Have you heard the terms friendly bacteria or healthy bacteria or the word probiotics? You’ve probably never thought a lot about your gastrointestinal tract until you started seeing commercials for various yogurts, yogurt drinks and cereals that promise to strengthen your immune system, help with regularity or replace healthy bacteria destroyed by antibiotics.

Did you know that there are bugs in the human gastrointestinal tract or what’s referred to as normal gut flora? Healthy or friendly bacteria have a number of body functions such as competition with unhealthy bacteria to help prevent disease and production of folic acid and some B vitamins.

What are probiotics?  Live microorganisms when given in adequate amounts can have a beneficial health effect on the body. Why is there so much interest in these probiotics? Consumer demand is pushing hard in the direction of more natural, close to nature products plus some research has shown health benefits with certain probiotics in treating irritable bowel syndrome, diarrhea (especially after antibiotic use), and ulcerative colitis.

If you’ve decided to try a probiotics product, how do you know which one is the best choice? There are so many products on the market since this is one hot area.

1. Probiotics are not the same nor equal. This is really important. The health effect depends on the species and strain. OK, think of it like this. When you are sick with an infection that requires antibiotics, your doctor prescribes one based on the illness you have. The particular antibiotic prescribed has been proven to destroy the bacteria causing the illness. In other words, antibiotics are specific to certain bacteria. If you are prescribed the wrong one, the infection will typically not clear up until the correct antibiotic is given. Same with probiotics. They are species and strain specific.For example, Lactobacillus acidophilus GG is often recommended for antibiotic use and the resulting diarrhea that often occurs while B lactis is used for IBS or L caseii for the immune system. Bottom line, the strain of probiotics must be specific to the health concern you want to address. That’s why probiotics may or may not help. If the wrong strain is taken, the situation will likely not improve. Probiotics is a term used very loosely or generally in the media and marketplace….a catch-all phrase for all so-called healthy bacteria. What you now know is that to be called probiotics, a strain of healthy bacteria must be shown by research to have a beneficial health effect.
2. Probiotics are categorized by group, species and strain. So take the Lactobacillus acidophilus GG mentioned above. Lactobacillus is the group, acidophilus is the species and GG is the strain. GG is the strain with research behind it. With so many new products on the market, it can be hard to know what to buy. Remember that probiotics are specific to the health issue not a one size fits all. Whether it’s a food or supplement form of probiotics doesn’t matter but take a supplement with food as food helps buffer the probiotics against stomach acid so the healthy bacteria are not destroyed and make it to the intestines.Remember that there is no legal definition for probiotics or regulation of their use but a good company will tell you the full name of the probiotic organism on the label, provide a website to check out or a number to call for more information. Their research should also be available on the website to show that the probiotics actually work. Less reliable companies will not have this information available.
3. Probiotics or healthy bacteria can be destroyed by direct light and high temperatures over time. Be sure and check for a shelf life and how the product should be stored. By the way, natural food sources of probiotics include yogurt, buttermilk, sauerkraut and kefir. A few of the probiotics-enhanced products with research behind them to check out for specific health benefits include the supplements Culturelle and Florastor and the food products Activia, DanActive,Danimals, Yo-Plus yogurt, Stoneyfield Farms yogurt and Kashi Vive cereal.

Be sure and discuss with your doctor or health care provider which probiotics strain is right for you if you are using it to help treat a specific health concern. Check out the company’s website for specific information on the species and strain of the probiotics. Want more overall knowledge… take a look at usprobiotics.org

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