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Good bacteria drinks

Just to pick up on the C. difficile point that Chyio made... C. diff-associated disease (CDAD) is an emerging problem in both the US and Europe. Something like 80% of the population have antibodies against C. diff, which means that 8/10 people are colonised by this bacteria at some point in their lives.

CDAD makes the news quite a bit because it is associated with hospital-aquired infection with C. diff (rightly or wrongly). The bacterium forms heat and acid resistant endospores which may persist on surfaces for as long as 5 months according to the last study I read on the topic.

The trouble is that C. diff is also resistant to multiple antibiotics. So if you go into hospital and have a broard spectrum antibiotic (I beleive Cephalosporins are recognised as a major risk factor for CDAD? Anyone?), presumably your defenses are going to be down anyway if you're sick. So the antibiotics kill off your normal gut microflora and that leaves behind the resistant C. diff to set up an infection.

I believe that doctors are interested in the role of probiotics administered prophylactically with oral broard spectrum antibiotics as a way to prevent CDAD. I also this there have been some successes, but I've a hazy memory of hearing this second-hand at a conference, so I couldn't point to an actual paper that shows this.

Interestingly enough, studies show that the best bacteria to take as a probiotic are the ones purified from your own poo :>
 
As others have already indicated, taking bacterial supplements is like taking any other supplement. If you have a deficiency in something, be it a vitamin, mineral, bacterium or whatever, then taking more of it can be helpful. If you don't have any reason why you might need more, there is no point in taking more. For the vast majority of people, probiotics are pointless.
 
Dogdoctor said:
It is likely that pasteurized yogurt works just as well. I have heard how yogurt helped all these pets diarrhea only most people were unknowingly using pasteurized yogurt. It may be that yogurt is a prebiotic. Eating yogurt favors the growth of certain types of bacteria (no need for introduced species of bacteria). Then again it may be all anecdotes.
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Never really done the research, so I can't say for sure if it's all that valuable or not; just that it seems to work for me (emphasis on the "seems", of course). I haven't noticed that pasteurized yoghurt helps much; but I really don't like it, so I don't eat it anyway.
 
luchog said:
Never really done the research, so I can't say for sure if it's all that valuable or not; just that it seems to work for me (emphasis on the "seems", of course). I haven't noticed that pasteurized yoghurt helps much; but I really don't like it, so I don't eat it anyway.
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As far as I know there hasn't been any research done comparing pasturized yogurt with regular yogurt.
 
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Oh please.

Effect of Lactobacillus GG yoghurt in prevention of antibiotic associated diarrhoea.

The efficacy of Lactobacillus GG yoghurt in preventing erythromycin associated diarrhoea was studied. Sixteen healthy volunteers were given erythromycin acistrate 400 mg t.i.d for a week. The volunteers were randomly assigned into two groups taking twice daily 125 ml of either Lactobacillus GG fermented yoghurt or pasteurized regular yoghurt as placebo during the drug treatment. Subjects receiving Lactobacillus GG yoghurt with erythromycin had less diarrhoea than those taking pasteurized yoghurt. Other side effects of erythromycin, such as abdominal distress, stomach pain and flatulence, were less common in the GG yoghurt group than in the placebo yoghurt group. The subjects receiving Lactobacillus GG yoghurt were colonized with these bacteria even during erythromycin treatment as measured by faecal counts of total Lactobacillus GG. No Lactobacillus GG was found in the faecal samples of volunteers in the group taking pasteurized yoghurt.
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez
 
A placebo-controlled trial of Lactobacillus GG to prevent diarrhea in undernourished Peruvian children.

RESULTS: Subjects in the L-GG group had significantly fewer episodes of diarrhea (5.21 episodes diarrhea/child/year ['ecy'] L-GG group, 6. 02 ecy placebo group; P =.028). The decreased incidence of diarrhea in the L-GG group was greatest in the 18- to 29-month age group (P =. 004) and was largely limited to nonbreastfed children (Breastfed: 6. 59 ecy L-GG, 6.32 ecy placebo, P =.7; Nonbreastfed: 4.69 ecy L-GG, 5. 86 ecy placebo, P =.005).
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/e...med.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus
 
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Your quite welcome. I'm not really that bad, I just seem like it online.

