PROBIOTICS
After noticing a spate of posts in my newsfeed on various neighbourhood, ecourse, community support, mothers and even financial advice groups as well as health related groups, for requests for random recommendations of probiotics for everything from finger infections, to frequent colds, to digestive disorders, period pain and migraines, I went searching for this post I had written previously and realised I've yanked it out of the archives a number of times - throwing it out there again for what it's worth, though not sure if anyone is really taking any notice...
From the archives because I think we have to keep this in mind while the 'quick fix', 'one size fits all', 'if a little is good a lot must be better', 'unconsciously jump on the bandwagon', mentality persists...
If you are a patient of mine or have heard me share while speaking at events, interviews or podcasts, you will know that I am VERY concerned about the probiotic popping mentality that has developed.
Often I see posts about a health condition someone or their child is suffering and comments follow like ‘take a probiotic’ or ‘my nutritionist/naturopath/doctor put me on ? brand probiotic you should take it too’. I realize these people are well meaning but your health professional didn’t just say eeni, meeni, miini mo when prescribing for you - at least I hope not! There is much to take into consideration when prescribing a therapeutic probiotic supplement and absolutely MUST be done on a case by case basis.
Not long ago it became apparent that as a result of our ‘if a little is good a lot must be better’ thinking people who were consuming copious amounts of fermented foods and drinks, often in addition to taking probiotics, have been throwing their microbiome’s completely out of whack and developing all kinds of physical and mental health issues. Like the superfood debacle no one ever thinks to look at the ‘magical’ foods they are consuming as the culprit of their woes. Paracelsus, the founder of toxicology, said “the dose makes the poison” – basically a little of something might be healthful but a lot can be harmful and we can apply this to much of what we consume. Fermented foods and drinks were traditionally consumed as condiments and shots or tonics, rarely consumed in the huge quantities they are today.
Consider that our knowledge of the microbiome is very new and in the scheme of things what is known in today is very elementary.
Alessio Fasano's words that preceded the attached quote were 'it's a shot in the dark, we're doing something but we're not sure what we are doing...'
Considering the current commercialisation of probiotic foods, drinks and supplements these are sobering words.
What I share on this page are my views (unless stated otherwise), based on my research, my experience and my beliefs.
They are only provided as food for thought.