It is common to hear experts and adverts championing the benefits of probiotics – they have become something of a craze in the modern world. But what are probiotics, and are they really all that good for us?
The official definition for probiotics is live micro-organisms which, when taken in adequate quantities, can be valuable to our health and wellbeing. They are a sort of ‘good bacteria’ that works with your system to allow your body to run more smoothly.
The concept has been around for a very long time. In the 1900s, a Russian scientist named Eli Metchnikoff found that people drinking fermented milk products had a longer lifespan. He discovered that it was the good bacteria, or probiotics, in the fermented milk products that caused the people to live longer. Since this discovery there has been almost constant interest in the topic.
Thanks to over a hundred years of scientific research we now have a broad range of probiotic products and a good understanding of what they do for us. But the key question in all of this is: do those products really work?
The scientific concept is certainly a good one. We know, for example, that the human gut is home to trillions of diverse bacteria. Without these bacteria in the gut we wouldn’t have an immune system, so it’s clear that they are very important. Adding an additional batch of good bacteria should only improve the system.
Probiotics have been directly linked to a wide variety of health benefits. We know they do the simple stuff such as protecting against bacterial and viral infections by promoting the immune system. But it’s also been shown that they can prevent inflammatory and allergic disease, and have even been linked to reducing the symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression.
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