Probiotics can prevent dangerous diarrhea, study finds

I find yogurt with live culture works.

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/30/18633759-probiotics-can-prevent-dangerous-diarrhea-study-finds?lite

by Maggie Fox, vitals.nbcnews.com
May 30, 2013

Probiotics -- those products that promise to replenish your gut’s “healthy” microbes -- do seem to help prevent dangerous diarrhea, researchers reported on Thursday.

A review of the strongest scientific studies shows that probiotics can reduce the risk of diarrhea caused by C. difficile infections by 64 percent, the researchers found. But the products don’t prevent the infection -- just the diarrhea itself. And it’s still not clear just which products are the best.

Many studies have suggested that probiotics work. Doctors are beginning to understand that the body needs microorganisms, and nowhere more so than in the intestines. These “good” bacteria and yeast help digest food and they take up space so that disease-causing germs can’t take hold.

Lots of products promise to keep gut bacteria healthy, but doctors still are not sure which bacteria and yeast people really need to get the best results. “The market is flooded with products,” says Bradley Johnston of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, who led the review. “I don’t want to suggest certain brands.”

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Yogurt may help if it contains live bacteria of the correct strains, Johnston added. “The market has evolved a lot in the last five years,” he said. “It used to be most of the yogurts on the market were pasteurized and there were no active bactera. Now a number of companies are putting active organisms back into the yogurt, making what is called functional food.”