Re: theralac/probiotics

[Guest guest]

I have been giving theralac to my 8 year old for 4 days. He is very stimmy

and more scripty than past months. Is this normal? I'm giving one capsule a

day. Should I give less to start? Thanks,

[Guest guest]

,

A lot of people are not aware that you can have an overgrowth of

lactobacillus and it can produce symptoms similar to overgrowths of other

things. The literature describes a condition of lactic acidosis that is

CAUSED by lactobacillus. It may be that whatever overgrowth you were

trying to treat with the probiotic could have been an overgrowth of what

you are introducing more of now! Lactobacillus gets its name for the

bacteria's tendency to make lactic acid, and sometimes its overgrowth is

caused by use of an antibiotic. (Isn't that a surprise!)

You could try and see if you could get a lab to test for D and L-lactic

acid in the urine, but before you go to that much trouble, you might

consider dropping the probiotic and seeing if this sorts out naturally, but

in the meantime, don't let him eat a lot of sugar, as that feeds it.

There is definitely an association between thiamine deficiency and lactic

acidosis, but I don't know if thiamine would slow down the production of

lactic acid by the bacteria. Maybe. If you are not doing TTFD,

benfotiamine, or some other form of thiamine supplement, you might want to

try it and see if it helps your son get back to normal..

Let us know what works!

Microb Pathog. 1997 May;22(5):285-93. Related Articles, Links

Click here to read

Role of bacteria in the pathogenesis of short bowel

syndrome-associated D-lactic acidemia.

Bongaerts GP, Tolboom JJ, Naber AH, Sperl WJ, Severijnen RS, Bakkeren

JA, Willems JL.

Department of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital Nijmegen Sint

Radboud, The Netherlands.

Previously, we have demonstrated that short bowel syndrome (SBS)

patients suffer daily from D-lactic acidemia; in these patients rather high

amounts of (bacterial) D-lactate emerge in blood and urine with a circadian

rhythm. The aim of this study was to establish the microbial basis of

D-lactic acidemia in SBS. Therefore, faecal flora of (young and adult)

SBS-patients was analysed qualitatively and quantitatively, and compared to

that of controls. The isolated bacterial species were screened for massive

D- and/or L-lactate production after in vitro growth. After introduction of

oral feeding in SBS-infants shortly after the resection, lactobacilli

increased from < or = 1% up to 60 +/- 5% of the faecal flora within 2-3

weeks. In the faeces of patients with oral feeding the lactate producers

Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus fermentum were the major

resident bacteria (each with 10(10)-10(12) cfu/g faeces). During active

growth in vitro these lactobacilli produced massive amounts of D- and

L-lactic acid from glucose. Use of oral antibiotics in two SBS-children did

not reduce the total numbers of lactobacilli, but caused shifts within the

intestinal populations of at least lactobacilli. It is concluded that the

strongly reduced intestinal capacity for carbohydrate absorption and the

oral consumption of easily fermentable carbohydrates form the physiological

basis for D-lactic acidemia in SBS, and that the fermentative D-lactate

production by intestinal bacteria, especially the abundant, resident

lactobacilli, forms its microbial basis. In these patients the

antimicrobial and therapeutic effects of antibiotics are unpredictable.

PMID: 9160298 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

1: Fattal-Valevski A, Kesler A, Sela BA, Nitzan-Kaluski D, Rotstein M,

Mesterman R, Toledano-Alhadef H, Stolovitch C, Hoffmann C, Globus O, Eshel G.

Outbreak of life-threatening thiamine deficiency in infants in Israel

caused by

a defective soy-based formula.

Pediatrics. 2005 Feb;115(2):e233-8.

PMID: 15687431 [PubMed - in process]

2: Thauvin-Robinet C, Faivre L, Barbier ML, Chevret L, Bourgeois J, Netter JC,

Grimaldi M, Genevieve D, Ogier de Baulny H, Huet F, Saudubray JM, Gouyon JB.

Severe lactic acidosis and acute thiamin deficiency: a report of 11 neonates

with unsupplemented total parenteral nutrition.

J Inherit Metab Dis. 2004;27(5):700-4. No abstract available.

PMID: 15669689 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

3: Logan G, Goli SA, McGonagle M, Byrd RP Jr, Roy TM.

Thiamine deficiency as a cause of metabolic acidosis.

Tenn Med. 2003 Dec;96(12):553-5.

PMID: 15077560 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

4: Klein M, Weksler N, Gurman GM.

Fatal metabolic acidosis caused by thiamine deficiency.

J Emerg Med. 2004 Apr;26(3):301-3.

PMID: 15028327 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

At 07:11 PM 4/1/2005 -0500, you wrote:

Ann Nutr Metab. 2001;45(1):13-8. Related Articles, Links

Click here to read

Influence of a probiotic yoghurt on the status of vitamins B(1), B(2)

and B(6) in the healthy adult human.

Elmadfa I, Heinzle C, Majchrzak D, Foissy H.

Institute of Nutritional Sciences, University of Vienna, Austria.

ernaehrungswissenschaften@...

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The main reason for this study was to determine

whether yoghurt bacteria, being rich in some water-soluble vitamins,

release them or utilize vitamins from their surroundings. Our study was

trying to determine for the first time, if the viable bacteria of probiotic

yoghurt are able to influence the parameters of the B-vitamin (B(1), B(2),

B(6)) status of the healthy adult human. METHODS: The test yoghurt was

commercially available probiotic yoghurt prepared with Streptococcus

thermophilus and Lactobacillus acidophilus, enriched with Lactobacillus

casei GG. Different chemical forms of all investigated B-vitamins were

determined by HPLC methods. In order to determine the influence of the

yoghurt flora, each of 12 subjects consumed four yoghurt portions 125 g

each ( = 500 g) a day, containing thermally inactivated cultures during the

first 2-week period and yoghurt without heat treatment during the second

2-week period. RESULTS: The heat treatment of the probiotic yoghurt caused

negligible changes in vitamin contents. The plasma levels of thiamin

decreased significantly (p < 0.01) after the first 2-week period and kept

on decreasing during the second 2-week period. A similar trend was found in

the urinary excretion. The plasma levels of the B(2)-vitamers were

different. The flavin adenine dinucleotide concentrations increased

significantly (p < 0.01) after the consumption of heat-treated yoghurt and

decreased significantly (p < 0.05) after the following 2 weeks, in which

the subjects received the untreated yoghurt. In contrast, the flavin

mononucleotide plasma levels decreased during the first 2-week period and

increased during the second part of the study, but the change was not

statistically significant. The free riboflavin concentrations in plasma and

urine showed a continuous but not significant increase. The concentrations

of pyridoxal-5-phosphate in plasma increased after the consumption of

yoghurt with the inactivated bacteria and decreased in the second part of

the study. However, the differences were not significant. The excretion of

thiamin, B(2)- and B(6)-vitamers in the faeces did not significantly change

throughout the study period (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our observations show

that the bacterial flora of the examined yoghurt does not influence the

vitamin B(1), B(2) and B(6) status of man. It seems likely that even

lactobacilli of the 'probiotic' type which are vitamin B consumers can

decrease the bioavailability of these vitamins for man. Obviously a thermal

death of the cells did not induce a release of physiologically active vitamins.

PMID: 11244182 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

>I have been giving theralac to my 8 year old for 4 days. He is very stimmy

>and more scripty than past months. Is this normal? I'm giving one

>capsule a

>day. Should I give less to start? Thanks,

>

>

>