The Health Benefits of Probiotics Extend to Entire Body

By Richard Shank Probiotics

The gastrointestinal benefits of probiotics have been well-documented, but data from a recent study suggests that probiotic benefits extend to the entire body by providing anti-inflammatory and pathogen protection effects.

The inflammatory response is a key immune system process that enhances the body’s ability to combat disease. The immune system responds to disease in a way that creates inflammation and potentially damages healthy bodily tissues. Inflammation is a major factor in many chronic diseases (e.g. arthritis, type I diabetes, inflammatory bowel syndrome, etc.).

This study examined the impact of Bifidobacterium infantis 35624 (BFI) on the body’s immunity to Salmonella, which is a harmful bacteria that causes intestinal infections and triggers the body’s inflammatory response. BFI is a probiotic strain that has been isolated from healthy human gastrointestinal tissue.

The results show that animals who receive BFI show a dramatic increase in the number of immune cells that respond to Salmonella. Additionally, these findings show that BFI increased the number of T-regulatory cells which are cells that suppress inflammatory disease.

These findings suggest that BFI provides enhanced protection from infection and has the potential for body-wide protection from inflammatory damage caused by immune system responses to bacteria.

Source: Caitlin O’Mahony, Paul Scully, David O’Mahony, Sharon Murphy, Frances O’Brien, et al. 2008. Commensal-Induced regulatory T-Cells mediate protection against pathogen-stimulted NF-KB activation. PLOS Pathogens 4(8): 1-10.

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