Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

re: Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

TurnThePage — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:51:06 GMT

Probiotics work miracles - I would know!

re: Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

LadyPam — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:51:55 GMT

I first ran into probiotics in Italy, 25 years ago. We were in a mountain village near Bologna (yes, I did learn how to make real Bolognese ragu there!) with friends. Among the circle of friends were several young doctors and when we both came down with a severe gastro-enteritis they said they knew what it was as it had gone around the whole village in the previous few weeks and had been investigated: it was bacterial in nature. They duly handed us antibiotics together with nausea-supressing drugs (which didn't seem to have much effect), and instructed us to drink only boiled water with a little lemon juice and sugar. We could only keep that down, or plain boiled and cooled water, if we sipped it slowly, which was frustrating because of the enormous thirst. The infection was so severe that what came out the other end was the same water, basically, but that's not the point of the story. They also handed us a box of capsules with the word 'flora' in the name, repeating several times that we must wait and start taking them only after completing the antibiotics course. These were gut flora spores and we were told this was standard procedure when prescribing antibiotics. It was only after taking these for a couple of days that stools began to firm up.

In England and the Netherlands I have had antibiotics prescribed many times since and not once has a doctor ever suggested repopulating the gut flora afterwards!

re: Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

LadyPam — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:25:47 GMT

DWQ, "Recommending the consumption of raw milk is dangerous, if not irresponsible!" - ??

It won't take you long to find studies showing that there is a much higher incidence of TB (and ill-health in general) among pasteurised milk drinkers than there is among consumers of raw milk.

That said, it is true that kefir and other cultures will grow in pasteurised milk. I was quite surprised to note comments from many on this site stating that they make kefir with that and in some cases they added it was because they had no access to raw milk where they lived. It is a question of weighing the harmful effects of pasteurised and homogenised milk against the benefits of kefir, though it will also grow in fruit juice & water, and can be used to make a kind of ginger beer.

When I lived in the netherlands I first got into raw milk - many small shops had direct supplies from farms and I found the taste vastly superior. Now back in England, where there are thankfully no laws preventing raw milk sales, I can't always get it because of transportation problems but I will repeat a statement from a milk bottle I have here, waiting to be returned to the farm shop:

"Under the Milk Special Designation Regulations of 1989, this bottle has to carry the following observation: This milk has not been heat treated and may therefore contain organisms harmful to health, the latter part of which is also true of heat treated (pasteurised) milk."

re: Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

schmonko — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:39:55 GMT

anyone know if children (ie 9 and 11 yrs old) can take these too?

re: Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

DWQ — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 05:55:45 GMT

Recommending the consumption of raw milk is dangerous, if not irresponsible!

Any specialized culture that would grow satisfactorily in raw milk would also grow in pasteurized milk. At least a few of the other "wild" organisms in raw milk are dangerous, if not toxic. The regulated pasteurization of milk was established in this country to protect the inhabitants of this country from a long list of possible diseases, most of which have not been eradicated.

re: Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

Dr. David Spitz — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 15:10:22 GMT

I'm so happy to see Dr. Mercola continue to recommend probiotics to his patients and to the blog community. I agree that everyone should be on a probiotic to re-establish the normal intestinal flora. Our ancestors had 1 million times the bacteria in the gut compared to us. I have found that Fundamental Probiotic is the best available because iIt has 12 strains of friendly flora and guaranteed 25 Billion CFU's.

Many of my patient's find that a myriad of symptoms and ailments they've had for years clear up once on a good probiotic. I also agree with Dr. Mercola that it is not necessary to take for the rest of your life, but rather an initial 3 months is a good idea, followed up with an as needed basis---especially after taking antiobiotics.

Along with probiotics,,,remember to drink 2-3 liters of pure water daily, take omega 3's, avoid the whites (sugar-flour-salt) and of course, you've heard this thousands of times...stay away from HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), artificial sweeteners and any additive in your food product you can't pronounce.

Eating a genetically congruent diet is the only natural way to achieving wellness and avoid the chronic ills facing Americans today.

Best in Health

Dr Dave

re: Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

gas — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 14:13:43 GMT

Dr. Mercola's recommendation to consume kefir as a very (most) efficient means of consuming the necessary beneficial bacteria is to be commended. I commend him on his sincerity for not being guilty of suffering from a 'conflict of interest', as recommending kefir has the potential of adversely affecting his probiotic sales.

re: Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

PatsyK — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:34:05 GMT

Does anyone have suggestions on helping me with recurrent ear infections? Apparently I have water behind my ear drums(?) and all my doc suggests is an antibiotic when it is infected along with an antihistamine. I have a food sensitivity to such things as echinacea so I avoid that.

re: Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

nutritionpower — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:33:19 GMT

Hunter 3738 If people ate ancient foods like natto, yogurt, kefir, kimchee (all ancient cultures have a cultured foods) then they wouldn't need probiotic pills. These are probiotic foods.

