Probiotics For You and Your Baby's Immature Gut

     The human gut micro biome, what exactly is it? You may have heard about probiotics via a TV commercial (i.e. Jamie Lee Curtis selling Activa yogurt), in the news, or in your grocery store. What exactly can these healthy bacteria do for you? Furthermore, what can probiotics do for an infant, especially ones with foods allergies.

     What are probiotics? Probiotics are live bacteria such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, that when consumed in adequate amounts benefits its host by improving the balance of gut bacteria. You can find probiotics in fermented dairy products and probiotic fortified foods. Examples include pickled vegetables, tempeh, miso, Kefir, Kimchi, sauerkraut, and Kombucha. The concept of probiotics began in 1907 by Nobel Prize recipient Elie Metchnikoff who suggested "the dependence of the intestinal microbes on the food makes it possible to adopt measures to modify the flora in our bodies and to replace the harmful microbes by useful microbes."

     Recently, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine may have discovered some insight into how probiotics work. In an article published in mBio (published by the American Society for Microbiology), they found that the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus LGG, enriches the gut micro biome to potentially promote anti-inflammatory pathways in the resident microbes. These probiotics could help decrease inflammation!! This means they could help in all chronic diseases from arthritis, diabetes, atherosclerosis, chronic pain, etc. "The researchers tested 12 healthy people between the ages of 65 and 80, feeding them the bacteria Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, often known as LGG, twice a day for 28 days. They found that in some of the subjects, ingesting LGG appeared to make other microorganisms in the gut better able to reduce inflammation. Fraser said the LGG appeared to turn on what she described as "outboard motors" on organisms in the gut that produce butyrate, an anti-inflammatory fatty acid. Those motors allow the butyrate-producers to bury themselves more deeply into the mucus lining the gastrointestinal tract." (Taken from the Baltimore Sun article). Our gut micro biome is an ever changing environment and thus one must sustain a healthful diet with sources of probiotics to induce long-term health changes. 

    Other researched proven benefits of probiotics include: Specific strains have been studied that have specific effects. (Warning: probiotics should be used with caution in those with immunocompromised systems, very young infants with immature defense systems, and infants with congenital heart disease)

1. Antibiotic-associated diarrhea: Taking yogurt or a probiotic when taking antibiotics can help minimize the side effect of diarrhea. A even more severe consequence of taking antibiotics is depleting your healthy gut bacteria and getting infected by a new life-threatening bacteria, C. difficile. Pooling over 4,000 participants, research showed the S. boulardii, LGG strain has proven to be effective in reducing incidence of C. diff infection associated with antibiotic use. However, more evidence now supports fecal transplants for treatment of C. diff infections.
2. Diarrhea in children: Probiotics can soften the duration of diarrhea by one day, reduce the risk of diarrhea lasting longer than 4 days by 59%, reduce the length of hospital stay , and reduce the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhea by 50%. Specific strains of probiotics shown effective in this trial were Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Saccharomyces boulardii
3. Diarrhea in adults: Lactobacillus casei, L. bulgaricus, and S. thermophilus
4. Inflammatory Bowel Disease:  The probiotic VSL#3 has proven to help with ulcerative colitis in preventing pouchitis (inflammation of one of the pockets of the intestines), but is not as effective in treating Crohn's disease.
5. Irritable Bowel Syndrome: B. infantis B5624 is recommended to improve quality of life for those with IBS.
6. Allergies: Probiotics are most helpful in prevention of allergies when given to mothers breastfeeding and/or infants themselves. 
1. Atopic dermatitis: Lactobacillus GG, when given to pregnant mothers with strong family histories of eczema, allergic rhinitis, or asthma and their infants for the first 6 months of life reduced the frequency of atopic dermatitis at 2 years, 4 years, and 7 years by 50%, 44%, and 36%.
2. Allergic rhinitis: L. casei reduced the number of episodes of allergic rhinitis in 64 preschool children.
3. Food allergies: One study showed improvement of symptoms and intestinal manifestations in cow's milk protein allergy and colic with probiotic (Bifidobacterium lactis BB-12 (1х109 CFU) and Streptococcus thermophilus TH-4) supplementation. 
7. Radiation Enteritis: Inflammation of the bowels when undergoing radiation. Since the intestines are an ever changing environment, there is constant growth and cell division. Thus, the bowels are effected by radiation and chemotherapy. Probiotics could help those undergoing cancer treatment to reduce their diarrhea symptoms.

    For my daughter, I started giving her probiotics (drops by BioGaia infused with Vitamin D) after she started having her green poopy diapers. Since I received an IV drip of antibiotics before birth and because my baby's intestines were hurting, I decided to try and replenish her gut bacteria with probiotics. Breastmilk already contains healthy bacteria for your babies' gut. There has been some preliminary research showing improvement of symptoms for infants with allergies including cow's milk protein allergy.
    

My own Kombucha (SCOBY and starter kit courtesy of Julie DiDomenico)

Kombucha Beer (Courtesy of Dusek's and Unity Vibration Brewery)

References: 

• Floch, Martin H. “Recommendations for Probiotic Use in Humans—A 2014 Update.” Ed. Yasuhiro Koga. Pharmaceuticals 7.10 (2014): 999–1007. PMC. Web. 16 May 2015.
• Goldenberg J.Z., Ma S.S., Saxton J.D., Martzen M.R., Vandvik P.O., Thorlund K., Guyatt G.H., Johnston B.C. Probiotics for the prevention of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea in adults and children.Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 2013;5:CD006095.
• Gionchetti P., Rizzello F., Venturi A., Brigidi P., Matteuzzi D., Bazzocchi G., Poggioli G., Miglioli M., Campieri M., et al. Oral bacteriotherapy as maintenance treatment in patients with chronic pouchitis: a double-blind, placebo0controlled trial. Gastroenterology. 2000;119:305–309. [PubMed]
•  Isolauri E., Salminen S. Probiotics: Use in allergic disorders. J. Clin. Gastroenterol. 2008;42:S91–S96.[PubMed]
• Tang RB, Chang JK, Chen HL. Can Probiotics Be Used to Treat Allergies.

  J Chin Med Assoc. 2015 Mar;78(3):154-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jcma.2014.08.015. Epub 2015 Jan 6. Review.
• Salminen E., Eloman I., Minkkinen J., Vapaatalo H., Salminen S. Preservation of intestinal integrity during radiotherapy using live Lactobacillus acidophilus cultures. Clin. Radiol. 1988;39:435–437. [PubMed]
• Ivakhnenko ES, Nian'kovskiĭ SL. Effect of probiotics on the dynamics of gastrointestinal symptoms of food allergy to cow's milk protein in infants. Georgian Med News. 2013 Jun;(219):46-52. Russian.