Probiotics: A DANGER to your microbiome?

Headlines lately have been reading: “Probiotics are dangerous” and “Probiotics might not do anything for your gut microbiome—and could even be bad for it.” The headlines were prompted by two recent studies performed by an Israeli group that media interpret as suggesting that probiotics don’t work and may be even be harmful. Is their interpretation accurate? Let’s take a look. The first study, Post-Antibiotic Gut Mucosal Microbiome Reconstitution Is Impaired by Probiotics and Improved by Autologous FMT (fecal microbiome transplant), examined what happened with antibiotic administration followed by a probiotic supplement, fecal transplantation, or nothing, with return to prior bowel flora composition fastest with fecal transplant, delayed by probiotic use. The administration of probiotic in mice and 8 humans was associated with a 5-month or more delayed return to previous bowel flora composition. The second study from the same group, Personalized Gut Mucosal Colonization Resistance to Empiric Probiotics Is Associated with Unique Host and Microbiome Features, in which bowel flora composition was studied before and after administration of the same probiotic preparation used in the first study, did not show that probiotics were ineffective in altering bowel flora composition, as the media reported. It showed that alterations in bowel flora composition after probiotics were highly variable from individual to individual, some showing no change...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: News & Updates bowel flora dysbiosis grain-free health Inflammation prebiotic probiotic sibo small intestinal Source Type: blogs