Bacteria used to be a dirty word in the ingredient industry. No one wanted it to find its way into batches, and then delivered to consumers. Bacteria in products meant adulteration, sick consumers and potential fines from regulation agencies.

Professor Glenn Gibson of the University of Reading, UK is in Trinidad this month to do a series of lectures for Health Promotion Month on the benefits of Probiotics in Primary Health Care. The series includes live interviews with the public on national television as well as seminars hosted by the Pharmaceutical Society of Trinidad and Tobago (PSTT), and a medical meeting for members of the Medical Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MPATT) and the General Practitioners Association (GPATT).

Ezinearticles.com reports that scientists have only recently begun to discover the full potential of probiotics. But as research continues, much is being learned about these beneficial bacteria and how they may improve the health of people everywhere.

Probiotic
Image Courtesy:modernhippocrates.com

The effect in vitro of six different probiotic strains including:

Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM,
Lactobacillus salivarius Ls-33,
Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei YS8866441,
Lactobacillus plantarum Lp-115,
Bifidobacterium bifidum BI-504 and BI-98

was studied on splenic enteroantigen-presenting cells (APC) and CD4(+)CD25(+) T-regulatory cells (Tregs) in splenocyte-T cell proliferation assays.

Dr Dae explains that dysbiosis is an imbalance of the digestive flora that causes pain and discomfort in the digestive area. She recommendsd probiotics as one part of the solution.

She tells us that probiotic is a generic term used to describe the beneficial micro-organisms that live in our digestive tract. She clarifies that the term includes several different species that live and populate our colon. Traditionally these micro organisms, or beneficial flora, would continually be repopulated by the foods that we ate as part of our normal diet.

A research study was conducted on the probiotic effects on cold and influenza-like symptom Incidence and duration in children.

New research from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Stanford Hospital & Clinics suggests that the use of a dietary supplement after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery can help obese patients to more quickly lose weight and to avoid deficiency of a critical B vitamin.

In 2001, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization, in a Joint Expert Consultation, defined "probiotics" as "Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host." For the most part, these microorganisms are bacteria.

New research from Canada found taking a daily supplement of probiotics reduced anxiety symptoms for chronic fatigue sufferers.

In the pilot study, 39 chronic fatigue patients were randomized to receive either the probiotic Lactobacillus casei Shirota or a placebo daily for two months. Results showed a significant decrease in anxiety symptoms among those taking the probiotic versus the placebo (p = 0.01).

In honor of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Awareness Month, which is in April, the makers of a dietary supplement that treats IBS have released the following information for GI professionals to share with their patients.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders. The condition, with symptoms including abdominal pain, constipation and/or diarrhea, affects up to one in five Americans and is second only to the common cold as a leading cause of workplace absenteeism in the United States.