Study Finds Probiotics 'Not As Beneficial For Gut Health As Previously Thought' (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The gut microbiome is the sum total of all the micro-organisms living in a person's gut, and has been shown to play a huge role in human health. New research has found probiotics -- usually taken as supplements or in foods such as yoghurt, kimchi or kefir -- can hinder a patient's gut microbiome from returning to normal after a course of antibiotics, and that different people respond to probiotics in dramatically different ways. In the first of two papers published in the journal Cell, researchers performed endoscopies and colonoscopies to sample and study the gut microbiomes of people who took antibiotics before and after probiotic consumption. Another group were given samples of their own gut microbiomes collected before consuming antibiotics. The researchers found the microbiomes of those who had taken the probiotics had suffered a "very severe disturbance." "Once the probiotics had colonized the gut, they completely inhibited the return of the indigenous microbiome which was disrupted during antibiotic treatment," said Eran Elinav, an immunologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and lead author on the studies.

The scientists also compared the gut microbiomes of the gut intestinal tract of 25 volunteers with that of their stools. They found that stool bacteria only partially correlated with the microbiomes functioning inside their bodies. "So the fact that we all almost exclusively rely on stool in our microbiome research may not be a reliable way of studying gut microbiome health," said Elinav. In the second paper, the researchers examined the colonization and impact of probiotics on 15 people by sampling within their gastrointestinal tract. They divided the individuals into two groups: one were given a preparation made of 11 strains of very commonly used probiotics and the other were given a placebo. Of those who were given probiotics, he said, "We could group the individuals into two distinct groups: one which resisted the colonisation of the probiotics, and one in which the probiotics colonized the gut and modified the composition of the gut microbiome and the genes of the host individual."

Comments

Makes sense to me.

[Vegan Cyclist]

Most probiotics are a pretty small range of bacteria, and I don't know if I've ever seen anywhere that confirms these are actually the ones we want on a large scale...especially when some supplements have pretty large doses of these.

From all the reading I've done it seems the best direction will be to focus on prebiotics, aka the foods that the microbiome thrives on, which is typically fibrous vegetable matter. Feed the good ones you've got (rather than trying to implant others), and you'll probably be better off.

Re:Probiotics are disgusting.

[jblues]

Bacteria are are naturally present in raw fruit and vegetables and naturally fermented foods, including naturally fermented bread. Most cold climate cultures relied on fermented vegetables to get them through the winter. Salt fermentation of raw vegetables allows the lactobacillus bacterias to proliferate. Almost all of the sugars are consumed, however most of the rest of nutritional profile is intact, including the vitamin C. In some cases the nutritional profile is enhanced. This is why viking sailors didn't get scurvy. I used to wonder how these past cultures survived the whole winter without vegetables. They actually didn't.

The amount of bacteria in many fermented foods exceeds probiotics dosages. They might not be very beneficial, but they're probably not very harmful either. They certainly have an effect on the gut biome. In some cases certain strains have been shown to be beneficial, through immune system modulation, for certain conditions, such as in the natural treatment of eczma - there are efforts ongoing to commercialize on this.

Re:Bitter sweet

[omnichad]

The "S" stands for syndrome, which identifies it as a collection of symptoms and not a disease. It's a diagnosis only in that there are good ways to treat the symptoms even when you don't understand the root cause fully.

Re:This study is done by morons

[omnichad]

Look, if you take probiotic pills, you are replacing your normal biome WITH the biome of the pills.

The study concluded the opposite (in all cases except with antibiotic use). And the results are surprising. What it sounds like is happening is that all of the bacteria in the probiotic compete for food with the biofilm in your intestines. However, the probiotic has no way to supplant the biofilm - that's a protective layer that keeps out competing bacteria. It just starves the resident population a little bit as it passes on through. Either way, more or less none of it stays behind and it all leaves the body with your digested food.

With antibiotic use, the biofilm dies off, but there are only a few strains in the probiotic. These compete with the remnant biofilm reserve in the appendix for recolonization and actually slow recovery. Again this is just continuing my theory based on the results of the study. And those few strains are not enough diversity to maintain your digestive health and should not be the entire makeup of your intestinal microbiome.

Re:Probiotics are disgusting.

[jblues]

Probiotics are bacteria. Lactobacillus is a type of bacteria. They are gram-positive, facultative anaerobic (meaning they don't need oxygen) or microaerophilic, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming bacteria. There are lots of different species of lactobacillus. These are "friendly" bacteria that normally live in our digestive, urinary, and genital systems without causing disease. They also occur in nature, for example on raw, fresh vegetables, or fermented foods like yogurt and in dietary supplements. They are generally harmless, sometimes beneficial to almost everyone.

Perhaps on NPR they were saying the fermented foods have less noxiousbacteria than probiotic preparations. There are other kinds of bacteria, that in a person with a well functioning immune system will be harmless, but could cause problems to someone who is already ill. And then there are things like Clostridium botulinum aka botulism - comes from spoiled canned foods, that you definitely don't want to ingest. It is deadly.