Probiotics for respiratory illness

There is growing evidence probiotics can reduce the risk and duration of respiratory tract infections, as well as reducing antibiotic use. Replicating a research model used in France, researchers examined the potential clinical and economic impacts in Canada.

The study included researchers from Western, Lawson Health Research Institute, Laval University and Utrecht University. It incorporated two separate scenarios from two meta-analyses. A meta-analysis combines data from multiple studies using a statistical approach.

Results from the study showed regular probiotic use could eliminate respiratory tract infections. Respiratory tract infections are highly contagious infections of the sinus, throat or airways, including influenza. Although respiratory tract infections are typically viral, about one-quarter of patients are also prescribed antibiotics (which offer benefit only against bacterial infections).

 Antibiotics can have serious side effects like destroying many beneficial bacteria in the human body.  This is why the use of probiotics is an important defense against respiratory tract infections.

Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host and can be consumed in products such as yogurt.
 People are increasingly making probiotics a part of their daily diet or dietary supplements for their Probiotics can also be used to prevent respiratory tract infections.
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Links between gut bacteria and autism

According to the latest research, gut bacteria could cause spectrum disorder. Pathogens in the stomach alter the brain's development and may increase risk of suffering from the spectrum disorder.

Links between the brain, gut and stress hormone cortisol can influence how messages are passed in the body, which may cause autistic symptoms.

Changes in neurometabolites in childhood can have dangerous effects on brain development. Collection of bacteria, fungi, and viruses living in humans gut may be responsible for the disorder.

Autism may be corrected by changing of diet, taking probiotics and adopting a gluten-free lifestyle which may improve social behaviour and ability to express emotions in autistic people.

Leaky gut releases toxins and even undigested food enter the bloodstream and travel to the brain, which may cause autism symptoms. Probiotics can change this by enhancing the gut's lining.
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Imbalanced gut microbiome linked to systemic sclerosis

Systemic sclerosis is a chronic multisystem autoimmune disease characterized by a vasculopathy, diffuse fibrosis skin and various internal organs such as kidneys, heart, lungs and gastrointestinal tract.

People with systemic sclerosis had higher levels of bacteria that can cause inflammation and lower levels of bacteria that can protect.

Previous University of California Los Angeles UCLA-led research detailed a link between the disease and the imbalance in the gut microbiome and suggested that this imbalance contributed to scleroderma's symptoms.

The researchers studied 17 adults with systemic sclerosis from UCLA, 17 from Oslo University Hospital, and 17 healthy adults as the control group. All participants provided stool specimens, which the researchers tested to determine the type and abundance of specific bacteria present.

The people with systemic sclerosis had significantly lower levels of gut bacteria believed to protect against inflammation, such as Bacteroides (UCLA and Oslo), Faecalibacterium (UCLA) and Clostridium (Oslo).

They also had significantly higher levels of bacteria that promote inflammation, such as Fusobacterium (UCLA), compared with those in the control group.

 Increased levels of Clostridium was associated with less severe gastrointestinal tract symptoms in the groups of people with systemic sclerosis from UCLA and Oslo.

The findings may help to shed light on the cause of systemic sclerosis. They also suggest that restoring gut bacterial balance though diet modification, probiotics and possibly fecal transplantation may reduce gastrointestinal symptoms and improve quality of life in patients with systemic sclerosis.