I know this video is selling a product, but it's still interesting up to
the point where they start the sales pitch.

It's a bit long so watch or not. It is food for some more reading for
me. I stopped watching when the sales pitch started.

http://keybiotic.com/video_toon_main2.php

--
ღ.¸¸.œ«*¨`*œ¶
Cheryl

Cheryl wrote:
> I know this video is selling a product, but it's still interesting up
> to the point where they start the sales pitch.
>
> It's a bit long so watch or not. It is food for some more reading for
> me. I stopped watching when the sales pitch started.
>
> http://keybiotic.com/video_toon_main2.php

Well, that was _long_ but worthwhile. I'm going to try to get the rest
of my family to watch it. - but I'm going to keep taking the Probiotics
I get from Whole Foods.

-S-

On 3/13/2014 8:15 AM, Steve Freides wrote:
> Cheryl wrote:
>> I know this video is selling a product, but it's still interesting up
>> to the point where they start the sales pitch.
>>
>> It's a bit long so watch or not. It is food for some more reading for
>> me. I stopped watching when the sales pitch started.
>>
>> http://keybiotic.com/video_toon_main2.php
>
> Well, that was _long_ but worthwhile. I'm going to try to get the rest
> of my family to watch it. - but I'm going to keep taking the Probiotics
> I get from Whole Foods.

From http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/probiotics/

....The reason d’etre for probiotics is inherently questionable: Normal
bacteria gone, depleted, tuckered out? Take some extra bacteria and
replete your ecosystem. Compared to the complexity of the GI micro
environment, probiotics contain just a few bacteria, and not even the
most common bowel organisms. It is safe to say that the “good’
bacteria so highly touted in probiotics are but a minor constituent of
a complex flora.

Typical of the unregulated supplement industry, what is on the label
may not be in the bottle of probiotic pills. In several studies that
have compared what is on the label with what is actually grown, not
only were the organisms misidentified, sometimes the bacteria were
dead were dead. Organisms not mentioned on the label, like
enterococcus, were sometimes isolated. But then enterococcus is a real
constituent of the gi tract.

Probiotics, not being part of the normal flora, are cleared and cannot
be isolated soon after stopping eating the probiotic. They are not
normal flora and will not persist unless you keep consuming them.

If you are worried about your normal gut bacteria, be reassured. We
are always consuming fecal flora in the food you eat and the water you
drink. The food, your spouse, and the world, is covered in a thin
patina of gastrointestinal bacteria, so you are always repleting your
bacterial flora orally. Bon appetite. Families tend have similar
bacterial strains. My gut flora more closely resemble my parents than
my wife’s, suggesting there may be a genetic predisposition for which
strains of bacteria make up your gut.

When you give probiotics to normal humans you are introducing,
relative to the number and quantity of bacteria that are already
there, a small amount of foreign bacteria. Continuing our metaphor, it
is like trying to put a putting green in an Amazonian rain forest. For
normal people, it makes no microbiologic sense to take probiotics.

"For maximum benefit, scientists say, try to consume a variety of
different bacteria, as each may contribute something slightly
different." Your best bet, with this reasoning, would be to eat a
variety of human stool. That way you will get many different bacteria,
all contributing something slightly different.

There is science behind probiotics, but is it good science? My bias:
at baseline in normal people, the colon has a enough bacteria and,
like supplements, does not need extra bacteria. The alleged health
benefits of probiotics are often an example of spin.

Probiotics are useful for the prevention of antibiotic associated
diarrhea.

Probiotics may be helpful in preventing other overgrowth syndromes or
diseases associated, perhaps, with perturbations of the gut microbial
flora such as IBS and colic.

Probiotics are foreign bacteria that are not a normal part of your gi
tract, they do not enhance or immune system and, in normal people to
note promote the nebulous bowel health.

If you are a normal human, with a normal diet, save your money.
Probiotics have nothing to offer but an increased cost.

On 2014-03-13 16:44:41 +0000, Moe DeLoughan said:

> My bias: at baseline in normal people, the colon has a enough bacteria
> and, like supplements, does not need extra bacteria. The alleged health
> benefits of probiotics are often an example of spin.

With antibiotics in the water, meat, and so forth these days it makes
sense to eat cultured foods in order to maintain a healthly gut flora.
I don't think it is necessary to go out of your way to buy the
expensive pills full of bacteria, but a couple servings of yogurt, sour
cream, natto, or miso every week certainly can't hurt you.

Claiming that people don't need supplements brings this article's
credibility (and that of its author) down to near zero. I'm sure some
people eat a fully balanced diet, but for every one of them there is
probably a herd of folks that have some nutritional deficiencies
especially with the 'heat n serve' diet that many people eat.

Moe DeLoughan wrote:

> If you are a normal human, with a normal diet, save your money.
> Probiotics have nothing to offer but an increased cost.

Not withstanding that we could have a long discussion and never agree on
what constitutes a "normal" person or a "normal" diet, the only thing we
can say for certain is that there is no conclusive evidence on this
subject one way or the other.

-S-