At any given period, the human body contains billions of microorganisms, including bacteria. Bacteria often gets a bad wrap for causing disease, but in some cases, it is the bacteria in your body that actually helps prevent ailments. Food scientists have taken this fact further and created products with extra beneficial bacteria included called probiotics. Now probiotics have continued to grow in popularity and can be found in many food products, including yogurts, milk, juice drinks, miso and soy.
Lactic Acid Bacteria
Probiotics are typically broken down into two types. The first of these types are those that contain lactic acid bacteria. The benefits of lactic acid bacteria reside mostly in the intestines, where it has shown the ability to help reduce permeability, and also increase the immune response. This has caused many doctors to commonly prescribe probiotics for problems with diarrhea, especially in children who have contracted the rotavirus. Lactic acid bacteria can also help with regulating the digestive system by promoting good digestion for more regular bowel movements.
Non-lactic Acid Bacteria
Non-lactic acid bacteria are the second type of commonly used probiotic. The benefits of non-lactic acid bacteria come from their ability to increase the acidity of the stomach. By increasing this acidity, these probiotics can help decrease inflammation, as well as kill off any harmful microorganisms that may be present in the stomach.
FDA Regulations
One of the major disadvantages of probiotics is that although they are advertised as a way to improve health, they do not fall under the same regulations as medications do. Instead they are viewed as dietary supplements. This can lead to issues with efficacy claims and a lack of consistency with varying levels of probiotics in each formula. Luckily, as of 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken new steps to phase in new guidelines to help encourage better manufacturing processes involving probiotics.
Research
Another disadvantage to probiotics is the relative lack of research into the health issues they may be able to help treat or cure. For example, researchers at the Mayo Clinic states that probiotics may be helpful in treating a variety of health issues, including yeast infections, urinary tract infections, intestinal infections and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Other agencies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), have gone on to show that some evidence may show that probiotics could benefit other health problems, such as allergies or even some forms of cancer. Unfortunately, not enough research has been done to completely validate these claims.
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