claimed probiotics to be “the next-most important immune defense system when commonly prescribed antibiotics are rendered useless by antibiotic resistance”(Kailasapathy and Chin, 2000).

These probiotics, when maintained in balance with the "bad" bacteria in the gut, have direct or indirect effect on our body's physiology. There is good scientific evidence for the alleviation of lactose intolerance symptoms by specific probiotic lactic acid bacteria.

"A few probiotic strains have been reported effective in the treatment of rotavirus diarrhea. The best studied strain, Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG (ATCC 53013) repeatedly reduces the duration of diarrhea to about half in children with rotavirus diarrhea in randomized double-blinded and placebo controlled studies"(Salminen, 2001).

There are things that we can do that can disturb this balance between "good" and "bad" bacteria (normal microbiota) in our gut. One common activity is taking antibiotics. Prolonged intake of antibiotics can destroy your population of good bacteria in the gut leading to Antibiotic-associated diarrhea. The loss of a subpopulation of the normal microbiota can lead to the loss of the ability to break down fibers and starches into absorbable short chain fatty acids, resulting in high level of undigested carbohydrates, which can trigger diarrhea (Young and Schmidt TM, 2004).

There are studies that showed the effect of probiotics in alleviating irritable bowel syndrome symptoms ( Kajander, Hatakka, Poussa, Färkkilä and Korpela, 2005; Kajander and Korpela, 2006).

Probiotics are now getting the attention that they deserve. There are a lot of probiotics in the market. There are probiotics that are milk based. One popular and more common source of probiotics is Yogurt. There are some probiotics that are already in capsule or powdered form. You can discuss with your Family Physician what type of probiotics is right for you.