Originally published July 31 2005
Probiotics in yogurt offer health benefits
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Research suggests good bacteria called probiotics, found in yogurt, can be useful in treating digestive tract problems like diarrhea and lactose intolerance, and may help decrease the risk of colon cancer, ease symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and may even help reduce blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels.
Bacteria in your food are a bad thing, usually: Think of E. coli or other harmful bugs.
But a whole other world of "friendly" bacteria lurks out there.
Called "probiotics" and found in such products as yogurt and yogurt drinks, they provide health benefits beyond the regular live cultures found in those foods.
Probiotics are among the fastest-growing category of functional foods, according to the market research firm Mintel, which cites a 140 percent increase last year in the launch of new probiotic-fortified products.
So far, the strongest evidence on probiotics has focused on digestive-tract problems such as lactose intolerance and diarrhea, including infectious diarrhea among children and the type that develops after a person has taken antiobiotics (which wipe out both good and bad bacteria in their path, altering the natural balance of the digestive tract).
"We've done a good job in this country of scaring people to death of microbes," says Mary Ellen Sanders, president of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics, a non-profit scientific organization.
Some of the benefits of probiotics appear to be their feisty aggression toward these nasty bugs in our bodies, Sanders says.
Some of the most exciting research on probiotics involves its potential to boost immunity, according to Allan Walker, a professor of nutrition and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, who is studying how exposure to good bacteria could help children decrease their susceptibility to infections and allergies.
Some foods may be made with microbes -- everything from sourdough bread to pickles, sauerkraut, kim chee, miso and fermented meats such as salami.
But it doesn't mean all the "good bugs" survived the processing or that the strains used provide actual health benefits, which is required before it would qualify as a probiotic, Sanders says.
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