Probiotics Could Help Fight Off Colds: Study
Probiotics, the healthy bacteria in yogurt and supplements, could do more than help your digestive system -- a new review of studies show they could also help to stave off colds.
Chinese researchers analyzed 10 studies that gave probiotics, a placebo or no treatment for more than a week to a combined total of 3,451 study participants whose ages ranged from infancy to adulthood (40s). They found that taking probiotics could helpreduce the number of upper respiratory tract infectionsby 12 percent.
"This indicates that probiotics may bemore beneficial than placebofor preventing acute URTIs," researchers wrote inThe Cochrane Libraryreview. "However, the results have some limitations and there were no data for older people."
MedPage Today reported a possible reason whyprobiotics could help against colds:
Probiotics, which most commonly include lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria, may exert their immune-boosting effect by bolstering gut wall integrity and amping up activity of phagocytes, Dong's group explained.
Past studies have shown that probiotics could help relieve the symptoms fromirritable bowel syndrome, though more research needs to be done on what kind of how many doses of probiotics are needed for a sustained benefit (since IBS is a chronic condition).
ACochranereview also shows that probiotics could help to reduce the length of time peoplesuffer from acute infectious diarrhea. But just as in the other study, more research is needed to find the right kind of probiotic to be used as a treatment.
Probiotics have also shown some promise fortreating bad breath, reported HuffPost blogger Dr. Harold Katz.
Last year, aPediatricsstudy showed that probiotics could also helpstave off diarrheain kids when they are taking antibiotics that can cause diarrhea as a side effect. However, there were many caveats to the study; for one, kids whose immune systems are compromised or who are using intravenous catheters shouldn't use probiotics because they could risk a serious infection, the Associated Press reported.
A recent animal study in the journalProceedings of the National Academy of Scienceshas also shown that probiotics in dairy could aid intreating anxiety and depression, theDaily Mailreported.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
