Beneficial Bacteria (Probiotics) May Halt Allergies In Babies

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http://www.mercola.com/2001/apr/14/probiotics.htm

Beneficial Bacteria (Probiotics) May Halt Allergies In Babies

Giving soon-to-be mothers and newborns doses of " good " bacteria may help

prevent

childhood allergies, new research suggests. Allergy experts say they offer the

first good evidence that harmless bacteria can train infants' immune systems to

resist allergic reactions.

Researchers in Finland used a type of bacteria found naturally in the

gut--called Lactobacillus GG (Lactobacillus rhamnosus), which is safe at an

early age and effective in treatment of allergic inflammation and food

allergy--to try to prevent allergy development in at-risk infants.

Cultured bacteria that can potentially promote health are called probiotics.

Investigators gave a group of pregnant women probiotic capsules every day for a

few weeks before their due dates. For 6 months after delivery, women who

breast-fed continued on the probiotics, while bottle-fed infants were given the

treatment directly. All of the babies were considered to be at high risk of

developing allergies because a parent or sibling was affected.

By the age of 2 years, 35% of the children had developed allergic eczema, a

condition in which the skin becomes irritated, red and itchy.

But children who had received probiotics were half as likely to develop the

skin condition.

This cut in eczema risk is the most spectacular, single result to come out of

studies on preventing allergic disease.

Exactly why friendly gut bacteria might protect against allergies is unclear,

but the effect may be an " extension of the hygiene hypothesis. "

This hypothesis holds that the worldwide growth in allergic disease is in part

due to our increasingly sterile surroundings. When babies are exposed to germs

early on, some experts suggest, their immune systems are steered toward

infection-fighting mode--and away from the tendency to overreact to normally

benign substances. Support for this idea comes from studies showing that

infants who have more colds and other infections have lower asthma rates later

in life.

The results of this study suggest that intestine-dwelling bacteria may also

play an important role in pushing the immune system away from allergic

reactions.

The Lancet April 7, 2001;357:1076-1079

This is one of the rare articles that is fully on line. Registration is

required, but that is free. If you are a health care professional I would

highly encourage you to copy this as I believe it is a landmark article.

I have also summarized the entire article.

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:

This is a " classic article " and one of the best and most well documented,

regarding the use of probiotics. This is the one supplement that I recommend

for ALL new patients. They normally do not need to be on it for very long if

their diet is good.

But exposure to sugar and chemicals will disrupt our gut microflora and

contribute to long term illness. The answer of course is not to only use

probiotics, but to use them in conjunction with changing one's diet.

There are 3 POUNDS of bacteria in our gut and some investigators state

there are

from 6 to 60 trillion actual bacteria in our guts. As the article above

references, they outnumber us ten to one.

So it is not to much of a stretch to think that balancing one's gut flora has

quite a bit to do with health.

One concern with the supplement Culturelle is that it is produced by ConAgra,

which is a big producer of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. They own

the patent on Lactobacillus GG. However, I do believe the product has merit and

many patients in our office do well with it.

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