Related article: Palliative vs. curative treatments
Probiotics are dietary supplements of live bacteria or yeasts thought by many to be healthy for the host organism. Autoimmunity Research FoundationNon-profit foundation dedicated to exploring a pathogenesis and therapy for chronic disease. has no official recommendation on if a patient should or should not take probiotics. However, patients who take probiotics may want to think twice before consuming probiotics, and for several reasons.
First, the introduction of additional bacteria increases the workload of the innate immune system, thereby diverting resources from fighting the infection of intracellular pathogens. Also, consumption of probiotics increases the likelihood of horizontal gene transferAny process in which a bacterium inserts genetic material into the genomes of other pathogens or into the genome of its host. between pathogenic forms of bacteria and their “friendlier” cousins.
Probiotics have a number of seeming benefits including the lowering of cholesterol, reduction of blood pressure, decrease of certain kinds of diarrhea, reduction of inflammationThe complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli such as pathogens or damaged cells. It is a protective attempt by the organism to remove the injurious stimuli as well as initiate the healing process for the tissue., etc. Many researchers are convinced that probiotics exert these positive effects by overwhelming the bad bacteria. Perhaps the “beneficial” bacteria found in yogurt and supplements exert some positive effect – lowering the pH in the human gut, for example. That said, it remains unclear how exactly probiotics improve health outcomes.
The goal of the Marshall ProtocolA curative medical treatment for chronic inflammatory disease. Based on the Marshall Pathogenesis. is to eradicate the pathogens which cause inflammatory diseases. The bacterial die-off reaction is known as immunopathologyA temporary increase in disease symptoms experienced by Marshall Protocol patients that results from the release of cytokines and endotoxins as disease-causing bacteria are killed., and it is a necessary part of recovery. Epidemiological evidence has shown that substances which interfere with immunopathology decrease symptoms in the near term and increase disease over the long term. Drugs or substances which interfere with immunopathology – whether they be prescription medications such as TNF-alphaA cytokine critical for effective immune surveillance and is required for proper proliferation and function of immune cells. inhibitors, corticosteroidsA first-line treatment for a number of diseases. Corticosteroids work by slowing the innate immune response. This provides some patients with temporary symptom palliation but exacerbates the disease over the long-term by allowing chronic pathogens to proliferate., interferon, or a vitamin D supplement – are limiting progress.
When bacteria enter the body – whether described as “friendly” or pathogenic – the innate immune system mounts a response to that presence. Even commensal bacteria can activate innate immune responses.1) 2) One research team found that treatment with probiotics doubles levels of the inflammatory cytokineAny of various protein molecules secreted by cells of the immune system that serve to regulate the immune system. Interferon-gammaAn inflammatory cytokine which causes extra mast cells to differentiate to monocytes and then to further differentiate into macrophages and dendritic cells. These phagocytes are the most active cells of the immune system and are charged with digesting bacterial pathogens.,3) confirming that the bacteria do generate a Th1 inflammatory reaction upon their entry into the gut.
It is possible that probiotics' seeming effectiveness is that patients taking them are overloading their immune response and reducing the amount of bacteria killed, a process which itself leads to diminished immunopathology and relative symptom improvement.
Supporting the above hypothesis is one study which showed that patients with acute pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) that were given probiotics were more than twice as likely to die as compared to those who received placebos.4)
One compelling explanation for this unexpected result is that the patients who were given probiotics effectively diverted their immune system from fighting infection at the site of the pancreatitis to the bowel. Perhaps the additional bacteria load was enough to increase the burden on the immune response to the point where a significant number of additional patients was no longer able to effectively muster a response to the acute pancreatitis, a condition which itself is caused by the Th1 pathogensThe community of bacterial pathogens which cause chronic inflammatory disease - one which almost certainly includes multiple species and bacterial forms..
Developing gum disease may require not only bad bacteria but also a benign background microbiotaThe bacterial community which causes chronic diseases - one which almost certainly includes multiple species and bacterial forms., researchers reported in Cell Host and Microbe.7) When the gingivitis-associated Porphyromonas gingivalis was introduced at low levels into the mouths of normal mice, it triggered a substantial growth in the healthy bacteria already there, and the ensuing periodontal disease led to bone loss.
But no such thing happened when the gingivitis bacteria were introduced to mice with sterile mouths that harbored no normal bacteria. It seems that a single species, even at low levels, can disrupt the stability of the bacterial ecosystem in the mouth, the researchers noted.
One 2011 study which administered fermented milk to mice concluded that the effects of probiotics on gut bacteria may be subtle.8) “Cocktails of classic probiotics, which people have been trying for years, may have some benefit but the effect seems to be quite small,” according to David Relman.
Lactic acid bacteria and yeasts in kefir grains and kefir made from them. 9)
In an investigation of the changes in the microflora along the pathway:
the following species of lactic acid bacteria (83-90%) of the microbial count in the grains) were identified: Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, Lactobacillus helveticus, Lactobacillus casei subsp. pseudoplantarum and Lactobacillus brevis. Yeasts (10-17%) identified were Kluyveromyces marxianus var. lactis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida inconspicua and Candida maris.
In the microbial population of kefir grains and kefir made from them the homofermentative lactic streptococci (52-65% and 79-86%, respectively) predominated. Within the group of lactobacilli, the homofermentative thermophilic species L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and L. helveticus (70-87% of the isolated bacilli) predominated.
Along the pathway A–>B–>C, the streptococcal proportion in the total kefir microflora increased by 26-30% whereas the lactobacilli decreased by 13-23%. K. marxianus var. lactis was permanently present in kefir grains and kefirs, whereas the dominant lactose-negative yeast in the total yeast flora of the kefir grains dramatically decreased in kefir C.