2008: A ‘Pro’ductive New Year!

As the year comes to a close, it’s not uncommon to see or read about the year’s stories, trends, happenings, and what the prognosticating pundits foresee for the year ahead. One of the trends health aficionados project for the coming year is the rising popularity of probiotics. I hope their predictions bear fruit.

If you’re unfamiliar with probiotics and their importance, permit me to give you a primer on just what probiotics are. You may have heard of probiotics in the recent or distant past, no doubt seeing them advertised in commercials for various yogurts or seeing them prominently displayed in your local supermarket. In addition to yogurt, probiotics are found in other dairy products and are also used in the fermentation process of foods like sauerkraut. From a health perspective, though, probiotics play an especially important role in promoting proper digestion.

Now, most of us don’t pay much attention to news about foods that aid in digestion. After all, digestion is not exactly something that many of us have issues with. But say that to the millions of people who have recurring issues with diarrhea, inflammatory bowel diseases or chronic bladder infections and you’re likely to get a dirty look. As the saying goes, you don’t appreciate what you have until you have it no longer.

Though it’s hard to pinpoint the specific causes of these and related diseases, deficient levels of probiotics in the GI tract can increase the likelihood of these conditions.

Conditions like these arise because the human body is crawling with trillions of bacteria cells—both in and outside the body (it might sound disgusting, but without many of these bacteria you wouldn’t be able to live). Inside the body—the GI tract, in particular—“good” bacteria cells assist the GI tract in digesting the vitamins, nutrients and minerals found in foods, while blocking the harmful things that can be found in foods due to the improper handling of them.

That’s where probiotics play a role. Supplementing the diet with probiotics actively promotes the existence of “good” bacteria in the GI tract by helping the body digest all the good parts of foods, while increasing the body’s ability to block out the pathogens and toxins of contaminated foods. Further, studies indicate that probiotics can help shorten the severity of diarrhea, specifically in children, while other studies show the beneficial role they play in reducing the severity of symptoms related to allergies.

As with all studies, more studies are needed to further solidify the beneficial role probiotics play in the body, but all signs point to the bevy of “pros” in probiotics.

Again, while probiotics are found naturally in foods—live-culture yogurts, for instance—supplementing with probiotics is another way of reaping their benefits. Though you should always do your homework before supplementing, the most common health-promoting probiotics studied are Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria. Look for these under the ingredients label before purchasing probiotic supplements.

Here’s to a new year of supplementing your life with the health-promoting properties of probiotics!