The beneficial effect of bacteria in the bowel is thought to be equal in biological activity, to the liver. There is an abundance of hard science on the benefits of LAB on human health.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and their probio-active cellular substances exert many beneficial effects in the gastrointestinal tract. LAB prevent adherence, establishment, and replication of several enteric mucosal pathogens through several antimicrobial mechanisms. LAB also release various enzymes into the intestinal lumen and exert potential synergistic effects on digestion and alleviate symptoms of intestinal malabsoption. Consumption of LAB fermented dairy products with LAB may elicit antitumor effects. These effects are attributed to the inhibition of mutagenic activity; decrease in several enzymes implicated in the generation of carcinogens, mutagens, or tumor-promoting agents; suppression of tumors; and the epidemiology correlating dietary regimes and cancer. Specific cellular components in LAB strains seem to induce strong adjuvant effects including modulation of cell-mediated immune responses, activation of reticuloendothelial system, augmentation of cytokine pathways and regulation of interleukins, and tumor necrosis factors. Oral administration of LAB is well tolerated and proven to be safe in 143 human clinical trials and no adverse effects were reported in any of the total 7,526 subjects studied during 1961-1998. In an effort to decrease the reliance on synthetic antimicrobials and control the emerging immunocompromised host population, the time has come to carefully explore the prophylactic and therapeutic applications of probiotic LAB
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http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=g727154545~db=all
 
Dogdoctor said:
Also some respected medical establishments such as the Mayo Clinic still hedge on the effectiveness of these preparations so I wonder why that is?
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That is a good question. And when it comes to our health, that most precious of things, it is important that we get accurate and helpful information.

I apologize for the "Oh please". After 40 years of research and experimentation, one becomes testy over the terrible ignorance and misinformation spread by certain Medical "Authorities", that seem to suffer from an awful case of Confirmational Bias, when it comes to nutrition and Orthomolecular science.
 
Dogdoctor said:
Also some respected medical establishments such as the Mayo Clinic still hedge on the effectiveness of these preparations so I wonder why that is?
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I suspect this is because the evidence is rather equivocal.
Probiotics have been widely trialed in a variety of GI diseases, but no clear benefits have been found. Some studies show benefit, but no consistent picture has emerged.

Although yogurt is commonly recommended as a source of probiotics, not all of the live cultures contained in yogurt survive well in an acidic environment nor do they colonize the microflora efficiently. Also, the residual lactose contained in yogurt can increase symptoms in patients with lactose intolerance.

The present paper provides an overview on the use of probiotic organisms as live supplements, with particular emphasis on Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium spp. The therapeutic potential of these bacteria in fermented dairy products is dependent on their survival during manufacture and storage. Probiotic bacteria are increasingly used in food and pharmaceutical applications to balance disturbed intestinal microflora and related dysfunction of the human gastrointestinal tract. Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium spp. have been reported to be beneficial probiotic organisms that provide excellent therapeutic benefits. The biological activity of probiotic bacteria is due in part to their ability to attach to enterocytes. This inhibits the binding of enteric pathogens by a process of competitive exclusion. Attachment of probiotic bacteria to cell surface receptors of enterocytes also initiates signalling events that result in the synthesis of cytokines. Probiotic bacteria also exert an influence on commensal micro-organisms by the production of lactic acid and bacteriocins. These substances inhibit growth of pathogens and also alter the ecological balance of enteric commensals. Production of butyric acid by some probiotic bacteria affects the turnover of enterocytes and neutralizes the activity of dietary carcinogens, such as nitrosamines, that are generated by the metabolic activity of commensal bacteria in subjects consuming a high-protein diet. Therefore, inclusion of probiotic bacteria in fermented dairy products enhances their value as better therapeutic functional foods. However, insufficient viability and survival of these bacteria remain a problem in commercial food products. By selecting better functional probiotic strains and adopting improved methods to enhance survival, including the use of appropriate prebiotics and the optimal combination of probiotics and prebiotics (synbiotics), an increased delivery of viable bacteria in fermented products to the consumers can be achieved.
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Dogdoctor said:
eta: One of the problems I have in checking out these products is there are so many and I have so little time. Also some respected medical establishments such as the Mayo Clinic still hedge on the effectiveness of these preparations so I wonder why that is?
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I think that is because they are likely to review all of the research in context relevant to specific questions, rather than cite positive studies while ignoring negative studies, refer to studies that are not related to the question, or attempt invalid generalizations from in vitro to in vivo, animal to human, isolated physiologic effects to clinical effects, or use in specific illness to use in the absence of illness.

Linda
 
I think there may be useful products out there from my limited perspective. However the idea that it is because of the live status or colonization of the digestive tract may not be true. Every strain of bacteria is composed of different chemicals and bacterial cultures contain in addition to those chemicals, the chemicals that were in the culture medium and the by products of metabolism form the bacteria. Any of these may possibly have an effect. In the case of staph bacteria while it is not a beneficial effect it causes symptoms of food poisoning regardless of the living or dead status of the bacteria. There are so many different products it could be some of them are safe and effective. I am unfamiliar with human medicine so looked at Mayo Clinic site and this what I came up with for lactoibacillus at the Mayo Clinic site. As you can see they grade them according to strength of evidence. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lactobacillus/NS_patient-acidophilus
 
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