Probiotics for Health
Probiotics for Health By S.K. Dash, Ph.D.
Many health-conscious consumers today want to know when they should take probiotics. They ask whether they should wait until they are sick. If so, they ask, which illnesses respond best to probiotics? Or should they take a preventive approach and take probiotics before they get sick? What about use of probiotics with antibiotics? Today, there is no doubt that taking probiotics is as essential as a multivitamin to your health. So my reply to such questions is that a daily supplement should always be taken to maintain healthy immune and digestive function — but the supplement amount should be increased during times of stress and illness. But let’s start at the beginning.
Probiotics — What Are They?
The concept of ingesting live microorganisms for the purpose of improving one’s intestinal health and general well being can be traced back well before the beginning of the Twentieth Century to earlier eras when most foods were nonrefrigerated and instead preserved with fermentation. But the current practice of using beneficial organisms to improve and sustain health is now referred to as probiotic supplementation. Although numerous types of bacteria (and yeasts) are currently being marketed as probiotic cultures throughout the world, the two most commonly used ones are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium.
Probiotics — A Health Essential?
Consumers rarely consider how essential healthy bacterial populations are to their health. But the fact is that a healthy ratio of beneficial to pathogenic bacteria residing within the gastrointestinal tract is essential to good health and influences not only digestive health but also immune function, detoxification, and women’s vaginal health. Unfortunately, great numbers of people today no longer have optimally balanced ratios of beneficial to pathogenic bacteria in their body, thus allowing the “”bad guys”" to gain the upper hand. This is very dangerous and one of the reasons that digestive illnesses, as well as other types of illnesses, are becoming so prevalent. Medically prescribed antibiotic use is certainly one of the most important causes of this change in our natural flora, with travel to foreign lands a close second. But beyond these detrimental impacts on our gastrointestinal health, we face many other daunting challenges to our bacterial balance. Unless one consumes organic dairy products, for example, one is almost certainly consuming traces of antibiotics and sulfa drugs, which have a disruptive effect on bowel ecology. Our highly processed food supply has also denied our bodies the opportunity to ingest beneficial bacteria as we once did through food fermentation (widely used before refrigeration). Our water also tends to be highly chlorinated which, although important from a public health perspective, has drawbacks for individual health when it comes to adversely impacting our body’s bacterial populations. When the body’s bacterial populations are upset, many kinds of illness can result. So for daily maintenance and in times of illness it just makes sense to use a quality probiotic formula.
Prevention and Treatment of Diarrhea and Constipation: Antibiotic-associated diarrhea can be attributed in part to imbalances in intestinal microflora. Bifidobacteria have been used to successfully treat intestinal disorders and in the prevention of rotaviral diarrhea in children and adults. In fact, taking a probiotic formula with antibiotics is now considered to be standard medicine in many countries. But antibiotics and probiotics must be taken a few hours apart. Constipation is a significant problem for many people, especially the elderly. Researchers have shown that enhancing Bifidobacteria in the large intestine of constipated elderly individuals provides a significant laxative effect.
Ulcer Therapy: If you’re taking antibiotics to treat your ulcer, you should be using probiotics along with your doctor’s prescribed antibiotics. That’s the message from researchers reporting in the February 2001 issue of Digestion. Frequently, nausea, bloating, diarrhea, taste disturbances and loss of appetite are side effects from use of antibiotics to eradicate Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium thought to be the causative agent in gastric ulcers. This latest study involving 120 ulcer patients shows that persons given both antibiotics and probiotics experienced markedly reduced incidence of bloating, diarrhea and taste disturbances compared to persons given only antibiotics, and most persons given the natural remedy experienced no side effects.
Enhanced Immune Function: Most of our immune cells are produced within the gastrointestinal tract and much of our protection against orally ingested pathogens (such as salmonella) is the result of a healthy gastrointestinal environment. There is perhaps no greater protection against such food-borne pathogens than the use of probiotics to sustain this healthy environment. Recent studies show that Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria can stimulate both general immunity and also specific antibodies to certain pathogens.
Lactose Intolerance: Dairy foods are a very important part of a healthy diet, but many of us suffer from some symptoms of lactose intolerance. Studies have shown that strains of Lactobaccilli and Bifidobacteria reduce symptoms of lactose malabsorption.
Establishment of Healthy Flora: in Babies and Infants Premature infants generally take longer to establish a characteristic intestinal flora, which can render them more susceptible to certain intestinal infections. Various strains of Bifidobacterium administered to premature infants results in populations of beneficial bacteria becoming established more quickly in their intestines compared to a control group. You will also likely find that children susceptible to middle ear infections enjoy better health when they are given probiotics (DDS®-Junior Probiotic for Children).
Editor’s Note: Dr. S. K. Dash is among the world’s leading experts today in the field of probiotics. Dr. Dash is founder of America’s leading probiotic company UAS Labs.
See the full unabridged version of this article at www.freedompressonline.com.
References Armuzzi, A., et al. “”Effect of Lactobacillus GG supplementation on antibiotic-associated gastrointestinal side effects during Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy: a pilot study.”" Digestion, 2001;63:1
Fish Oil Supplements Can Be Purer Than Fish
Fish Oil Supplements Can Be Purer Than Fish
University of Southern California School of Pharmacy Detects No PCBs in Fish Oil Supplements in Health Products for Americas Top Retailers.
CARSON, Calif., Jan. 9 — As more Americans eat fish to protect themselves against heart disease and other illnesses, the scientific community debates whether toxins found in fish can do more harm than good. A recent study to be published in the journal Science found that farm raised salmon contained high levels of pollutants like PCBs and pose a health risk to humans. While the debate will continue on acceptable levels of PCB consumption in fish, consumers should understand that fish oil supplements can be purer than fish and are still safe to take.
Recognizing the serious health risks associated with PCBs found in food, Leiner Health Products asked the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy (USC) to test fish oil supplements it sells to the nation’s top retailers. Using analytical procedures approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), USC randomly analyzed fish oil supplements from 18 different lots. No PCBs, dioxins or heavy metals such as lead, cadium, mercury or arsenic were detected in any of the samples.
“We used EPA’s best method (Gas Chromatography-Electron Capture Detector (GC-ECD) to test Leiner’s fish oil capsules for PCBs. This is a complex, confirmed method of analysis that has been used for over 30 years. Our analysis supports the American Heart Association’s findings of the health benefits from consuming fish oil in the form of dietary supplements. Our research proves that people can take fish oil supplements without risking their health due to possible environmental contaminant intake,” remarked Dr. Roger Clemens, Director of Analytical Research & Services, USC School of Pharmacy.
Additional samples of Leiner’s fish oil capsules were also independently evaluated by Covance Laboratories in Madison, Wisconsin. Those findings were consistent with the USC results.
Some people believe fish oil supplements contain higher concentrations of PCBs than fish but this is not true. In order to produce the purest possible fish oil, Leiner uses a process called molecular distillation to remove pollutants. This process is similar to a water purification process that traps virtually all contaminants, resulting in a “”clean”" oil.
Molecular distillation is an excellent way to rid fish oil of PCBs, other toxins and heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadium and arsenic to below detectable levels. While it is impossible to remove 100% of all impurities, Leiner fish oil processed using molecular distillation exceeds purity standards set by California’s Proposition 65 requirements and the EPA requirements, which are much more rigorous than FDA.