Probiotics Reduce Serious Infection Associated With Antibiotics

A systematic review published in the gold-standard Annals of Internal Medicine confirms what many smart physicians have said for years now, that probiotics (gut-friendly bacteria available in a wide range of nutritional supplements) can prevent Clostridium difficile--a severe, even life-threatening, gastrointestinal infection associated with antibiotic use. The authors--a group of doctors from research labs in Canada, Norway and the U.S.--conducted an in-depth review and analysis of 20 trials including 3,818 participants using probiotics to guard against severe, antibiotic-induced diarrhea.

When all was said and done, probiotics reduced the incidence of a nasty infection by an impressive 66%.

Considering that C.difficile (which can occur up to 8 weeks after antibiotic therapy) attacks more than 300,000 hospitalized patients in the U.S. each year (at a cost to treat of $3.2 billion), that's a lot of suffering that could be avoided by something as simple as taking a relatively inexpensive nutritional supplement.

The probiotics currently thought to work best for preventing these infections are Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (widely available as Culturelle) and the yeast Saccharomyces boulardii (widely available as Florastor.) Research suggests the former works better for children whereas the latter seems to be more effective for adults. In the Annals review, optimal effects were found with both types at a dosage of 10 billion units or more of bacteria or yeast per day.