Why probiotic yoghurt may be pointless for half of us
Eating probiotic yoghurt may be pointless as half of us are ‘resistant’ to the friendly bacteria, study finds
- Tens of thousands down a probiotic drink a day in the belief it helps digestion
- A new study suggests they may be ineffective for more than half who drink them
- Probiotics are said to contain ‘friendly’ bacteria which help restore the natural balance of bacteria in the gut
Tens of thousands of us down a probiotic drink every day in the belief that it helps digestion
Tens of thousands of us down a probiotic drink every day in the belief that it helps digestion.
But a new study suggests they may be ineffective for more than half of those who drink them.
Probiotics are said to contain ‘friendly’ bacteria which help restore the natural balance of bacteria in the gut.
It is claimed they can reduce hayfever symptoms, prevent stomach bugs in those travelling abroad and even stop colds from lasting too long. As well as drinks, they are often found in yoghurts.
But when 19 people in the study conducted in Israel took probiotics containing 11 of the most common strains of bacteria, only eight had any ‘notable colonisation’ of their gut by the bacteria in the probiotics.
Professor Eran Segal, from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Tel Aviv, said: ‘People have thrown a lot of support to probiotics, even though the literature underlying our understanding of them is very controversial.
Surprisingly, we saw that many healthy volunteers were resistant. The probiotics couldn’t colonise their tracts.’
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To test the probiotics, volunteers were given endoscopies (a tube from the mouth to the stomach) and colonoscopies (a tube along the large intestine) to remove and analyse the bacteria in their guts.
It seems many were ‘resisters’ to probiotic drinks, and the probiotic bacteria were ‘pushed out’ by their existing gut bacteria.
Probiotics are said to contain ‘friendly’ bacteria which help restore the natural balance of bacteria in the gut
The authors say the number of people in the study who rejected probiotics are likely to be reflected in the wider population.
They said: ‘This suggests that probiotics should not be universally given as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ supplement.
‘Instead, they could be tailored to the needs of each individual.’ The results are published in the journal Cell.
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