Probiotics actually harmful?
 

https://gizmodo.com/for-some-people...m-no-1828858007

Not at all sure about all this. Don't think you can go wrong with kefir -- provided it's the homemade stuff from kefir grains.

I heard a radio interview about this study the other morning. The findings really made it sound like this could form a part of personalised nutrition in the future.

I was glad they went into that level of detail in the interview rather than just skim the headline "probiotics may be harmful", since once you dig into the detail, it's clear that for some they can still be quite beneficial. The tricky part is just working out for whom.

I have gotten into kombucha which works better than capsule probitics.

The point of the " story" has been misunderstood. The bottomline is that ones own fecal population is far better than the limited kinds , 4-6, in a pill.

A research of a native population in SA, put their diffrent types at well over 30. The US population has far fewer-- about 24, if I am remembering correctly.
Not nearly the variety in kombucha, kefir, yogurt, probiotic pills, raw sauerkraut etc.

I doubt I will ever have a colonoscopy ever again--- likely more damage than good IMHO. Between the risk of a puncture thru the GI wall, to the poor ability to replace the beneficial microbes permanently lost. Using all the commercially available sources is not enough.

A fecal sample should be kept to inoculate the gut post procedure. The colonoscopy seems to do more damage than good.

I feel--and we all know how important feelings are-- that doctors, gurus etc. giving us advice about playing the gut biome game at home are largely stepping outside what we really know. I'd probably drink kombucha if it turned out I liked the stuff, or if a bit of n=1 showed some benefit. I don't make a habit of arguing with personal anecdotal results, though I might argue about presumptions about mechanisms. As a for instance, fermented foods provide organic acids, like lactic acid and various short chain fatty acids that are shown to have benefits whether fermented in the gut or consumed as part of the diet. Outside of avoiding things that cause clear discomfort, I'm not really ready to micromanage my poop quite yet.

I do think you have to differentiate between people post-antibiotic from people with an "uncompromised" microbiota (whether a beneficial one or not). A fully colonized biome might react better to a particular probiotic, a microbiotic population that takes the probiotic like an assault for instance, might take it as sort of a hormetic pressure that improves things instead of making them worse.

Because you are not high risk for colon cancer--lol. That might change your focus, Teaser.

There is a lot of (growing) information on gut health and cancer rates.

I'm not saying it's not important--just that we're trying to steer it a little early in some ways. Which sort of goes with what the researchers are saying here.

Dr Davis, of Wheat Belly fame, addressed this on his blog a couple of days ago:

https://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2018...our-microbiome/

A thoughtful and balanced response from Dr. Davis.

Worth quoting for all to read here, in that we CAN support our microbime.

Quote:

Those of us engaged in more comprehensive efforts to restore healthy bowel flora, as we do in the Undoctored program, and consume lactate-fermented foods, include generous quantities of prebiotic fibers in our diet, and work to remove factors that disrupt the microbiome such as herbicide/pesticide-laden foods and stomach acid-blocking drugs, also recognize that a probiotic is just one component of a broader effort.

From the Wheatbelly link posted abovel

That is the recommendation of the researcher behind Gutsense.org