Probiotics: Living medicine.
Today I’ll be covering probiotics, live microbes that confer a health benefit when administered (1). Think of them as good bacteria that can help humans (or other hosts) out in a number of ways. They can attack pathogens, synthesize nutrients, or consume toxins and they have a clear advantage over traditional medicine in that they can live for an extended period within our bodies to continuously have an effect.
Probiotics might seem dangerous at first glance since it involves filling humans with living organisms, but keep in mind that humans are already full of bacteria. Our microbiome (the bacteria living within our bodies) contains more bacterial cells than there are human cells in our body and plays an active role in keeping us healthy. We are ingesting and breathing new bacteria every day, but the health implications of these environmental bacteria are rarely noticed or considered. Most probiotics have either been shown to be safe from years of normal human consumption (ie. the bacteria in yogurt), and any marketed as drugs are heavily tested for side effects (2). Probiotics labeled as “dietary supplements” aren’t subject to as much scrutiny, but overall the health concerns of probiotics are fairly minimal.
The field of probiotic research has already made significant progress and some probiotic treatments are available. For example, several studies have reported successful treatment of Clostridium difficile infections with probiotics (3). Unfortunately, most probiotics on the market today are “dietary supplements” offered by vitamin companies that haven’t really proven the health benefits of their products.
Rule of thumb:
The nicer the label, the less effective it is.
Rather than review the topic as a whole, I thought I’d do a deep dive into a recent paper on the subject. To that end, I’ll be covering the “Effect of Probiotic Bacteria on Oral Candida in Frail Elderly” published in the Journal of Dental Research by the Twetman lab at the University of Copenhagen in Sweden (4). I like this paper because it’s a very clear example of a “good” bacteria helping humans get rid of a “bad” microbe.
Exploiting the elderly…for Science!
In this paper, the authors tested the effect of probiotics on dental health in ~200 elderly patients in a nursing home. My favorite part of this paper is that it finally finds a use for old people, but there are two other major players in this story:
The good guys: The probiotic used in this study was Lactobacillus reuteri, a common gut bacterium. It was chosen because previous studies had shown this strain to have antimicrobial activity.
The bad guys: The authors monitored the effect of the probiotic on yeast of the Candida genus. These microbes are present in most humans in small quantities, but can often cause infections in elderly or otherwise immunocompromised patients.
The authors split the elderly into two groups, a probiotic group and a placebo group. They administered Lactobacillus reuteri to the probiotic group as a Lozenge, a tablet designed to dissolve in the mouth (similar to a cough drop), twice daily for 12 weeks. The placebo group also had to take a lozenge, but it didn’t have any bacteria (though it tasted just as terrible according to the patients).
The main goal of the study was to determine if probiotic treatment influenced the levels of Candida in the patients. To get this information, the authors took saliva and plaque samples from patients before and after the experiment. They then analyzed these samples for Candida levels by spreading them on growth media and counting how many Candida colonies grew. To simplify the analysis, the samples were classified as either having low or high levels of Candida. The major results of this experiment are presented in one big table shown below.
This table compares the number of participants showing either high or low Candida levels (CA counts) in their saliva and plaque before and after the experiment. The key result to notice is that probiotic treatment reduced the number of patients with high Candida levels while the placebo treatment had no significant effect. Since the only difference between the two groups is the presence of Lactobacillus reutei, the authors conclude that the reduction in Candida levels is due to this probiotic.
Conclusion: Probiotics remove pathogens
The main takeaway from this paper is that probiotic lozenge treatments actually did reduce the amount of a potentially harmful microbe in the elderly. This isn’t the first time such a study has been done, but its use of human subjects and clear results present a very strong case for the health benefits of Lactobacillus reutei. However, keep in mind the limitations of this work. It doesn’t explain how the probiotic gets rid of Candida species and it doesn’t show whether this effect is maintained over a period longer than 12 weeks. Ultimately, more work needs to be done, but it’s great to see a simple and promising result in a study like this.
Miscellaneous Musings
According to the paper, 11 patients died during the course of the 12 week study. About half died from the placebo group so death doesn’t seem to be caused the bacteria, but I hope none of them choked on the lozenge.
I am not advocating anyone start drinking bacterial cultures. However, some extra yogurt or cheese now and then can’t hurt.
The author’s data table really should have been presented as a chart. We’re looking at numerical differences here and it’s much easier to do that with a bar graph. This is an amateur mistake and a rather frustrating one seeing as this data isn’t particularly complicated.
References:
(1) http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/73/2/361s.full
(2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3294522/
(3) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28760934
(4) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26202995
Images:
All images used have been labelled for re-use on Google Images or are taken directly from the publication. If any image owner has an issue with this article, please contact me and I will address the issue.
