Workers on daily probiotics less likely to take time off sick

[Guest guest]

Colleagues, the following is FYI and does not necessarily reflect my own

opinion. I have no further knowledge of the topic. If you do not wish to

receive these posts, set your email filter to filter out any messages

coming from @nutritionucanlivewith.com and the program will remove

anything coming from me.

---------------------------------------------------------

Public release date: 6-Nov-2005

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-11/bc-wod110105.php

Contact: tte Savin

juliette.savin@...

44-207-631-99-31

BioMed Central

Workers on daily probiotics less likely to take time off sick

Workers who take probiotics daily are less likely to be off work with

common illnesses, such as colds and gastroenteritis, than workers who

don't. An exploratory study published today in the open access journal

Environmental Health shows that workers who took a daily dose of the

probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus reuteri were 2.5 times less likely to

take sick leave than workers who took a placebo.

Py Tubelius, from Tetra Pak Occupational Health and Safety AB, and

colleagues from BioGaia AB, in Lund, Sweden, conducted a study to assess

the health benefits for adults of taking L. reuteri on a daily basis. A

group of 181 staff (128 day workers and 53 shift workers) at the Tetra

Pak factory in Lund agreed to take part in the study. The workers were

randomly assigned at the start of the study, to receive a drink with or

without L. reuteri, every day for a period of 80 days.

Twenty-three of the 87 workers in the group that took a placebo reported

taking sick days during the 80 day-long study. In contrast, only 10 of

the 94 workers that took L. reuteri reported taking any sick days during

the study. The effect of L. reuteri was most significant in shift

workers: none of the 26 shift workers in the reuteri group reported

taking any sick leave, compared to nine out of 27 shift workers in the

placebo group.

###

Article: Increasing work-place healthiness with the probiotic

Lactobacillus reuteri: A randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled

study Py Tubelius, Vlaicu Stan, Anders Zachrisson Environmental Health:

A Global Access Science Source, 2005, In press

--

ne Holden, MS, RD < fivestar@... >

" Ask the Parkinson Dietitian " http://www.parkinson.org/

" Eat well, stay well with Parkinson's disease "

" Parkinson's disease: Guidelines for Medical Nutrition Therapy "

http://www.nutritionucanlivewith.com/