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Power up digestion
Most people have heard something about probiotics, but do you really know what they do for your health? The
next time you’re at the grocery store, you
may notice that many items list probiotics
on the label—not just yogurt, but also
cheese, milk, juices and cakes. Simple
marketing ploy? Not so, say researchers
who’ve discovered numerous health
benefits result from eating these good
bacteria on a daily basis.
“Some probiotics improve the health
of your digestive tract and eliminate
digestive problems. Others reduce the
duration of colds and flu or strengthen
weakened immunity of the elderly,” says
Dr. Denis Roy, holder of a Canada
Research Chair in the dairy and
probiotic industries, whose role is
to research and monitor the effects
attributed to probiotics for medical
and nutritional purposes. What’s
more, a recent study out of University
College Cork in Ireland suggests that
the anti-inflammatory, disease-fighting
benefits of probiotics may extend to
the entire body.
The most commonly researched
probiotics are Bifidobacterium and
Lactobacillus. Unlike some other
probiotics, they survive digestion and
can live in the intestine. That’s where
70 to 85 percent of immune cells are
produced, and where probiotics work to
strengthen the body’s immune defences.
And in the large intestine, they increase
digestive comfort.
So how can you tell if a product
containing these healthy bacteria will
really work? “The probiotics that have
been shown to offer the greatest health
benefits always have a name and
number,” says Roy. “If this is not the
case, it doesn’t mean that these bacteria
are not helpful; rather, it means their
beneficial effects have not been studied.”
He also points out that quantity is
important. “For any probiotic product to
be effective, it must contain at least one
billion probiotic bacteria per 100 grams,”
he says. These bacteria are also naturally
present in fermented dairy products
(yogurt, kefir), miso, tempeh (fermented
soy) and some vegetables.