Allergic rhinitis is an inflammation of nasal passages and affects more and more people every year. Treatment though is hit-or-miss. Probiotics may help by interacting with the immune system; much depends on the type of bacterium, route of administration, dosing, regimen, and other underlying host factors. Much is still unknown as this review in […]
Articles
Bugs Do Make the Picnic
As summer winds down for many in the northern hemisphere, one last barbecue is a lovely way to kiss the season goodbye. Grab some hot dogs and hamburgers and fire up the grill? Maybe best not. Stop and think about what you are doing: the hot flames make these saturated fat, high cholesterol processed […]
Yogurt Mamas
HIV/AIDS infects nearly 1.3 million people in Tanzania and kills more there each year than cancer, heart disease or accidents. It is an epidemic replicated in many sub-Saharan countries. Probiotics benefit people living with HIV/AIDS. This happens in several ways: improving immunity, increasing CD4 cell counts, preventing diarrhea, constipation, and urinary tract infections, reducing […]
Inspiring News
Renovating the gut microbiota is increasingly known to help prevent and cure a variety of disorders. Now a recent review in Pharmacology and Therapeutics asks how the microbial community in the respiratory tract may impact disease. Indeed, the microbial composition of the airway flora is different between healthy lungs and those with chronic lung diseases, such as asthma, chronic […]
Ignorance Not Always Bliss
Nearly 200 Canadian physicians, both urban and rural, were surveyed regarding natural health products (NHPs), a category in which probiotics are deemed “fashionable”. Most thought that NHPs were probably of little benefit but not likely to be harmful. Most of the NHPs used were vitamins and minerals. The authors try to explain the results with […]
Kefir: Easy to Make, Hard to Pronounce
Maybe we’d buy it more often if we could pronounce it. Is it key-FEAR or KEY-fur or KEH-fur? The majority voted for KEY-fur in a lively discussion over at babycenter community. To be safe, know all three when bewilderment greets you at the store. Now, on to less pressing matters. Kefir has been around for […]