Probiotics for Food Poisoning

The past few months have seen several food poisoning outbreaks across the United States, including the discovery of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in California-grown spinach, the Norovirus outbreak in oysters harvested off the coast of Texas and the Salmonella found in peanut butter manufactured in North Carolina. Amid these scares, a new study  reports that probiotics may help prevent food poisoning.

Probiotics are beneficial bacteria (sometimes called "friendly germs") that help maintain the health of the intestinal tract and aid in digestion. They also help keep potentially harmful organisms in the gut (harmful bacteria and yeasts) under control. Most probiotics come from food sources, especially cultured milk products. Probiotics can be consumed as capsules, tablets, beverages, powders, yogurts and other foods.

Probiotics are thought to be beneficial in two ways. First, probiotics reinforce the integrity of the intestinal lining as a protective barrier to prevent harmful organisms or materials from crossing into the body's bloodstream. Second, some probiotics have been found to secrete antimicrobial substances known as "bacteriocins," which inhibit harmful bacteria.

Researchers from University College in Cork, Ireland explained that Salmonella spp. infection is a major cause of gastroenteritis, with many thousands of cases reported in the European Union every year. The use of probiotics may potentially improve this situation.

The study investigated the effects of oral treatment of pigs with a defined lactic acid bacteria culture mixture on both clinical and microbiological signs of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium infection. Fifteen weaned pigs blocked by sex and weight were administered control milk or a mixture of five probiotic strains as either a milk fermentate or milk suspension for a total of 30 days. The mixture consisted of two strains of Lactobacillus murinus and one strain each of Lactobacillus salivarius subsp. salivarius, Lactobacillus pentosus and Pediococcus pentosaceous.

Following probiotic administration for six days, animals were challenged orally with serovar Typhimurium. The health of the animals and the microbiological composition of their feces were monitored for 23 days post-infection.

The study found that animals treated with probiotics showed reduced incidence, severity and duration of diarrhea. These animals also gained weight at a greater rate than control pigs administered skim milk. Mean fecal numbers of Salmonella were significantly reduced in probiotic-treated animals at 15 days post-infection.

Researchers concluded that the administration of probiotic bacteria improved both the clinical and microbiological outcome of Salmonella infection. These strains offer significant benefit for use in the food industry and may have potential in human applications.

For more information on probiotics, please visit Natural Standard's Foods, Herbs & Supplements database.

Comments

[Nick]

I heard that probiotics are in danger from antibacterial soaps etc. Such products kill the good bacterias along with the bad ones and weaken the immune system but not drastically. I forget where I heard this but can anyone confirm or reject this claim?

[J. Kathryn Bryan]

The fans of probiotics in the blogsphere have been all over this study. One of my physiopathology professors described some sorts of illnesses as a “numbers game” of resources. That is, the body’s fight with an illness can be thought of as a competition between the body’s resources to fight off the illness, and the strength of the pathogen to cause it. It makes sense that ingesting more “good bacteria” in the form of probiotics may supplement the body’s immune system in fighting off “bad bacteria” that are ingested.

On another note, this study reminds me that germs can be good for you! Beneficial bacteria in the mouth, stomach, anus and vagina help keep the tissue healthy and may serve as a front line defense against pathogens that the body encounters at this site.

[Rick Lidle]

Probiotic products, which contain friendly bacteria, are now well-accepted by consumers in many European countries.

[W. Thomas]

To answer Nick's query, it's not so much the overuse of antibacterial soap, but overuse of antibiotics that increases the risk of a "bad bug" takeover in the gut. Every time you take an antibiotic unnecessarily, you wipe out certain types of microorganisms that normally exist in your intestines, allowing other types to grow and multiply en mass. An overgrowth of any type of microorganism can cause problems. Also, if you kill off the normal microbes that live in your GI tract, it is more likely that pathogenic microbes, such as E. Coli, will be able to colonize in the gut, multiply and make you sick.

While over-washing your hands with antibacterial soaps does not contribute to this problem, it has risks of its own, mainly because it increases the risk of creating "super bugs" that are resistant to the effects of antibiotics.

In both cases, overuse of antimicrobials upsets the delicate balance of nature and poses a risk to our health. Do we really need to be washing our hands with antibacterial soaps? Do we need to take an antibiotic every time we sneeze? The answer is no because these action will only make us more vulnerable to infections than ever.

[Rachelle Provost]

What do they recommend for lactose-intolerant individuals who can't eat products like yogurt to get probiotics?

[Cady B]

In response to Rachelle, you can get probiotics in tablet form, and not all of them are lactose based. I would recommend checking the labels to verify that the one you are purchasing does not contain lactose.

In regards to the overuse of antibiotics, this has become a growing problem in our country. People expect to receive antibiotics when they visit the doctor when they are sick. However, it may not be common knowledge that the common cold is a virus, untreatable by antibiotics. But wait, you say 'well the antibiotics my doctor gave me took care of my cold.' This may seem true, however, your cold just took its normal course and left your system. You should never rush to antibiotics unless you are certain it's a bacterial infection. Viral infections cannot be treated with antibiotics. In the long run, using antibiotics for viral infections does more harm than good, creating "super bugs" that are resistant to said antibiotics and even causing other infections at the hand of altering your normal flora.

[Kalyn]

In addition to Cady's response, the common cold is a self-limiting disease, and it is usually gone in about a week or so without any treatment. And yes, antibiotics are not for viral infections. I think many people tend to get this confused: bacteria vs viral infection.

And I do not see the need for probiotics supplementation unless you're traveling.

[Emily P.]

In addition to the overuse of antibiotics in this country, most people are also improperly using them. When given an antibiotic treatment that contains a weeks worth of pills, most patients stop taking the pills after three or four days when their symptoms clear up. In most cases, symptoms are gone, but the bacteria still exist. Stopping the antibiotic allows some of the bacteria to live on, after being introduced to the drug meant to combat it. The bacteria can then mutate into a resistant form that can no longer be treated with antibiotics. This is the cause of many drug-resistant diseases today, such as tuberculosis.

In addition, when a person is on antibiotics, they should make sure they are constantly replacing the “good bacteria” that is being killed off along with the bad. Make sure to eat lots of yogurt or take probiotic supplements while taking antibiotics!

[MV]

Are the new types of yogurt marketed to help regulate the stomach more effective than eating regular yogurt?

[Paul]

This research seems to tell me that I have to consume probiotics every day in order to decrease my risk of food poisoning. I do eat a lot of yogurt, fortunately, but I don't know what value this has for recommendations. Maybe if you just ate something that you found to be tainted, but I can't see people taking their probiotics every day for the off chance of a food poisoning. Sure, salmonella and others have been in the news a lot recently, but they are still pretty rare overall. Maybe this could have more of an impact in agriculture, where antibiotics are used extensively and as a prophylactic.

[Probiotic Foods]

Probiotics are manufactured from natural products, which normally support digestive health and immune system.

[Roman]

Can someone please answer my question? If I already have food poisoning and I'm getting over it, is it OK to take probiotics?

[food poisoning symptoms]

Probiotics are manufactured from natural products, which normally support digestive health and the immune system.