Assisting Your Health With Probiotic Supplement Products
Over the years, probiotic research has been highly criticized and many scientists remain skeptical about the overall benefits of probiotic yogurt and other supplements. Yet America has been slow to follow up on these studies, instead focusing on more pharmaceutical cures and surgical advancements.
Therefore, critics suggest, the results are likely one-sided and tainted. It seems whenever a promising lead turns up, researchers are happy with the mild, good news they’ve discovered and never pursue the issue further to prove probiotic benefits beyond a shadow of a doubt. There are some promising leads, though.
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Cancer is another new realm of probiotic research. Researchers found that friendly bacterium competes with harmful bacteria in much the same way healthy cells compete with abnormal cancer cells.
One hypothesis is that probiotic cultures can detoxify carcinogenic compounds, produce an acidic intestinal environment that’s toxic to harmful cells, create a barrier to block mutagens from escaping into the body and stimulate the immune system to defend against cancer cells better.
Lab testing on rats has shown a link between reducing colon cancer and taking probiotic capsules. There is still a lot that scientists don’t know about how probiotic products work in the body.
Diarrhea is the most scientifically-proven use for a probiotic product. In 2002, nine different studies linked lactobacillus gg and a reduced incidence of acute infectious diarrhea in children.
Commonly, people taking antibiotics suffer diarrhea as a side effect. Doctors believe the antibiotics wipe out normal gut flora, as well as the pathogenic bacteria, which causes irregularity. Probiotics yogurt, then, can restore the natural friendly bacteria and improve regularity.
The lactobacillus gg and bifidobacterium strains often turn up as good diarrhea prevention. Researchers aren’t sure if probiotic supplements can prevent traveler’s diarrhea yet but it’s believed probiotic foods can speed up the recovery time for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
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There is still much to learn about how the probiotic bacterium works in the human body. Probiotic foods are certainly not being advertised as “miracle products,” although they are certainly part of a balanced diet in the same way that vitamins, minerals and fiber are.
Probiotics supplements may help us prevent a winter cold or antibiotic-related diarrhea. They may not outright cure cancer, reduce cholesterol or eradicate allergies; although, the importance of beneficial bacteria is too intriguing to simply overlook.
It’s believed that a probiotic yogurt can reduce the likelihood of developing bacterial vaginosis.
September 29 2009 01:31 pm | Health and Fitness