Probiotics – Advanced Concepts, Uses and Benefits
A bug by any other name…. Why Use Probiotics?
The use of probiotics as bio-therapeutic agents is commonplace in the US and around much of the world. Probiotics are typically delivered in relatively low-dose functional foods (primarily yogurts) providing a few billion colony forming units (CFU) or less; or in modest doses, in the form of dietary supplements of 5-25 billion CFU. It is simply not enough to take a “good thing” like probiotics if the dosages are useless! Most of my patients seem completely unaware o the differences between one brand, type or strength of probiotic products. In my clinical opinion and experience, I can tell you that the dosages that most people take are simply too low to make a real difference. This is why I have produced Re-Inoculate (a term that means “putting it back) – a powered product that contains 240 billion organisms per dose…more than 10X more potent than any other product that I am aware of on the market.
Over the past several years, an emerging trend has witnessed much higher doses of probiotics being used in clinical practice and research.
The initial focus of the clinical research on high-dose probiotics has been primarily on functional GI disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD). These conditions represent extreme examples of dysbiosis and dysfunction within the mucosal immune system of the gut; a system which is integrally associated with the microflora of the gut lumen.
It is essential to keep in mind that probiotics are best used in combination with other supplements and certain foods that help maximize health benefits.
Probiotics have many other uses beyond helping gastrointestinal problems. Here is a partial list:
- Lowers cholesterol
- Offsets adverse side effects of antibiotics
- Immunomodulation
- Reduces inflammation
- Helps diabetes
- May reduce depression
- Reduces colon cancer risk
- Useful in a large number of cancers
- Colitis
- Procitis
- Crohn’s Disease
- Ulcerative Colitis
- Reduces risk of acquired infection
- Helps treat active infection
- Helps prevent harmful bacteria translocation (traveling) form the colon to other parts of the body
- Produces B-vitamins and vitamin K in the colon
- And much more!
Dr. Michael Wald is the director of nutritional services at Integrated Medicine of Mount Kisco.
For more information on probiotics or health in general please go to www.intmedny.com and visit the Q&A and articles section of website. Or call (914) 242-8844.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
