{"id":1667,"date":"2015-09-28T22:27:11","date_gmt":"2015-09-28T22:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/?p=1667"},"modified":"2015-10-11T22:29:15","modified_gmt":"2015-10-11T22:29:15","slug":"the-right-way-to-take-probiotics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/the-right-way-to-take-probiotics\/","title":{"rendered":"The Right Way to Take Probiotics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published September 28, 2015 Publication Daily Health News Source Maria L. Marco, PhD, University of California, Davis<\/a><\/p>\n

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You\u2019ve decided to be good to your stomach, so you start taking probiotic supplements. Maybe you\u2019ve been prescribed an antibiotic and want to protect yourself from stomach upset. Perhaps you\u2019ve already experienced a bout of diarrhea from a stomach \u201cbug\u201d and want to get right again. Or you just want to give your gastrointestinal tract a healthy new start.<\/p>\n

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So you buy a 30-day supply of probiotic supplements, and start to take them each day with a glass of water. So far, so good. But what if there were a way for the probiotic to work better\u2026and faster?<\/p>\n

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The trick isn\u2019t to change the probiotic itself but to wash it down with something else\u2014milk. The research is new, and the study was done on animals rather than humans, but it suggests that we should not only choose our probiotic supplements wisely, but also pay careful attention to how our diets affect their ability to help us. Here\u2019s how\u2026<\/p>\n

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WHAT HEALTHY GERMS LIKE TO EAT<\/p>\n

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Researchers at the University of California, Davis examined one of the most studied probiotic species, Lactobacillus casei (L. casei), often used to ferment dairy products such as yogurt and kefir. Strains of L. casei in supplements have been shown to help with many gastrointestinal conditions including constipation, antibiotic-caused diarrhea and even more serious inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn\u2019s disease and irritable bowel disease (IBD). Popular brands that contain L. casei include Yakult and DanActive.<\/p>\n

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The Davis scientists looked at the effectiveness of a specific strain of L.casei called BL23, which has been shown to improve ulcerative colitis in animal studies and is almost identical to the kind used in the manufacture of many fermented dairy foods. Ulcerative colitis is a disease that causes disabling pain and increases risk for colon cancer for more than 500,000 people in the US.<\/p>\n

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In the study, one group of mice got L.casei in milk, while a second got it in water and a third, just milk (no L. casei). The amount of milk or water was equivalent to about six ounces for humans\u2014what\u2019s in a typical juice glass. Then the mice were given a solution that impaired the lining of their colons, induced inflammation and mimicked ulcerative colitis.<\/p>\n

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The mice that got the probiotic in milk did best, showing\u2026<\/p>\n

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