Earlier most probiotic research focused on their role in digestive health and immunity but newer research indicates that probiotics can have additional benefits, especially for women. Some probiotics can help restore and maintain vaginal microflora which would reduce the risk of vaginal infections while others may help to reduce menopause symptoms. Preliminary research also shows that specific probiotic strains can lower stress levels, aid weight loss for those who are overweight, and decrease wrinkles.
Yogurt
Yogurt is one of the most well-known probiotic-rich foods. Not all yogurt contains live probiotics because sometimes processing can kill them which is why you should look for varieties labeled with "live and active cultures". Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium are the most common probiotics in yogurt so if, for some reason, you are unable to include yogurt in your daily diet, you can take a probiotic capsule that contains these bacteria. You can also compare probiotic supplements for women to see which one is best suited to your needs.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Benjamin Mullish PhD
NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer
Department of Metabolism
Digestion and Reproduction
Imperial College
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Which probiotic did you use and why?Response: We recently reported the results of a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial in which participants who were overweight or with obesity (aged between 30-65 years of age) were randomized to receive probiotics or placebo for six months. The primary focus was on weight loss and metabolism. The probiotic used was Lab4P, containing three different strains of Bifidobacteria and two of Lactobacilli, which have shown to be safe and efficacious for use in rodent models and earlier clinical studies.
Of note, probiotics have also been shown to have other beneficial effects upon human health. Previous studies have suggested that they may have a role in preventing upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in healthy people and children; however, this has not been explored in older people or overweight/ people with obesity, even though such groups have higher rates of URTIs.
We looked back at our trial, and reviewed symptom diaries completed by participants daily during the study. We were looking at recorded symptoms most consistent with upper respiratory tract symptoms (including cough, wheezing and headache), and explored if rates of these were different between those participants taking probiotics compared to placebo over the six month course of the study. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Professor Mahmoud A. Ghannoum, PhD
Director of the Center for Medical Mycology
Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and UH
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?Response: The driving force for this study was our finding that patients with Crohn’s disease had a significantly high level (or abundance) of pathogenic fungi (called Candida tropicalis) as well as bacteria (Escherichia coli, and Serratia Marcescens) compared to their non-diseased first-degree relatives. Not only were their levels high, but these organisms cooperated to form polymicrobial digestive plaque (or digestive biofilms) that aggravated the inflammatory symptoms in these patients.
Based on this we wanted to develop a probiotic that targeted these organisms and the biofilms they form. Our efforts led to the design of the novel Biohm probiotic which we tested and the results were described in our publication.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Stephen Freedman MDCM, MSc
Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation Professor in Child Health and Wellness
Sections of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Gastroenterology
Alberta Children's Hospital & Research Institute
University of Calgary
Calgary, AB
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Vomiting and diarrhea remain extremely common diseases in children and are the most common reason children are brought for emergency department care in North America. While we have options to reduce vomiting there historically has been little physicians can offer to reduce the severity of the diarrhea.
Probiotics have recently emerged as an option with some early evidence of benefit in clinical trials but the studies performed to date have been small and few little research has been conducted in North America in outpatient or emergency department children.
The one study to date that was performed in a US emergency department did not find probiotic use to be beneficial. Given the increasing importance of clarifying this issue we undertook this study.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Pipat Piewngam
Postdoctorol fellow
Pathogen Molecular Genetics Section,
Laboratory of Bacteriology,
NIAID/NIH
Bethesda, MD, USA 20892MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: Our team at National Institutes of health, Mahidol University and Rajamangala University of Technology in Thailand has reported that the consumption of probiotic Bacillus bacteria comprehensively abolishes colonization with the dangerous pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus.
We hypothesized that the composition of the human gut microbiota affects intestinal colonization with S. aureus. We collected fecal samples from 200 healthy individuals from rural populations in Thailand and analyzed the composition of the gut microbiome by 16S rRNA sequencing. Surprisingly, we did not detect significant differences in the composition of the microbiome between S. aureus carriers and non-carriers. We then sampled the same 200 people for S. aureus in the gut (25 positive) and nose (26 positive). Strikingly, we found no S. aureus in any of the samples where Bacillus were present.
