Probiotic or "friendly" bacteria significantly enhance immune activity, separate studies from Canada and Finland reveal.
Testing showed that patients’ immune activity was enhanced when taking probiotics.
A study at the University of Alberta examined the effect of probiotic therapy on 28 critically ill patients at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton. The patients were randomly assigned to receive one of three treatments daily: viable (live) probiotics, equivalent probiotics in a nonviable formulation, or a placebo.
After seven days, patients who had received viable probiotics had a "significantly larger" increase in systemic immunoglobulin concentrations than the other patients. "Patients receiving viable probiotics show a greater enhancement in immune activity" than do patients receiving a placebo or a nonviable formulation, the researchers concluded.
Meanwhile, a study from Helsinki, Finland concluded that probiotic bacteria can be effective in controlling oral candida in the elderly.
During this 16-week study, 276 elderly people consumed 50 grams daily of either a probiotic cheese or a control cheese. The prevalence of high salivary yeast count decreased in the probiotic group and increased in the control group, with probiotics reducing the risk of high yeast count by 75%.
Probiotic bacteria such as Lactobacillus acidophilus are known to inhibit the growth of pathogenic microbes; thus their usefulness in fighting the overgrowth of yeast in the mouth, a common problem among the elderly.
Sources: Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Mar;85(3):816-23; J Dent Res. 2007 Feb;86(2):125-30