Three Surprising New Facts About Probiotics

Probiotics are strains of beneficial bacteria that are found in fermented foods like yogurt, cottage cheese, kefir, buttermilk, kimchi, miso, sauerkraut, pickled ginger and other fermented veggies. These beneficial bacteria live on the skin, in the colon, vagina, and mouth and prevent colonization of these areas with pathogenic bacteria.  Probiotics have long been known to help treat  IBS, antibiotic-associated diarrhea, colitis, food sensitivities, constipation and other GI concerns with imbalanced intestinal microflora. Many of you also know about the use of probiotics in cases of inflammatory conditions such as atopic dermatitis/eczema, allergies, and hives.

I want to share research showing three new uses for probiotics that I bet you haven't heard about:

Probiotics improve exacerbations in cystic fibrosis
Patients with cystic fibrosis tend to develop chronic lung infections. Probiotic treatment with a combination of strains of Lactobaccilus acidophilus, Lactobaccilus bulgaricus, Bifidobacterium bifidum and Streptococcus thermophiles reduced pulmonary exacerbations. This is very promising news for patients with cystic fibrosis and other pulmonary challenges.

Probiotics help reduce oral mucositis in cancer patients
Patients receiving chemotherapy and radiation tend to develop mucositis, painful sores in the mouth that often require narcotics for pain control. In this study a strain of probiotics, Latobaccilus brevis CD2 was given as a lozenge to women with mucositis. The severity and incidence of mucositis was better in the group receiving  probotics. This is also amazing news as mucositis is a rate limiting step in patients receiving treatment for cancer.

Probiotics help reduce bad breath
Patients with halitosis, bad breath, were given a strain of probiotics containing Streptococcus salivarius K12. This beneficial strain of bacteria suppresed the growth of bad bacteria that is causes bad breath and reduced severity of bad breath.