Does drinking alcohol (beer/rum etc) kill bad bacteria in someones mouth? jw
Interesting question. Ethanol does kill/damage bacteria and all cells it comes into contact with. That's why shots are difficult to take. Bacteria are more susceptible to ethanol than mouth cells, and taking mouthwash with ethanol will kill a good portion of them. However, the amount of ethanol in beer is probably not sufficient to have a major effect on bacterial cells, and hard liquor is usually taken too quickly to have much of an effect.
Great job Tony. Very informative and well crafted post. I have resteemed so hopefully more people take notice of the hard work you are putting into these posts.
Thanks man. Always appreciate the support!
very interesting, I wait more posts. Research needs to be accelerated
Well with the response I've gotten so far I'll keep em coming. Thanks!
Can you explain to us how toothpaste or Listerine affect bacteria and probiotics in the mouth?
Listerine has alcohol and wide spectrum antibiotics. They'll reduce the levels of all microbes in the mouth (both good and bad). Generic toothpaste isn't antibacterial to my knowledge, but it helps scrub off bacteria (again, both good and bad). I would say both are overall beneficial to your dental health though.
So, you think that our body is not designed good enough to do the job on its own?
Our body would do fine if we only ate meat and fruit. In this age of refined sugar and plentiful carbs, our body needs a little something extra to combat the extra nutrition we spread over our teeth.
You right, I didn't think about that. Thanks for the answer, doc.
Interesting article. Thanks for posting! I think that probiotics have tremendous potential, and dental health is a use case I hadn't considered.
Maybe a little off topic, but:
I assume that was tongue in cheek, but for some reason, it reminded me of this: Brazilian Kids Learn English by Video Chatting With Lonely Elderly Americans.
Haha. Yeah it was a joke, but it helps to put a bit of levity into science to make it more entertaining. Nice link. I hadn't heart of that program before.
looks good enough to me - i will keep eating foods that have friendly bacteria - ie. miso yogurt cheese etc. let me know if any particular cheeses are worth trying please - i followed you to keep an eye on your posts
Thanks! More followers are always welcome. When it comes to cheese, the more foreign ones will increase your microbial diversity and unpasteurized cheese will have live bacteria (and tend to taste better).
i mainly eat brie or edam.
This post received a 5% vote by @nettybot courtesy of @sammosk from the Minnow Support Project ( @minnowsupport ). Join us in Discord.
Upvoting this comment will help support @minnowsupport.
Appreciate it!
Hey thanks for posting this. I believe in probiotics as well and I ferment my own vegetables. It is a truly rewarding experience. I appreciate all the info, always nice to back up my good feeling with some research!
Totally, making kimchi or pickles is rewarding and the end product usually tastes much better than anything you can buy in the store.
This post received a 5% vote by @netuoso courtesy of @sammosk from the Minnow Support Project ( @minnowsupport ). Join us in Discord.
Upvoting this comment will help support @minnowsupport.
This post received a 5% vote by @minnowsupport courtesy of @sammosk from the Minnow Support Project ( @minnowsupport ). Join us in Discord.
Upvoting this comment will help support @minnowsupport.
I have a surplus of candida in my lower intestines and have used an OTC probiotic without Lactobacillus reuteri . That helps but lately I've been using a tea tree oil soap and lotion that really seems to reduce the itching. I've had the issue for 10+ years and the doc only offered a steroid/antifungal cream that provided limited results. I'll be looking for a probiotic with Lactobacillus reuteri to see if I can finally get a handle on this thing. (Without doing the zero sugars and 90 days of oregano oil thing) Followed!
Hope it works!
Upvoted and also resteemed!
Thanks!
Very informative article. The vet prescribes probiotics for my cats on occasion. Now following you and eating more yogurt and cheese. LOL
Yeah, pet probiotics are all the rage these days because they don't have as many regulations as human drugs. Thanks for the comment.
Nice, thanks for sharing ur knowledge.
I beleve this is huge in the medice world. Very nice read Doctor!
Nice Post !! Thankyou For Sharing !!
The way you wrote it is well spoken if someone was against the fact after that they will be
Appreciate the compliment.
Thank you for the informative post. It's very interesting . Keep sharing a great a tips.
@creativewoman
Great work very useful, keep it up
Thanks!
My God))) God forbid, this "beautiful smile" will dream)))))
Cool post! Thanks for the information.
Congratulations @tking77798! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCongratulations @tking77798! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPThe whole microbiome thing fascinates me! Upvoting and following.