In mouse studies, we discovered S. aureus Agr quorum-sensing signaling systemthat must function for the bacteria to grow in the gut. Intriguingly, all of the more than 100 Bacillus isolates we had recovered from the human feces efficiently inhibited that system. Then, we discovered that the fengycin class of Bacillus lipopeptides achieves colonization resistance by inhibiting that system.
To further validate their findings, we colonized the gut of mice with S. aureus and fed them B. subtilis spores to mimic probiotic intake. Probiotic Bacillus given every two days eliminated S. aureus in the guts of the mice. The same test using Bacillus where fengycin production had been removed had no effect, and S. aureus grew as expected. This is one of the first study that provide human evidence supporting the biological significance of probiotic bacterial interference and show that such interference can be achieved by blocking a pathogen’s signaling system. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Hariom Yadav, PhD
Assistant Professor, Molecular Medicine
Comprehensive Cancer Center
Center on Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism
Redox Biology & Medicine Ctr
Sticht Center on Aging
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: Currently, the use of probiotics is increasing for health benefits of consumers, however the source of probiotics available in the market remains scarcely known. According to scientific community and regulatory standpoint, human-origin probiotics are highly recommended. Hence, we isolated these probiotics from baby diapers, because infant microbiome carries large number of beneficial bacteria.
In addition, we optimized our probiotics to produce higher amount of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs; beneficial metabolites produced by the gut microbiome), because the levels of SCFAs decreases in several human diseases like obesity, diabetes, cancer, autoimmune and inflammatory bowel diseases. Hence, our probiotics can be used to bring back SCFAs levels and may benefit people suffering from these diseases.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Daniel Reis MA
Graduate Student
Clinical Psychology
University of Kansas
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Probiotics have generated considerable interest as a possible treatment for numerous forms of physical and mental illness. Preliminary evidence from both preclinical and clinical studies suggest that probiotics may be able to reduce anxiety. Our goal was to comprehensively review and summarize existing preclinical and clinical studies.
Overall, probiotic administration reduced anxiety-like behaviors in rodents, but only in those with some form of experimentally-induced disease (such as early-life stress or socieal defeat). Probiotics did not reduce anxiety in humans.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Robert Boyle, Reader in Paediatric Allergy
Department of Medicine
Imperial College London
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Diet in early life may influence whether or not an infant develops allergies or autoimmune disease. We undertook a project for the UK Food Standards Agency to evaluate the evidence for this.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?Response: We found that a probiotic supplement during the last 2-4 weeks of pregnancy and during breastfeeding may reduce an infant’s chances of developing eczema; and that omega-3 fatty acid supplements taken from the middle of pregnancy (20 weeks gestation) through the first few months of breastfeeding may reduce an infant’s chances of developing food allergy. We also found links between longer duration of breastfeeding and improved infant health, but for most other variations in diet during pregnancy or infancy we did not find evidence for a link with allergies or autoimmune disease.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
M.Victoria Moreno-Arribas
Spanish National Research Council | CSICMedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: Recent discoveries indicate polyphenols might also promote health by actively interacting with bacteria in the gut. Also, the intake of specific polyphenol-rich beverages and foods helps the maintenance of digestive health and prevention of disease status. However, the knowledge of the effects of polyphenols in relation to the prevention of dental diseases is still at an early stage.
The use of antiseptics and/or antibiotics in the prevention and treatment of periodontal diseases can lead to unwanted effects. Therefore, there is a need to develop novel antimicrobial strategies useful for the prevention and management of these diseases. Oral epithelial cells normally constitute a physical barrier that prevents infections, but bacterial adhesion to host tissues constitutes a first key step in the infectious process.
