Call me a cynic.
I've been open to the idea that probiotics might help with various gastrointestinal ailments. If the manufacturer were clever enough, they might be able to get significant numbers of target bacteria from the mouth to the large intestine where the bacteria might be able to do some good - knock some bad bacteria out of the way, help with diarrhea or inflammation, secrete useful vitamins or nutrients for large intestinal epithelial cells.
But help with other problems? Have an influence on whole body physiology? C'mon. Don't be silly.
Well, maybe it's not so silly after all.
A small controlled study done at North Sichuan Medical College and Hospital showed that probiotics can help prevent infections. Patients that suffer traumatic brain injury are more likely to develop infections due to a less effective immune system, characterised by a switch from a Th1 dominated immune response to a Th2 dominated immune response. In a cohort of 52 patients, 26 received regular nutrition, and 26 had their feeding tube nutrition supplemented with probiotics (viable beneficial bacteria). Patients that received probiotics showed a reversion to a Th1 dominated immune response, suffered fewer nocosomial infections, required less antibiotics, and were in the ICU for a shorter period of time than those that received no probiotics.
Huh. I can't begin to trace the mechanism by which beneficial bacteria influence the functioning of the immune system, but here is a study suggesting that there might be something to it after all.
link to article
And as yogurt is one of the top weight loss promoting foods, there is now even more reason to break out the Brown Cow. I'm not associated with them; I just think their coffee and chocolate yogurts are delicious!
