Probiotics

Probiotics function in the gut to provide a health benefit.

What are Probiotics?

Probiotics are live microorganisms (mostly bacteria) which are so very tiny you can’t see them. They provide beneficial effects in your gut by contending with injurious microorganisms and enhancing immunity. Because of the health benefits attributed to these beneficial bacteria, probiotics are added to common foods. This concept of adding probiotics to foods was given scientific credibility with an authoritative report on health and the nutritional properties of probiotics in food by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization in 2001. The report defined probiotics as “live microorganisms which, when consumed in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.” FAO 2001

In 2013, an expert panel was convened by the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) to discuss the field of probiotics. In a consensus statement on the scope and appropriate use of the term probiotic, the definition was tweaked and updated to be: “live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host." Hill 2014

The addition of live microorganisms to foods is not a new concept as people have been doing it for hundreds of years. Many familiar foods which you may enjoy are made with live microorganisms. These include fermented dairy foods such as yogurt, kefir and cheeses, and other foods such as sour dough bread, dill pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi, tea, beer, and wine. The practice of adding live cultures of probiotic bacteria to foods to provide health benefits is very familiar practice in Asia and Europe and has become more common in recent years the US. Adding probiotic bacteria to foods has caught on like wildfire. New foods are added frequenty with market driven scientific findings connecting the benefits of probiotics to an enhanced immune response and digestive health. Probiotics added to yogurt products may already be familiar to you, however, there are numerous foods with probiotics in dairy, in specialty drinks, in cereal, and in infant formula.

Advances in food technology provide processes which encapsulate, freeze dry, and dehydrate microorganisms. They can then be added to foods, survive storage, and be reactivated in the gut when ingested.

From a nutritional view, adding foods with probiotics to your diet, particularly foods which are originally made with live active organisms or starter cultures such as yogurt, kefir, and some cheeses, is preferred to taking supplements. The best course of action is to make eating healthy foods with live active cultures a lifelong habit. Probiotics in powder or capsule form (supplements) are useful in the treatment of a specific condition such as irritable bowel syndrome. Here we focus on food and beverage sources.

1. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and World Health Organization. Health and nutritional properties of probiotics in food including powder milk with live lactic acid bacteria. World Health Organization, (2001).
2. Hill C, Guarner F, Reid G, Gibson GR, Merenstein DJ, Pot B, Morelli L, Canani RB, Flint HJ, Salminen S, Calder PC, Sanders ME. Expert consensus document. The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics consensus statement on the scope and appropriate use of the term probiotic. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2014 Aug;11(8):506-14. doi: 10.1038/nrgastro.2014.66. Epub 2014 Jun 10. PMID: 24912386.