Healthy Living
Good Bacteria? Probiotics Help Immune and Digestive Health
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Jan 15, 2009, 22:14

Good Bacteria? Probiotics Help Immune and Digestive Health

(ARA) – It may fly in the face of everything your mother taught you about health, but not all bacteria are bad. Some can actually improve your immune and digestive health. Eating foods enhanced with probiotics, or taking supplements, are a great (and delicious) way to make bacteria work for you and to fight germs.

The latest nutritional trend, “probiotics,” has spawned a frenzy of interest from consumers and food manufacturers alike. According to the New York Times, “In the year since the Dannon Company introduced Activia, a line of yogurt with special live bacteria, sales in the United States have soared well past the $100 million mark. Now other food makers are scrambling to offer their own products with special live microbes that offer health benefits, known as probiotics.”

The word ”probiotic,” means ”for life” in Latin, and has come to characterize a large family of bacteria and microbes that are beneficial for healthy immune and digestive function. While probiotic use is relatively new in the United States, Eastern Europeans have included these friendly bacteria in their diets for hundreds of years.

In countries like Russia, Ukraine and Bulgaria, probiotics are consumed in fermented foods like yogurt, cheese and pickled vegetables and are also found in unpasteurized milk. Russian medical research has focused on the thousands of strains of these healthy bacteria, defining what different strains do in the human body.

Researchers have found that these bacteria assist the body in everything from digestion to healthy immune function. But what is the best way to include these friendly bacteria in your diet, and how much do you need for good health?

Live probiotic cultures are available in health food stores in several forms -- capsules, powders and liquids that may be added to juice or water. Probiotic culture content is measured in the billions per dose -- many health care practitioners recommend taking five to 10 billion per day. Prescription antibiotics kill the healthy bacteria in the intestinal tract, so many doctors suggest taking probiotics after a course of antibiotics. Probiotics are safe and non-toxic with no side effects.

For those who want probiotics for digestive support, there are several brands on the market. The Web site www.buyprobiotics.net carries brands such as Primal Defense, Culturelle, Natural Defense and Spectrabiotics. Do not buy probiotics unless they are refrigerated at the store, and always refrigerate the product at home to preserve freshness.

Some people prefer to get their daily dose of friendly bacteria in yogurt, but check the product package for information about “live culture” counts -- not all commercial yogurts have these live cultures after manufacturing and the addition of sugar or corn syrup. The Dannon Activia brand contains a strain of probiotic intended to aid bowel regularity, and has had many positive customer reviews.

For immune function, Eastern European researchers took the friendly bacteria a step further and broke it into tiny fragments. The researchers found that the microscopic cell pieces stimulated an immune response and helped protect the body from foreign invaders like flu and cold germs. These cell fragment products, sometimes called “immunobiotics,” are emerging in the United States as a new type of dietary supplement.

One product, Del-Immune V, (www.delimmune.com) was discovered by a retired Colorado pharmacist and brought to the U.S. from Russia in 2002. The product is popular with doctors and consumers. Because of its immune system-supporting properties, “School teachers are the product’s biggest fans,” says Dr. Elin Ritchie M.D., Taos, NM.

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