Welcome to My World – Probiotics – Good or Bad?

The article mentioned two studies.

In the first one, published in the journal Cell, researchers gave 25 volunteers a probiotic supplement containing 11 strains of probiotics for one month. After testing their stomach and intestinal samples at the end of the study, they found that the bacteria had either gone through their bodies or were overtaken by other bacteria.

The second study, published in the same journal, assessed the post-antibiotic probiotic supplementation of 46 people. The researchers found that the probiotic supplements delayed the regrowth of the bacteria that had been destroyed by the antibiotics.  Note that these are very small studies.

Before you assume that probiotics

might actually be bad for you, as the story suggests, let’s consider a few other facts.

B Vitamins can cure you of the “blahs”

Both of the study samples are extremely small and don’t warrant drawing any type of broad conclusions about probiotics being useless or, worse, harmful to us.

Even a cursory review of the latter study showed that the scientists were recognizing the value of probiotics but not used as a one-size-fits-all approach the way that most doctors recommend them. I totally agree with that.

One-size-fits-all doesn’t work in virtually any aspect of life. Why would probiotics be any different? The correct way to take probiotics is to use formulations of research-supported strains for particular health purposes.

I want to add here,

that I cannot take probiotics and antibiotics at the same time as they do a number on my stomach. So, if at any time, I have to take an antibiotic, I stop taking the probiotic until I am finished with the antibiotic. It is much easier on my stomach when I do this, but this is me and i don’t know if it affects others the same way. They seem to fight each other in my body and make me feel sick, but if I only take one or the other, without mixing them, I am fine.

I don’t know why, but I discovered this when the dentist prescribed antibiotics prior to oral surgery and when I told him how I felt, he had no clue as to why it affected me in this way… He actually knew nothing about probiotics.

Do you eat healthy? Are you getting enough zinc in your diet?

Considering that there is a whole host

(pun intended) of other studies showcasing the many health benefits of your taking

bananas are healthy for you, and the peels are compostable. So, good for you and the environment.

probiotics, including as a treatment for antibiotic-associated health problems, I would expect that these studies be considered prior to making claims that probiotics may be bad for you. For example, one study in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology found that supplementation with probiotics was highly effective at alleviating the effects of antibiotics.

For me, personally, that is not the case, and if I have to take an antibiotic, I will stop the probiotics during the course of taking them. I resume the probiotic when the antibiotic is finished. Together they make me feel sick. Yes, I am repeating this as I believe it is worth repeating since it may affect others in a similar manner.

Another study published in the journal BMJ Clinical Research found that a blend of probiotics L. casei, L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus cut the incidence of antibiotic-associated diarrhea by almost two-thirds. That would likely be considered a miracle drug in the pharmaceutical industry if they could patent it.

Scientists in Finland

conducted another study that was published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology, in

Did you also know there is a lot you can do naturally to help yourself?

which they tested the effectiveness of probiotic supplements to 1) prevent antibiotic-related diarrhea; and 2) to assess the rate of C. difficile infections and the resulting diarrhea from antibiotic use. They found a direct link between the highest doses of probiotics and the lowest incidence and shortest durations of antibiotic-induced side-effects like diarrhea. As a bonus, they found that those supplementing with probiotic supplements had fewer fevers, abdominal pain and bloating.

Before you believe the apparently new hype

that probiotics are useless or dangerous to you, it is important to consider a few more things:

1)     Your bowels are packed with probiotics that are needed to keep you alive so claiming probiotics are harmful is both disturbing and dangerous. You couldn’t live without them.

2)     Like all bacteria, good or bad, they fight for space and nutrients. In your bowels, that means they battle each other for attachment to your intestinal walls and for the nutrients you provide them with through the food you eat. Eat a lousy diet and you’ll feed the harmful bacteria, but if you eat a diet full of fiber and natural sugars from fruit you’ll feed the beneficial ones in your body.

cranberries, cherries & other berries, Oh, My. cranberry juice is good for a UTI if it has no sugar added. Sugar will feed bacteria, but it can also be that mood booster that you need..

3)     Broad-spectrum probiotic supplements that are formulated without consideration of the interactions between bacteria simply won’t yield the health-promoting results that have been achieved in thousands of studies. It’s not just a matter of take as many different types as you can and you’ll get great results. You might not get any beneficial results if you take this approach. But, that doesn’t mean that probiotic supplements are useless or dangerous. Far from it.