With the final goal to elucidate the health properties of wine polyphenols at oral level, we studied their properties as an anti-adhesive therapy for periodontal and cariogenic prevention, as well as the combined action between wine polyphenols and oral probiotic strains in the management of microbial-derived oral diseases. In particular, we checked out the effect of two red wine polyphenols, as well as commercially available grape seed and red wine extracts, on bacteria that stick to teeth and gums and cause dental plaque, cavities and periodontal disease. Also, oral metabolism of polyphenols, including both oral microbiota and human mucosa cells, was investigated.(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Mahsa Nordqvist MD
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Sahlgrenska University Hospital
Gothenburg, SwedenMedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We have shown in earlier observational studies that there is an association between probiotic intake and lower risk of preterm delivery and preeclampsia. Since pregnancy is a time of rapid change and different exposures can have different effect depending on the time of exposure, we wanted to find out if there is any special time point of consumption that might be of greater importance when it comes to these associations.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Valerie Sung MBBS (Hons) FRACP MPH PhD
Department of Paediatrics
The University of Melbourne
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
Parkville, Australia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: Infant colic is excessive crying in babies less than 3 months old with no underlying medical cause. It affects 1 in 5 newborns, is very distressing, and is associated with maternal depression, Shaken Baby Syndrome, and early cessation of breastfeeding. Up to now, there has been no single effective treatment for colic. The probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 has recently shown promise but results from trials have been conflicting. In particular, a previous trial from Australia, the largest in the world so far, did not find the probiotic to be effective in both breastfed and formula-fed infants with colic.
This international collaborative study, which collected raw data from 345 infants from existing trials from Italy, Poland, Canada and Australia, confirms Lactobacillus reuteri to be effective in breastfed infants with colic. However, it cannot be recommended for formula-fed infants with colic.
Compared to a placebo, the probiotic group was two times more likely to reduce crying by 50 per cent, by the 21st day of treatment, for the babies who were exclusively breastfed. The number needed to treat for day 21 success in breastfed infants was 2.6.
In contrast, the formula fed infants in the probiotic group seemed to do worse than the placebo group, but the numbers for this group were limited.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Emily G. Severance PhD
Stanley Division of Developmental Neurovirology
Department of Pediatrics
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Baltimore, MD 21287
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Previously, we found that people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder had an increased susceptibility to Candida albicans yeast infections, which was sex specific and associated with memory deficits. Also in an earlier placebo-controlled probiotic study, we found that although probiotics improved the overall bowel function of people with schizophrenia, there was no effect by this treatment on psychiatric symptoms. Given that C. albicans infections can upset the dynamics of the human microbiome, we decided to re-evaluate the potential benefit of probiotics in the context of a patient’s C. albicans yeast status. Not only was bowel function again enhanced following intake of probiotics, but yeast antibody levels were decreased by this treatment.
Furthermore, psychiatric symptoms were actually improved over time for men receiving probiotics who did not have elevated C. albicansantibodies. Men who were positive for C. albicans exposure, however, consistently presented with worse psychiatric symptoms irrespective of probiotic or placebo treatment.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Elizabeth Bryda, PhD
Professor, Director, Rat Resource and Research Center
Veterinary Pathobiology
University of Missouri
Columbia, Missouri
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: A number of groups have demonstrated the ability of probiotics to benefit digestive health and there is a growing body of evidence to suggest an association between mental health and “gut health”. We were interested to see if probiotic bacteria could decrease anxiety- or stress-related behavior in a controlled setting using zebrafish as our model organism of choice for these studies.
We were able to show that Lactobacillus plantarum decreased overall anxiety-related behavior and protected against stress-induced dysbiosis (microbial imbalance). The fact that administration of probiotic bacteria also protected other resident gut bacteria from the dramatic changes seen in “stressed” fish not receiving the probiotic was unexpected and suggested that these bacteria may be working at the level of the GI tract and the central nervous system.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Dr. Nicole Shen
New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical College
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?Dr. Shen: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a persistent, healthcare associated infection with significant morbidity and mortality that costs the US billions of dollars annually. Prevention is imperative, particularly for patients at high risk for infection – hospitalized adults taking antibiotics. Trials have suggested probiotics may be useful in preventing CDI. We conducted a systematic review with meta-analysis in this high-risk population, hospitalized adults receiving antibiotics, to evaluate the current evidence for probiotic use for prevention of CDI.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Ulla Uusitalo PhD
University of South Florida, Tampa
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Uusitalo: The TEDDY Study is an international prospective cohort study with the primary goal to identify environmental causes of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). It is carried out in six clinical research centers, in four countries: University of Colorado Health Science Center (US), Georgia Regents University (US), Pacific Northwest Diabetes Research Institute (US), Turku University Hospital (Finland), Institute of Diabetes Research (Germany), and Lund University (Sweden), since 2004.
