Considering probiotics for yourself? Consider the whole family

Probiotics is the big buzz word in the nutrition world.  With all these funny sounding names like bifidum, lactobacillus acidophilus, you may be wondering if this is really worth the hype.  Well, does any of this sound familiar to you?  Your young infant is colicky, gassy, has acid reflux, or your baby is known as the “happy spitter-upper.” Perhaps your toddler has eczema or environmental or food allergies.  Your teen is embarrassed by acne, your husband has heartburn/GERD and you are dealing with bouts of IBS and bloating, then you may want to consider giving probiotics a try.

In November 2005, a conference that was cofunded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and convened by the American Society for Microbiology explored this very topic. According to the conference report, some uses of probiotics for which there is some encouraging evidence from the study of specific probiotic formulations are as follows:

• To treat diarrhea (this is the strongest area of evidence, especially for diarrhea from rotavirus)
• To prevent and treat infections of the urinary tract or female genital tract
• To treat irritable bowel syndrome
• To reduce recurrence of bladder cancer
• To shorten how long an intestinal infection lasts that is caused by a bacterium called Clostridium difficile
• To prevent and treat pouchitis (a condition that can follow surgery to remove the colon)
• To prevent and manage atopic dermatitis (eczema) in children