NaturalNews.com
August 21 2008
Taking Probiotics Greatly Reduces Infections in Athletes
by David Gutierrez
(NaturalNews) Athletes who took probiotic supplements suffered fewer
infections and recovered more quickly than those who did not, in a
study conducted by the Australian Institute of S****t in Canberra and
published in the British Journal of S****ts Medicine.
Researchers studied 20 top-level, long-distance endurance runners for
two months, assigning them to take either a placebo or a supplement of
the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus fermentum. During that time, the
athletes recorded any day on which they experienced symptoms of winter
illnesses, including coughs and runny noses.
The researchers added together the total symptom days of both groups,
and found that while the placebo group experience symptoms for a total
of 72 days, the probiotic group experience only 30 days' worth of
symptoms.
In addition, blood tests revealed that the athletes who were taking
probiotics had twice the levels of an immune chemical known as
interferon gamma as the athletes in the placebo group.
While researchers do not understand how probiotics function,
particularly since they appear to be effective even in small
concentrations, an increasing body of evidence shows that these
beneficial bacteria can boost the body's immune system, among other
beneficial health effects. Recent research has also found that
probiotic bacteria help regulate metabolism.
The research was carried out on athletes, because the strenuous
training undergone by marathon runners is known to compromise the
immune system, and even minor cold symptoms can seriously setback
training regimen. But probiotics specialist Jeremy Nicholson of
Imperial College London warned that the results of the current study
might not apply to less active people.
"The fitness, lifestyles, diets and dietary control of long-distance
runners is likely to be substantially different from those of the
general population," Nicholson said, "and we know from other work that
people with low body mass index have very different gut
microflora .... Thus, conclusions drawn from ... the runners may not
be applicable to the sadly unfit, nutritionally unbalanced general
population to which most of us belong."
Buzz up!vote nowBoost this article on YahooBuzz! Click "BuzzUp!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is
protected under Free Speech. Truth Publi****ng LLC takes sole
responsibility for all content. Truth Publi****ng sells no hard
products and earns no money from the recommendation of products.
NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes
only and should not be construed as professional advice from any
licensed practitioner. Truth Publi****ng assumes no responsibility for
the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of
this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml
http://www.naturalnews.com/023934.html
|
