<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Benefits Of Probiotics</h2>
<p>Probiotics — “good” bacteria that provide a health benefit to the humans who consume them — have been with us since the beginning. Since they are found naturally in fermented foods and breast milk, they constitute part of the ancestral human diet. However, the trend of commercial products that contain probiotics is a relatively new trend, and one that is growing.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.who.int/foodsafety/fs_management/en/probiotic_guidelines.pdf" target="_blank">According to the World Health Organization (WHO)</a>, probiotics are “live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.” The rub is knowing whether or not there&#8217;s a proven health benefit. The mere presence of “billions of live organisms” does not confer a health benefit — not that you&#8217;d know that after browsing the aisles of a health food or high-end grocery store.</p>
<p>However, Jack Gilbert, director of the Microbiome Institute, points out the crux of the problem in <a href="http://nautil.us/issue/50/emergence/should-you-feed-your-kid-probiotics" target="_blank">his article in </a><i><a href="http://nautil.us/issue/50/emergence/should-you-feed-your-kid-probiotics" target="_blank">Nautilus</a></i>: a dearth of research. “The lack of clinical trials demonstrating efficacy is the major obstacle to knowing whether [probiotics] are better than existing formulations that have been shown clinically to help with diarrhea and atopy. Claims that probiotic mixtures will help to support overall health are still woefully unproven.”</p>
<figure id="attachment_95491" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="size-full wp-image-95491" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/08/probiotic-smoothie.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: Stacy/Flickr</figcaption></figure>
<p>Furthermore, because the industry operates <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2016/01/21/probiotics-shaky-science/" target="_blank">without any real regulatory oversight</a> in the US, you can&#8217;t really be sure of what you&#8217;re getting. Multiple studies have found that <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0944501397800092">there were discrepancies</a> between the labelled ingredients and what was actually found in the product, and this problem was especially egregious among products containing multiple strains of bacteria. For example, an analysis of 16 probiotic products <a href="https://www.nature.com/pr/journal/v79/n3/full/pr2015244a.html" target="_blank">conducted in 2015</a> found that only one of the 16 products tested exactly matched its label for every sample tested.</p>
<figure class="wp-caption">
<h2>A Gut Feeling</h2>
<p>While most commercially available probiotics make health claims that aren&#8217;t supported by research, there is some truth to the claim that probiotics can be beneficial. Different probiotics contain a variety of strains of bacteria in differing concentrations, and they all have different properties. Unfortunately, only a small minority of these have been subjected to actual clinical trials and proven effective — and the confusion in the probiotics space leads to too many consumers buying for benefits they&#8217;re not getting.</p>
<p>Take the <a href="https://sciencelife.uchospitals.edu/2014/11/25/do-probiotics-work/" target="_blank">example of yogurt</a>. Two strains of bacteria typically go into the making of yogurt: Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus. However, neither strain gets through the gastrointestinal tract alive; the acidic environment kills them long before they reach the colon. Certain yogurts are enriched, though, with different strains that can survive the intestinal tract, such as Activia (containing live Bifidobacteria) and Yakult (containing live Lactobacilli), which have been researched well enough to be conclusively beneficial.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, researchers are uncovering new connections between gut bacteria and serious health issues — previously assumed to be unrelated to diet or bacteria — frequently. Scientists are searching for links between <a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-call-for-more-research-into-link-between-autism-and-gut-bacteria/" target="_blank">gut bacteria and autism</a>, as well as <a href="https://futurism.com/73957-2/" target="_blank">gut bacteria and Parkinson&#8217;s disease</a>, as well as investigating how much of an impact gut bacteria have on the <a href="https://futurism.com/new-study-finds-gut-bacteria-may-inhibit-cancer-drugs/" target="_blank">efficacy of drugs</a>. Researchers are also hoping to harness the power of probiotics to create <a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-harness-power-gut-bacteria-promote-health/" target="_blank">tailor-made treatments</a> for a host of diseases, and even to <a href="https://futurism.com/this-study-could-help-extend-the-human-lifespan/" target="_blank">extend the human lifespan</a>.</p>
<p>For now, though, the average consumer should temper their optimism with healthy scientific skepticism. Probiotics are never a “cure-all,” so don&#8217;t trust claims about any probiotic product that allegedly solves a myriad of health issues. Those that target specific health issues, especially those related to digestion, are a safer bet.</p>
<p>Probiotics have a great deal of promise, and merit more research attention; but for now, consumers should be wary of what they&#8217;re really getting.</figure>


"Claims that probiotic mixtures will help to support overall health are still woefully unproven."

Yogurt with passion fruit in a white bowl

Health & Medicine

Probiotics are hailed by some as a cure-all, but in reality the industry is unregulated and unpredictable — as are their effect on the human body.

Are Probiotics the Key to Solving Humanity’s Health Issues?

Too few studies have tested whether they provide health benefits. 

<figure class="wp-caption" style="width: 467px;height: auto"></figure>
<h2>You Weigh 2% Bacteria</h2>
<p>Scientists are looking into the “motherload” of drug sources for human diseases: our own guts.</p>
<p>Around two percent of our body weight is from the bacteria in our body, more than 130 species in the gut alone. <a href="http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/features/what-are-probiotics">Probiotics </a>have been proven to affect our overall health. Imbalances in our gut microbiome, or the population of those microbes in our gut, contribute to complex conditions like obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and allergies.</p>
<p>Researchers developed a process to grow the majority of bacteria from the gut, the same way gynecologists culture microorganisms from a pap smear. The process was tricky, however, as many of these <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC378078/">bacteria cannot survive when exposed to oxygen</a>.</p>
<p>According to Hilary Browne of the Host-Microbiota Interactions Laboratory at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, &#8220;&#8230;by developing a new process to isolate gastrointestinal bacteria, we were able to sequence their genomes to understand more about their biology. We can also store them for long periods of time making them available for further research.&#8221;</p>
<p><img class=" wp-image-4180" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2015/07/bigstock-Bacteria-spheres-d-illustrati-43473304-300x225.jpg" alt="123rf" width="460" height="345" /></p>
<h2>Tailor-Made Probiotics</h2>
<p>A third of the gut microbiome is unique to every individual, and <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature17645.html">the research</a> aims to produce tailor-made treatments using these specific beneficial bacteria from individual gut microbiomes. Dr. Sam Forster from the Sanger Institute and Hudson Institute of Medical Research in Australia says, &#8220;The extensive database of genomes we have generated from these bacteria is also essential for studying which bacteria are present or absent in people with gastrointestinal conditions. Now we can start to design mixtures of therapeutics candidates for use in these diseases.&#8221;</p>
<p>Researchers also found that a third of the microorganisms from a healthy person’s gut are capable of producing <a href="https://futurism.com/what-gives-rain-its-smell-2/">spores </a>that can be airborne–implying that not only can people succumb to diseases from each other, but also acquire beneficial microrganisms.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


Hard Science

Scientists have found a way to isolate oxygen-sensitive bacteria from human guts to study it in an attempt to develop tailor-made treatments based on these beneficial microorganisms.

/Probiotics

Health & Medicine

Are Probiotics the Key to Solving Humanity’s Health Issues?

Hard Science

Scientists Harness The Power Of Gut Bacteria To Promote Health

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