Re: A Bit of Culture for Children: Probiotics May Improve Health and Fight Disease

[Guest guest]

At 08:00 AM 5/27/2002 -0400, you wrote:

>A Bit of Culture for Children: Probiotics May Improve Health and Fight

>Disease

><http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v284n11/ffull/jmn0920-1.html>http://jama.ama-a\

ssn.org/issues/v284n11/ffull/jmn0920-1.html

>

>It talks about probiotic use for treatment of diarrhea including antibiotic

>use induced diarrhea as well as other positive effects of probitotic use in

>children including improvement of allergy symptoms and eczema, reducing

>respiratory problems, and enhancing various immune system reactions.

>

>The article ends with this:

> " Are probiotics safe? Saavedra said that many reports and the fact that for

>centuries people have ingested fermented milk products with apparently no

>ill effects seem to indicate that these agents are safe. He stressed that

>more research needs to be done to standardize and regulate " what benefits

>we're getting from what strain and at what dose " for the full clinical

>potential of probiotics to be realized. "

>

>So hooray for yogurt and kefir and buttermilk and all those wonderful

>cultured milk products NT describes.

>

>ine in SC

I asked my son's therapist about probiotics when I first went on them a couple

of years ago and she said they are in general use in the hospitals now, for

diarrhea and kids on antibiotics. My daughter loves yogurt (and most kids seem

to), so other than the fact that it tends to have too much sugar, it's an easy

one (I can't get anyone in my family to eat kimchi yet!).

BTW it's a really great article, thanks for posting it! I had no idea the little

critters did so much. I like the part on mucosa:

It seems, then, said Gorbach, that two mucosal surfaces, the gastrointestinal

tract and the respiratory tract, may be benefited and protected by oral

administration of a probiotic. How bacteria may improve intestinal and systemic

conditions is not entirely clear, but clues to possible mechanisms are emerging.

Gorbach described a number of immune effects that have been demonstrated in

animal models. These effects include enhancement of macrophage activity and

phagocytosis, and stimulation of the humoral immune response. Probiotics also

can alleviate intestinal inflammation, as shown by reduced cytokines in the

mucosa, he said. And probiotics help degrade dietary antigens, particularly milk

protein antigens, which may be helpful in preventing allergy to milk.

Heidi Schuppenhauer

Trillium Custom Software Inc.

heidis@...