What is the benefit of eating foods rich in beneficial bacteria after antibiotics?

The term probiotics, or living microorganisms, has recently been helpful for our health and it has been advised to use it to treat many diseases, ranging from obesity to certain mental disorders.

Live microorganisms have often been helpful for health in order to rebalance beneficial microbes and harmful microbes that end in the intestine after the end of the antibiotic dose.

The secret is that antibiotics eliminate the beneficial bacteria that live in our intestines as they get rid of the harmful bacteria that cause the disease. These foods and supplements rich in beneficial bacteria can therefore help restore the natural microbial balance in the gastrointestinal tract.

This may seem obvious, but evidence that these supplements are effective in restoring microbial balance in the intestines is still rare. But researchers have noted that taking them after antibiotics could hinder the process of restoring the balance between beneficial bacteria and harmful bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract.

The difference in determining the effectiveness of biocides is due to several reasons, including the fact that the term "biosphere" can be used to refer to many different things. Although scientists know biomarkers as a group of microorganisms living in the intestines of healthy humans, supplements sold as powdered powder in stores may not be relevant to this definition.

On the other hand, strains of live bacteria used by researchers in their studies vary from one laboratory to another, making comparison of research results difficult.

"There are not enough studies on any type of antibiotic," said Sydney Newberry of the Rand Research Foundation. She has authored a review of studies on the use of food supplements containing beneficial bacteria in the treatment of diarrhea caused by antibiotics in 2012: Bacteria beneficial for identifying effective or ineffective species in the diet. elimination of diarrhea ".

After examining 82 studies involving approximately 12,000 patients, Biopere concluded that dietary supplements containing beneficial bacteria actually helped to reduce the risk of diarrhea following antibiotics, but did not identify a type or combination of beneficial bacteria It is recommended to treat them because of the diversity of bacterial strains used in the studies and sometimes because of the lack of clarity.

Since this study, it has been shown that little evidence proves the benefits of consuming foods and supplements rich in beneficial bacteria and yeasts after taking the dose of antibiotics.

"Unfortunately, research done after this review of studies is not enough to conclude that dietary supplements containing beneficial bacteria are already helping to restore microbial balance in the gut or even to identify effective types." beneficial bacteria, "says Newberry.

Concerns have also been expressed about the lack of research into possible damage to food supplements containing beneficial bacteria and yeasts. Although these beneficial bacteria are generally safe for health, they have caused some patients with intractable diseases serious health problems, such as the spread of fungi in the blood.

A study conducted at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel found that dietary supplements containing useful yeasts and bacteria after the completion of antibiotics were not completely safe even for healthy people. As it was noted that this hindered the recovery process that we previously thought to be accelerated.

In this study, the researchers, led by researcher Iran Ellenav, described effective antibiotics that eliminated a broad spectrum of pathogenic bacteria for 12 people for one week and then performed colonoscopy and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. in order to examine the state of the group of microorganisms living in the gastrointestinal tract.

"As expected, microbial functions have changed dramatically, antibiotics have killed many," says Elinav.

The researchers divided the volunteers into three groups: they followed the first group without describing it after the completion of the antibiotics, while the second group described the foods and supplements containing useful bacteria for one month, the third group having has undergone transplantation of bacteria extracted from the stool, Filter all patients of the third group before the antibiotic treatment, then return to the colon from the treatment.

The researchers found that dietary supplements containing useful bacteria hindered the natural rebalancing of intestinal bacteria, so that the second group was the slowest to recover from the effects of antibiotics on the gastrointestinal tract, compared to the other two groups. . Their intestines did not return to their normal state before taking antibiotics until the end of the study, after five months of observation.

The researchers noted that fecal transplantation restored the sanitary balance between beneficial bacteria and harmful bacteria in the gut in a few days.

"The vast majority of people are taking antibiotics around the world, and we may be doing more research to understand this dangerous side effect of foods and supplements containing beneficial bacteria," Elenav said.

Evidence has shown that yeasts and beneficial bacteria do not help patients with gastrointestinal disorders. Another study concluded that dietary supplements containing beneficial bacteria had no effect on the treatment of children with gastroenteritis in hospital. The study was conducted in the United States on 886 children with gastroenteritis aged three months to four years. One group of children ate the beneficial intestinal bacteria, while the other took a placebo for five days.

Food supplements made from yeast and beneficial bacteria did not stop the development of gastroenteritis two weeks after hospitalization and the researchers did not distinguish between the two groups in terms of duration of vomiting and diarrhea .

However, the demand for food supplements containing yeast and beneficial bacteria is increasing day by day: in 2017, its sales volume is estimated at over $ 1.8 billion and is expected to reach $ 66 billion in 2024.

"There is not yet clear evidence of the benefits of food and supplements beneficial to humans, although many large companies are involved in their manufacturing," Elenav says. "Maybe that has not yet allowed the FDA and European regulators to use these supplements in clinical therapy," he said.

However, this does not mean that we are not completely devoid of foods rich in beneficial bacteria: they are not harmful in themselves, but the problem lies in the way we use these foods and supplements containing beneficial bacteria. The consumer who buys these supplements in stores may not know what type of beneficial bacteria are in their composition and whether they are alive or dead.

He and his colleagues looked for people whose bodies responded to food and supplements rich in beneficial bacteria and people who did not affect them. By measuring the genetic expression of immune cells, the team was able to identify people benefiting from beneficial bacteria that colonize their gut and those that produce beneficial bacteria from their body without any effect.

"These results indicate that the immune system plays a key role in determining whether or not the body is benefiting from beneficial bacteria," Elenev said.

This research could pave the way for the development of treatments based on beneficial bacteria adapted to the genetic constitution of each individual. "These treatments will soon become a reality," says Elinov, but we will have to do more research and testing on larger groups of people.

This type of treatment can help make the most of the useful bacteria in the digestive tract. This discrepancy in the research results on beneficial bacteria and yeasts may be due to treatment as it was conventional drugs.

We conclude that the task of finding effective yeasts and bacteria useful in the treatment of this complex environment of microbes, bacteria and viruses, whose composition varies from one individual to another, will not be easy. Therefore, these dehydrated supplements sold in retail stores are not surprising to achieve the desired purpose.

You can read the original article from BBC News

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