Yogurts and fermented drinks containing "good" bacteria have been embraced by the health-seeking public.
Investigators recently identified non-invasive tests that could provide a way to assess the effectiveness of probiotics. One is a urine test to check the permeability of the intestine, and the other is a breath test that measures the metabolic activity of bacteria in the intestines.
Excess intestinal permeability -- or "leaky gut" -- is common in diarrhea.
Another study, presented for the first time at the conference, examined patients with inflammatory bowel disease. There are two conditions categorized as IBD: ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, both of which are characterized by severe inflammation of the intestines.
The researchers wanted to see if 5 days of consuming a probiotic preparation would change the metabolic activity of bacteria in patients' large intestines and the levels of short-chain fatty acids, which are believed to be beneficial for digestive health, in their feces.
The probiotic was given to 17 healthy people and 11 IBD patients, who all consumed 150 grams of two types of yogurt per day.
The fecal short-chain fatty acid levels in the IBD patients were significantly different from those of the healthy individuals at the outset of the study, but were normalized after the patients took the probiotic.
Asia Pacific Digestive Week Conference Sydney, Australia September 28, 2001
I am not a big fan of nutritional supplementation the way it is currently practiced by most natural medicine clinicians. They tend to use vitamins, minerals and herbs as replacements for drugs.
Certainly targeted nutritional interventions are safer and a far better choice than drugs in nearly every case. However, unless one is actively addressing the CAUSE of the problem they will likely require the supplements long-term.
Probiotics (beneficial bacteria) seem to be an exception. It is the ONLY supplement I recommend for ALL new patients (unless of course they are already on one). I don't believe that they need to stay on it the rest of their life, but 1-3 months is usually beneficial, especially until they are able to get their diet improved.
Probiotics are incredible healing agents and they seem to work to resolve most cases of acute infectious diarrhea relatively quickly. I normally advise people to take a dose every 30-60 minutes until the diarrhea resolves. It is quite amazing how consistently effective this recommendation is.
It is interesting to note positive benefits of simple yogurt preparations in this study as they are incredibly weak sources of probiotics.
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