One possible environmental factor related to Type 1 Diabetes etiology is diet. Dietary supplements including probiotics as well as various types of infant formulas including probiotic fortified infant formula are studied. The microbial composition of gut has been shown to be associated with the development of Type 1 Diabetes. Colonization of the infant gut starts already in utero and early microbial exposures have been found to be important in defining the trajectory of colonization. Probiotics have been demonstrated to induce favorable immunomodulation and it has been suggested that probiotic treatment could prevent T1D. Therefore we wanted to study the early exposures of probiotic and risk of islet autoimmunity, a condition often preceding Type 1 Diabetes.
This study produced very interesting results. The main finding was that we found 60% decrease in the risk of islet autoimmunity among children with HLA genotype of DR3/4 (high risk), who were exposed to probiotics during the first 27 days of life.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Maria L Marco, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Food Science & Technology
Davis, CA 95616
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Marco: Probiotics encompass certain strains of bacteria and yeast that when administered alive and in sufficient amounts can confer specific health benefits. Probiotics are increasingly added to foods, beverages, and intestinal supplements for delivery to the digestive tract. (Fermented) dairy products are currently the most popular food carriers for probiotic strains in clinical studies and commercial products. Although microorganisms generally respond quickly and adapt to their surrounding environments (e.g. in foods), the importance of the carrier format on probiotic function in vivo has yet to be systematically and mechanistically investigated. To address this need, we performed a couple studies in rodents to (i) examine whether probioticLactobacillus casei produces different proteins during low temperature (refrigeration) incubation in milk and (ii) measure whether incubation in milk is required for L. casei protection against inflammation. We found by shot-gun proteomics that L. casei does adapt for growth and survival in milk by producing a variety of (extra)cellular proteins, even at low-temperatures used to store dairy products prior to consumption. Such exposure of L. casei to milk was also essential for reducing the severity of disease in a mouse model of Ulcerative Colitis (UC), an inflammatory bowel disease characterized by continuous inflammation in the large intestine. Consuming milk alone also provided some protection against weight loss and intestinal inflammation in the Ulcerative Colitis mouse model but was not as effective as L. casei and milk in combination. Lastly, the importance of dairy for L. casei in preventing Ulcerative Colitis was confirmed by our findings that L. casei mutants lacking the capacity to synthesize proteins which are selectively produced during low-temperature incubation in milk were also impaired in preventing inflammatory responses in the intestine.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Laura Steenbergen
Leiden University, Institute for Psychological Research, Cognitive Psychology
Leiden, The NetherlandsMedical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Food supplements, among which probiotics, are becoming more and more popular. A lot is known about the effect of probiotics on the physical functioning, but even though there are some rat studies on the effects of probiotics on mental well-being, not much is known about the effect in humans. The few studies on humans that are available show beneficial effects on mood when people experience a bad mood, or psychological distress. Worldwide, millions of people are suffering from mood disorders like for instance depression, but not everyone receives treatment for this. Research on probiotics has shown that they are safe and easily available, and we therefore wanted to investigate if probiotics could perhaps be promising in serving as a preventive or adjuvant therapy for mood disorders of anxiety or depression. We therefore focused on cognitive reactivity to sad mood, which measures the degree to which people activate dysfunctional thought patterns when experiencing a sad mood. This measure is known to be predictive of the onset and development of depression. Compared to subjects who received a 4-week placebo intervention, participants who received a 4-week multispecies probiotics intervention showed significantly reduced aggressive and ruminative thoughts. Even if preliminary, these results provide the first evidence that the intake of probiotics may help reduce negative thoughts associated with sad mood. As such, our findings shed an interesting new light on the potential of probiotics to serve as adjuvant or preventive therapy for depression. So if you are interested in taking probiotics then you could check out something like these probiotics in india.
