Are you sure probiotics are good for you ?

Have you ever paid attention to yogurt’s labels? If you haven’t, maybe you would be surprised of the amount of different components that this products may have.  Some of the most popular are the “probiotics”, which are supposed to bring benefits to our health. But, do you think this is true?

Probiotics are live micro-organism whose function is to restore the balance of intestinal bacteria, and raise resistance to harmful germs. If you take them in sufficient amount, they can improve digestive health, and even help colds by shorten their duration.

The controversy surrounding this topic started due to there is no standard labeling requirement to help buyers to identify clearly which probiotics are they consuming. Many milk products have the word “probiotic ” on their labels, but that is not enough: there are thousands of kinds of probiotics; however, only a few of them have been proved effective in clinical trials.

Dannon, one of the biggest sellers of probiotics yogurts, had to face a legal case and pay $35 million settlement to reimburse dissatisfied consumers of its Activia yogurts and DanActive yogurt drinks. Although Dannon's web page presents several scientific studies as evidence of their patented probiotics strains, the products’ labels do not show in a clear way which probiotics the consumers are ingesting and what their specific function is. The danger of this practice is related to some reactions, especially allergies, which the consumers may have after consuming the product. In that way, a probiotic can become a risk rather than a benefit. 

From now on, are you going to read labels? Do you think it is important for consumers interested in probiotics to look for products that list the specific strain on the label?

Watch this video about how probiotics work!