Studies on probiotics are "useless in many cases"

ATLANTA – Do you often want yogurts, chocolates and other products containing probiotics to keep your health in your hands? Your efforts may be in vain, according to a new report.

Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel recently conducted a study published in the journal Cell to determine the effectiveness of probiotics, living bacteria to stimulate the immune system, prevent disease and repair adverse reactions antibiotics. good bacteria along the digestive tract.

"Probiotics have received a lot of support, even though the literature underlying our understanding is very controversial. we wanted to determine if probiotics such as those you buy at the supermarket colonize the gastrointestinal tract as they are supposed to do, and then if these probiotics have an impact on the human host, "said the author. lead author Eran Elinav in a statement. .

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For the first part of the team's two-part evaluation, they examined the bowels of 25 volunteers by administering upper endoscopies and colonoscopies. Fifteen of the volunteers were then divided into two groups: one who consumed generic probiotic strains and another who had a placebo. About three weeks later, the two groups then underwent a second round of upper endoscopies and colonoscopies before being followed for two months.

After analyzing the results, they discovered that some of the intestines harbored probiotics, while others did not. The "perseverant" have undergone changes in their gene expression profile of the natal microbiome and intestine, but not the "resistant".

"Surprisingly, we saw that many healthy volunteers were actually resistant to the extent that probiotics could not colonize their gastrointestinal tract," Elinav said. "This suggests that probiotics should not be universally given as a" single "supplement. Instead, they could be adapted to the needs of each individual. "

For the second part of the trial, scientists looked at whether probiotics were able to counter the adverse effects of antibiotics. Probiotics are supposed to repopulate the gut microbiota after being eliminated by antibiotic treatment.

They observed the bowels of 21 volunteers by again administering upper endoscopies and colonoscopies after being treated with antibiotics. Scientists have either let the subject's microbiome repair itself, with probiotics or an autologous fecal microbiome transplant made up of their own bacteria.

Scientists learned that intestinal colonization of probiotics prevented both the expression of host gut genes and their microbiome from returning to their normal pre-antibiotic patterns months later.

"Contrary to the current dogma that probiotics are harmless and benefit everyone, these results reveal an adverse, potentially alarming side effect of using probiotics with antibiotics that could even have long-term consequences." said Elinav.

The co-author, Eran Segal, added, "This opens the door to diagnoses that would lead us to an empirical universal use of probiotics, which seems useless in many cases, to an appropriate consumption at the same time. individual and can be prescribed to different patients. features. "

This story was written by Najja Parker for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

© 2018 Cox Media Group.