What’s the state of the art in probiotics?

[mithriltabby]

obsessivewoman is on antibiotics to kill off her sinus infection, so I figured I should check up on the state of the art of probiotics so she could reload her gut bacteria from a known good state. In the days of yore, I would’ve just picked up some yoghurt with a live Lactobacillus acidophilus culture, but there are half a dozen brands of probiotics in the dairy aisle at Safeway:

• Activia is a Danone product with Bifidus regularis, which claims to help with regularity.
• DanActive is another Danone product, this time with the DN114-001 strain of Lactobacillus casei that purports to boost immune function.
• GoodBelly is a line of fruit-based probiotic drinks using the 299v strain of Lactobacillus plantarum, purporting to help with digestive upset. (divertimento, you might find this a good way to evade allergies.)
• YoPlus is a yoghurt product from Yoplait, using Bifidobacterium like Activia.
• Eating Right probiotics aren’t even on Safeway’s own web site, and their brand name makes them rather difficult to look up online; I can’t even find what bacterium they’re using.
• Lifeway Kefir is a dairy drink with a cocktail of critters: Lactobacillus lactis, rhamnosus, acidophilus, plantarum, and casei; Bifidobacterium longum and breve; Streptococcus diacetylactis, Leuconostoc cremoris, and Saccharomyces florentinus.

Bifidobacteriumanimalis.com notes that a lawsuit has been filed against Danone for misleading claims, but that there is no further data. Food-info offers advice on selecting probiotics. Probiotics: Hope or Hype? summarizes findings from a review published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association early last year, and provides a chart (PDF) of those found to have beneficial effect.

Comments

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

I just eat the Safeway Brand of Light Yogurt with live beasties - 10 for $6.
If you really want to go further than that, get the pills, they have more beasties in them than the yogurt, and they are usually more stable. Usually over in the drug section of Safeway, I think in the diet section, or the tummy section, but they may be with the vitamins. In my Safeway, that is all the same row.
We had to get them when Big Harold was a stiff antibiotics for MRSA infection.

[random-girl.livejournal.com]

There have been articles since last year in January. This quote is what I remember the most related to the DAnactive/Activa lawsuits:

Trish Weiner filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles on January 23, saying that the “only effect that it had on me was that it tasted poorly.”

References here (http://www.importantlawsuits.com/lawsuits/dannon-activia-lawsuit/) and here. (http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/news/20080125/yogurt-maker-sued-over-health-claims) (You can actually look up "Danactive lawsuit" and get a slough of them).

[danine.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the lead. We picked up some of the Goodbelly from Whole Paycheck, and it seems to be doing no harm for either of us. Amazingly, ALL the ingredients in ALL the variations are SFJ (safe for James). Tasty, too.