Like children, probiotics must be fed. That’s where prebiotics come in. With technical names like inulin, dextrin and oligosaccharides, prebiotics sound less than appetizing, akin to feeding a human a carbohydrate and amino acid sandwich. Yet all sorts of delicious foods stack up as great feeders for your microbes: artichokes, bananas, garlic, and asparagus are just […]
Caesarean Delivery Linked to Obesity
Each person’s microbial map is unique. Some lead to excess kilos on the scale. From the beginning: Your mother’s earliest choices design your blend. If delivered naturally, your mother’s birth canal is the first place microbes jump aboard. But if delivered by caesarean, newborns miss out on the mother’s mix of microbes and instead populate with pirate […]
Cold Comfort
The nagging cough and stuffy nose–the downsides of living among people and pollutants–are strangers to only the lucky few. Yet, most probiotic research involving respiratory conditions has focused on vulnerable subsets of the population: infants, the elderly, the sedentary or even the elite athlete facing extreme physical stress. Probiotics may reduce the rate, severity and […]
Probiotics Gain in Popularity
Recent survey results on supplement usage are worth a look. In more than 10,000 users of dietary supplements, use of calcium, vitamin C and even fish oil, the most popular supplement, decreased. Probiotics usage increased in men, numbers which brought them more even with women. The authors of this study at ConsumerLab.com had this posted […]
Antibiotics Outdo Probiotics at Surgical Incisions
One peril of any surgery is the risk of infection. In many cases, an IV antibiotic given immediately before the cutting as well as a course of oral antibiotics the week before is protocol. A recent study from Tokai University in Japan asked whether probiotics could manage infectious agents just as well. Undergoing surgery for […]
Bone Up on Probiotics
One rarely thinks of bone when listing the helpful roles of probiotics in the body. Rather gut-related processes point to more obvious roles in allergies, inflammatory conditions and bowel disorders. Yet data from both animals and humans suggest that microbiota are contributors to strong bone health. This would be welcomed as many millions of older […]