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MedicalResearch.com Invitation with:Dr Valerie Sung MBBS(Hons) FRACP MPH
NHMRC PhD Candidate, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, and Community Health Services Research, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
Paediatrician, Centre for Community Child Health
The Royal Children’s Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Sung: Lactobacillus reuteri was NOT effective in reducing crying or fussing in infants with colic, whether they are breast or formula fed. This is the largest and most rigorous trial to date to show this.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Dr Kamal Ivory
Institute of Food Research
Norwich Research Park Norwich, UK
Gut Health & Food Safety ISP
The Institute of Food Research receives strategic funding from BBSRCMedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Ivory: In the present study we show that administration of probiotics in the gut can induce changes at the nasal mucosa where the immune system meets pollen allergen. This implies a potential to alter the course of allergic rhinitis. However, in our single high dose pollen challenge in the clinic (out of pollen season), we did not measure any significant changes in the clinical parameters we had set. It is not clear if this was because a single challenge fails to replicate occurrence during natural seasonal exposure to pollen in terms of dosage and timing. That aside, the mode of action may vary from one probiotic organism to another and it is possible that a cocktail of probiotic organisms may be needed for clinical effectiveness. If funding becomes available, we would like to repeat the study during the pollen season.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Raakel Luoto, MD
Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings...
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Valerie Sung MBBS(Hons) FRACP MPH NHMRC PhD Candidate
Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, and
Community Health Services Research, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Paediatrician, Centre for Community Child Health
The Royal Children’s Hospital
Parkville | 3052 | Victoria Australia
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Sung: The systematic review identified 12 studies (1825 infants) that investigated the use of probiotics to treat or prevent infant colic (excessive crying of unknown cause in babies less than 3 months old). Three of the 5 treatment trials concluded probiotics effectively treat colic in breastfed babies; one suggested possible effectiveness in formula-fed babies with colic, and one suggested ineffectiveness in breastfed babies with colic. The three effective trials used the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri in breastfed babies only; in two of these trials, the mothers were on a dairy-free diet. Five of the 7 prevention trials suggested probiotics to be ineffective in preventing colic.
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Prof. Steve Allen
Professor of Paediatrics and International Health; RCPCH International Officer and David Baum Fellow
Room 314, The College of Medicine, Swansea University,
Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?Answer: Overall, diarrhoea occurred in just over 10% participants and diarrhoea caused by C. difficile in about 1%. These outcomes were equally common in those taking the microbial preparation and those taking placebo.
Other outcomes (e.g. common GI symptoms, length of hospital stay, quality of life) were also much the same in the two groups. So, there was no evidence that the microbial preparation had prevented diarrhoea or had led to any other health benefit.
In agreement with previous research, serious adverse events were also similar in the two groups – so we found no evidence that the microbial preparation caused any harm.
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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Mitchell Jones, MD, PhD
Faculty of Medicine at McGill University in Montreal
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Jones: We had previously reported on the cholesterol lowering efficacy of bile salt hydrolase active L. reuteri NCIMB 30242 due to reduced intestinal sterol absorption.
However, the effects of bile salt hydrolase active L. reuteri NCIMB 30242 on fat soluble vitamins was previously unknown and was the focus of the study.
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MedicalResearch.com eInterview with: Dr. Reena Pattani MD
Department of Medicine
St. Michael’s Hospital
30 Bond Street, Toronto ON M5B 1W8
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?Dr. Pattani:We performed a meta-analysis of 16 studies that assessed the effectiveness of probiotics administered concurrently with antibiotics compared to the use of antibiotics alone. The use of probiotics among patients in these trials reduced the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhea by almost 40% and decreased the rate of Clostridium difficile infection by 63%. On subgroup analysis, the reduction remained statistically significant for the subgroups of good quality trials, trials in which a primarily Lactobacillus-based regimen was used, and those studies which had a follow-up period of less than 4 weeks.
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