Also for that matter, people haven't taken antibiotics until recently either, and I see lots of people who end up with diarrhea after antibiotics that could be prevented easily just by regular old supermarket yogurt, but doctors don't even recommend that!

Most of my patients are on a cocktail of over 13 medications. Most of which were not even around 20 years ago, now what does that do to the normal gut microflora???

re: Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

PatriSpain — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 07:59:00 GMT

@Back2N8ture

"In the quoted article the British Journal of Sports Medicine study found taking probiotics more than halved the days the athletes had symptoms.

Aren't symptoms just a signal from the body that something is wrong. So often we think that if we take a pill and our symptoms go away, all is well. Suppressing symptoms does not address the cause of why they were there in the first place."

Halving the symptoms the athletes had does not mean symptoms were surpressed. It just simply means that the athletes seemed to be not as ill (for as long) as in the past...that the body's immune system was able to respond more efficiently to a 'bug' not allowing it to get as severe.

Taking tylenol, aspirin etc does not equate to taking probiotics. The one surpresses and the other strengthens the immune system response and can shorten the time one IS ill...and can prevent getting ill from 'bugs' in the first place.

re: Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

Beccadog — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 07:06:59 GMT

We are flying to the U.K. in June, and taking a cruise to Scandinavia, Estonia, and St. Saint Petersburg, Russia. Any recommendations on the probiotics I should take. Is two weeks in advance of the trip enough time?

I'm a bit concerned about the nuclear fallout from the Chernobyl disaster and have been warned not to consume milk. Since yogurt comes from milk, I don't know what to consume with my oatmeal, assuming I can get oatmeal on the ship.

Currently, I'm taking echinacea to try and avoid the flu since I neglected to take a flu shot this year, based on what I'd read. But, my physician felt I should have because I've had a total hip and total knee replacement in the last two years and am prone to infection (due to the prothesis). I'd love feedback.

Suggestions are welcome.

Thanks.

re: Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

Beccadog — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 06:56:43 GMT

In China, our guide told us that the only dairy product Chinese physicians tell patients to consume is yogurt every day with breakast.

I eat plain, non-fat yogurt every morning with fresh fruit in my oat meal. I didn't get a stomach bug like many in our party, but I did catch a bad cold on the plane, as I neglected to take echinacea every morning for two weeks prior to leaving, and throughout the trip I wasn't certain if it was the horrible air pollution in Beijing, or a bad cold caught from breathing recycled air on the very, long plane ride from the southern USA to China.

re: Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

Back2N8ture — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 05:24:08 GMT

It is very rare, if ever that you will find that only one thing causes someone to be sick or have symptoms of ill health. It is usually a whole combination of factors.

Are these athletes getting sick because of a lack of probiotic
supplements? Is that the cause of their sickness?

Does strenuous exercise really decreases your immune system? Couch potatoes should be happy about this.

What other lifestyle factors might be causing their symptoms?

How was their diet?

How well hydrated were these athletes?

How much sleep were they getting every night?

Were they training beyond their capacity to fully recover?

In the quoted article the British Journal of Sports Medicine study found taking
probiotics more than halved the days the athletes had symptoms.

Aren't symptoms just a signal from the body that something is wrong. So often
we think that if we take a pill and our symptoms go away, all is well.
Suppressing symptoms does not address the cause of why they were there in the
first place.

Taking a Tylenol for a headache is no more addressing the cause of why the headache is
there than taking a probiotic is addressing why your intestinal flora is out of
balance.

I think we could focus more on figuring out the lifestyle causes of our ill health and
correcting them rather than trying to treat symptoms with pills, potions,
remedies of any kind.

re: Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

qualitygeek — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:08:30 GMT

Considering microbes (prokaryotes) outnumber "human" cells (eukaryotes) in the human body by a factor of 10:1, I want the good microbes (probiotics) to be in control.

10 to the 13th eukaryotic and 10 to the 14th prokaryotic cells (Yannielli, 1998).

re: Probiotics Protect Top Athletes

Katie B — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:46:26 GMT

Gee, people either starve themselves or eat their way to obesity, or exercise too much or not at all. Balance and moderation, people!