In a world grower fatter by the day (1.9 billion overweight and obese), science is searching for answers to the pandemic. There are no easy ones. Obesity is complicated; genetics, lifestyle and the environment create an imperfect storm inside the body. Recent evidence points to the gut microbiome as one important risk factor. Indeed, the microbiome is rich in possibilities. … Read More
Flow Cytometry as a Potential Method of Measuring Bacterial Viability in Probiotic Products
Flow Cytometry as a Potential Method of Measuring Bacterial Viability in Probiotic Products: A Comprehensive Review Martin G. Wilkinson, University of Limerick, Ireland Presented at Probiota 2018, February 7-9, 2018 in Barcelona, Spain This paper was commissioned by International Probiotics Association The measurement of cell viability in foods has traditionally been carried out by assessing the ability of … Read More
Microbes Deserve a Closer Look in Lou Gehrig’s disease
Science isn’t hitting any home runs with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Named after a famous baseball player, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS is a progressive disease that destroys nerve cells and causes disability. ALS often begins with muscle twitching, weakness in a limb or slurred speech. Eventually, ALS affects control of the muscles needed to move, speak, eat and breathe. There … Read More
Doubling Down on Probiotics in Allergy Season
Bleary eyes, itchy nose and so many sneezes even the blessings have stopped? No surprise here: it’s allergy season. But rather than making inroads against these carnal assaults by fertile pollens of the earth, public health practitioners instead report rising numbers over the last few decades. Allergic rhinitis is caused by an IgE-mediated inflammatory reaction. Antihistamines, bronchodilators, and corticosteroids therefore … Read More
Multi-strain probiotics: better than single-strain?
If one is good then more is better. This seems to be the prevailing wisdom in multi-strain probiotic dosing, whether through food additives or supplements. The thinking behind this assumption is compelling: more strains may hit more targets and maybe even add up to more than the sum of the single-strain parts. But experts are throwing some shade on that … Read More
A Look at Microbes in Schizophrenia
Marked by delusions and hallucinations, schizophrenia is not uncommon. More than 50 million people or 1% of humans suffer with this devastating psychiatric disorder. What causes schizophrenia? Researchers believe that a combination of genetics, brain chemistry and environment contributes to development of the disorder. The gut-brain axis may be one pathway. Risk factors for schizophrenia Family history of schizophrenia Older age … Read More
In Melanoma, Microbes Show Game in the Skin
Skin: We ignore it, tattoo it and burn it on beaches and tanning beds. Besides its brutish name, skin also gets little respect for its crucial job of protecting the human body from toxins and dehydration. Skin is the largest organ we have, beating out big hearts and hungry stomachs by a long shot. It is a complex ecosystem home to … Read More
As Obesity Soars, Microbes Get a Closer Look
Americans are getting fatter. New data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (tens of thousands surveyed) revealed stark numbers: Nearly 40% of adults are obese, up significantly from previous years. Hispanic and blacks–both adults and children– counted more obesity than whites and Asians. One other group fared especially poorly: toddlers ages 2 to 5 saw obesity rates rise, … Read More
Good News When Probiotics Become Habit
While humans have been eating probiotics by way of cheeses and yogurts for tens of thousands of years, use of supplements for beneficial bacteria is only decades old. Most studies concentrate on immediate effects of pills and capsules. No reliable data exists on “longer-term consumption” of probiotics, a period of time only now relevant. Thus a new curiosity in … Read More
Probiotics in Pregnancy May Prevent Baby’s Eczema
Eczema in infants is painful to see and even worse for them. Soaring in numbers, this allergic skin disease is caused by genetic defects and foreign substances, often food. But surprisingly, it’s not only the diet of the baby which figures. Probiotics in the mother’s diet before birth may prevent some cases. A new large meta-analysis conducted at the Imperial … Read More