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Educate your patients on the importance of 3-A-Day of Dairy: Here's
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every day for stronger bones.
Developed in conjunction with The American Academy of Family
Physicians, The American Academy of Pediatrics, The American Dietetic
Association, and The National Medical Association.
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Dairy Council Digest Archives
Probiotics: Considerations for Human Health
Summary
Probiotics – living microorganisms that when consumed in sufficient amounts provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition – are emerging as important dietary ingredients in functional foods. The majority of probiotics are lactic acid bacteria, especially lactobacilli, and bifidobacteria. In the U.S., food products containing these “friendly” probiotic bacteria are almost exclusively dairy products, such as yogurt and cultured dairy drinks.
Interest in the role of probiotics in human health is not new. However, only in recent years has considerable progress been made in identifying potential health benefits of specific probiotics or foods containing probiotics. Intake of yogurt, particularly with live, active cultures, and specific probiotic bacteria in adequate amounts has been demonstrated to alleviate symptoms of intolerance in lactose maldigesters. This beneficial effect is largely due to the digestion of lactose by the lactase enzyme released from yogurt cultures in the intestine. Additional mechanisms may also be involved.
A substantial body of evidence supports a beneficial role for specific probiotics in reducing the duration and/or severity of a variety of diarrheal diseases, such as acute diarrhea caused by rotavirus infections in infants and young children, antibiotic-associated diarrhea, and travelers’ diarrhea. Probiotics or dairy foods such as yogurt containing probiotics may also help to protect against infectious diseases, such as decrease the growth of Helicobacter pylori (a bacterial pathogen responsible for type B gastritis, peptic ulcer, and perhaps stomach cancer).
Additional possible health benefits attributed to probiotics include a decrease in colon cancer risk; enhancement of the immune system; reduction in symptoms of inflammatory disorders such as inflammatory bowel diseases (i.e., ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and pouchitis); alleviation of some symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome; and prevention of allergic symptoms, among other benefits.
Although findings are promising, further research is needed to substantiate many of probiotics’ health benefits. Numerous factors influence probiotics’ therapeutic or preventive effects. In vitro, experimental animal, and human studies have used different bacterial strains or combinations of strains at different doses, each of which offers a greater or lesser health benefit. Additional research is needed to determine the optimal intake, duration of treatment, and selection of probiotic strains for a specific outcome, the best way to deliver probiotics, and their mechanisms of action.
Dairy products, which are nutrient rich foods, are a desirable natural vehicle to deliver probiotic bacteria into the intestine. Investigators are exploring potential synergistic effects between components in dairy foods and probiotic cultures, as well as the ability of components in milk or fermented milks to trigger beneficial genes in probiotic cultures. Identification of the genetic characteristics of specific probiotics may lead to the development of probiotics with unique or enhanced characteristics. Before probiotics can be recommended in clinical practice or health claims can be made, their efficacy in enhancing health or reducing the risk of disorders needs to be confirmed by rigorous clinical trials in humans.
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