Here's the latest scoop on how we can jump start our metabolism. Don't know if you've heard but there seems to be some major buzz around the term "probiotics." 
Many of the manufacturers of yogurt products and supplements are really putting a big spin around probiotics. Sustenex with the probiotic bacteria GanedenBC30 is the one Dr. Mehmet Oz recommends. The question is do they deliver the health benefits that will build your inner ecosystem?
Probiotic means "for life" and they do indeed have some important life giving qualities. Probiotics are the healthy microflora (beneficial bacteria and yeast) that keep you healthy and strong. And, according to the results of a new study they do have a tangible effect on the metabolism.
The research is the first to look in detail at how probiotics change the biochemistry of bugs known as gut microbes. These little guy live in our gut and play an important part in a person's metabolic makeup. Different people have different types of gut microbes inside them and abnormalities have recently been linked to diseases such as diabetes and obesity.
For the study, researchers from Imperial College London and Nestlé Research Center, Lausanne, Switzerland, gave two different types of probiotic drink to mice that had been transplanted with human gut microbes. Probiotics contain so-called 'friendly' bacteria and there is some evidence to suggest that adding 'friendly' bacteria to the gut can help the digestive system.
The researchers compared the levels of different metabolites in the liver, blood, urine, and faeces, of mice who had received treatment with probiotics and those that had not.
They found that treatment with probiotics had a whole range of biochemical effects and that these effects differed markedly between the two probiotic strains, Lactobacillus paracasei and Lactobacillus rhamnosus. Adding 'friendly' bacteria changed the makeup of the bugs in the gut, not only because this increased the number of such bacteria, but also because the 'friendly' bacteria worked with other bacteria in the gut, amplifying their effects.
One of the many biochemical changes observed by the researchers was a change in how mice treated with probiotics metabolised bile acids. These acids are made by the liver and their primary function is to emulsify fats in the upper gut. If probiotics can influence the way in which bile acids are metabolised, this means they could change how much fat the body is able to absorb.
"Our study shows that probiotics can have an effect and they interact with the local ecology and talk to other bacteria. We're still trying to understand what the changes they bring about might mean, in terms of overall health, but we have established that introducing 'friendly' bacteria can change the dynamics of the whole population of microbes in the gut," he said.
The researchers hope their new insights about how probiotics and gut microbes interact will ultimately enable the development of new probiotic therapies, which can be tailored for people with different conditions and different metabolic makeups.
It is interesting that you had this post about probiotics just today as I have been hearing so much about it lately. I even bought the special Aptivia probiotic yogurt the other day, I talked with a woman at my yoga class yesterday about the special probiotic supplements she and her husband are taking and now this evening I am going with a friend of mine to an event called:
Wine, Women and Hormones at a downtown wine store.
LaVita Compounding Pharmacy, San Diego's only women owned compounding pharmacy, will be bringing a team of experts to answer questions about what happens to women as they move through life's milestones.
Chris Givant RPh, Dr. Judy Rubin and Dr. Amanda Ward specialize in women's health issues and they are all national experts in the field of balancing hormones and healthy aging.
So, I have to believe that Probiotics is one of the newest trends. I will keep you posted as to what I find out.
Posted by: Carol Ann Wiley | January 17, 2008 at 05:23 PM