It's been said that the only thing that stops a bad microbiome is a good microbiome.

The question is how to establish that healthy gut flora.

There's a multi-billion dollar industry pushing probiotic supplements, but despite thousands

of clinical trials, we, like our microbiome, are left largely in the dark.

When researchers analyzed the first 150 results that Google pulled up on probiotics, commercial

sites were the most common, which provided, on average, the least reliable

information.

Most of the claimed benefits were found to be supported by little or no scientific evidence.

A recent systematic review of randomized controlled trials of probiotic supplements for

healthy older adults found there was insufficient evidence for the improvement

of health outcomes.

For example, probiotics don't appear to work for TMAO reduction or improve cognition in dementia

patients.

What can they do?

Various probiotic preparations have been found to improve stool consistency, bowel movement

frequency, and abdominal bloating, as well as reduce the incidence of antibiotic-associated

diarrhea.

Outside of the gut, one strain of a type of lack of our cells was found to accelerate the

healing of wrist fractures in the elderly and improve hand function recovery, though

the best evidence for extraintestinal effects involves the immune system.

Even just a few weeks to months of probiotic supplementation can improve the abilities of our

immune cells to destroy pathogens and cancer cells compared to placebo.

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