Probion, When to use Probiotics

Gastritis and ventricle ulcer, dyspepsia
These people respond quite quickly and they are therefore very grateful to treatment.

Constipation or colon irritabile
Together with an adequate adjustment of the diet, these people need to start slowly with probiotics to achieve their objectives. Good results.

Migraine; conversion of tyrosine to tyrosamine
If related to diet there is an excellent effect.

Atopies i.e. eczema, hay fever, urticaria asthma
Allergies are very complex immunological dysbalances. Probiotic approach will often give positive results. Allergies are often connected with a leaky gut, which leads to increased passage of potential allergens over the intestinal wall. Probiotics have a healing effect on the intestinal epithelium, which is beneficial in the treatment of allergies. However, asthma is a severe condition and usually takes longer time to cure. A change in diet is often needed.

Food intolerance e.g. gluten intolerance, lactose intolerance
If acquired by the use of antibiotics or other dysbiotic factors, these conditions often regress and vanish after a correct probiotic administration. Probiotic bacteria improve lactose digestion and increase the enzyme activity in the intestine, which is an important step in preventing food allergies. Studies and practise have shown good results in these cases.

Chronic inflammatory diseases or autoimmune diseases such as rheumatism, SLE, fibromyalgia, colitis ulcerosa, mb.Crohn etc.
As being related to a dysfunction in the immune system, adjusting the balance in the intestinal flora will give a good support in the recovery from the diseases.

Infections in the genito-urinary system
Recidives of chronic infections are often related to a dysbiosis. When taking the probiotics there are many reports of reduced frequency or a total regression.

Mycosis i.e. Candida albicans
As being the top of the dysbiotic pyramid, this condition is corrected together with an adequate diet.

Exposition to radiation, cortisone, antibiotics, contraceptives.
These ecological stress factors must be supported with probiotics, if to reduce the side- effects of these therapies.

Conditions with impaired immune defence i.e. malignant disease
These conditions need the support of probiotics.

Insufficiency of vitamins or minerals
All therapies with a nutritional impact must be supported by effective probiotics to increases the uptake of nutrients supplemented.

Stress
Maybe this is the most common condition. The need to adjust behaviour would naturally be supported by probiotics.

Skin diseases e.g. acne, herpes
The dysfunction of the endocrine system is often related to the intestinal flora. Herpetic infections are more complicated due to the intracellular nervous manifestation. Though these may respond as the outbreak of herpetic blisters is influenced of the general condition of the immune system.

Hormonal dysfunction i.e. bleedings, menstruation dysfunction, infertility and osteoporosis.
As the hormonal balances in the body are influenced by the intestinal flora through the entero-hepatic linkage. Problems of these natures would be adjusted by probiotic administration.

Metabolic syndrome and diabetes
There is a relation to the intestinal flora and to what you eat. Food with hyperglycaemic characteristics will influence both the flora and the conditions themselves. There are some reports indicating that some strains in the flora are able to produce insulin analogues. These may interfere with the normal insulin performance. It could even be a factor responsible to the development of insulin resistance! Probiotics also reduce blood cholesterol.

Chronic fatigue syndrome
Antibodies against the intracellular mitochondria are found to be of intestinal origin! These are thought to be responsible for this condition.

Neurogenic diseases
Spinal muscular atrophy also called SMA. This is genetic dependent disease amongst small children. Already in the first year of life, these children will be affected by an increasing atrophy of their nerve cells in the spinal cord. Their muscular capacity is markedly reduced. The disease is somewhat similar to the more, well known Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis also called ALS. A father once told that after about 7-10 days of probiotic supplementation his child converted and started to stand up and walk. This was something that he had not been able to do for months. Taking the probiotics away led to his earlier condition after a week. The procedure was repeated with the same manifestation! There certainly is a link between the microflora in the intestine and the immune system and the nervous system. What really happens is still to be explored. Clinical studies at the university hospital in
Gothenburg are set up, but remain to be conducted due to lack of financial support.

Diarrhoea.
Products of microbial metabolism of dietary foodstuffs may also cause alterations of the mucosa. Such bacterial end products may be responsible for the diarrhoea and the colic, which often accompany small bowel contamination. The use of antibiotics is known to result in massive disturbances of the intestinal flora composition, often with long lasting negative effects including overgrowth by E. coli or other potential pathogens with resultant septicaemia and endotoxemia. Diarrhoea thus is a common manifestation with patients receiving antibiotic therapy Everyday stress situations can also cause alterations in the quantity and composition of lactic-acid producingflora in the gastrointestinal tract. Diarrhoea frequently accompanies periods of nervous tension. This neurogenic diarrhoea is caused by excessive stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system that greatly excites both motility and secretion of mucus into the colon. Supplementation of probiotic bacteria has shown to decrease diarrhoea during antibiotic treatment (5) and improve the health of children with persistent diarrhoea (1).

Dysbiosis in man under extreme conditions was investigated (2). It was shown that Yoghurt and other types of lactobacilli containing products could be used with success in order to minimise the disturbances caused in cosmonautsby the stress situations in long-term and short-term flights in space. Neumeister (3) investigated the variations of normal bacterial flora in the small intestine during and after irradiation therapy in 500 patients with cancer. In order to eliminate some of the disturbances, 162 patients were administered orally a mixture of flora culture isolated from healthy human intestine and consisting of non-pathogenic E. coli, L. acidophilus and B. bifidus, and pancreatic enzymes. The bacterial treatment was started at the same time as the X-ray treatment and continued during the whole treatment. Using X-ray therapy and supplementation with the lactobacilli preparation, the frequency of diarrhoea and other side reactions decreased from 61 to 12 % and in cobalt therapy from 79 to 21 % which values are highly significant.

In gastro-enteritis where it can be an infection at any point of the gastrointestinal tract, in infectious diarrhoea, the infection is most extensive in the large intestine. At any point of infection in the intestine, the mucosa becomes extensively irritated, and therefore its rate of secretion is enhanced. The motility of the intestinal wall is increased multifold, large quantities of fluids are made available for washing the infectious agent toward the anus with strong peristaltic waves. This is an important mechanism for ridding the intestinal tract of the debilitating infection. Lactobacilli can reverse this state, calm down the irritation of the mucosa and thus minimise the disturbance and diarrhoea.

In ulcerative colitis where also extensive areas of the intestinal wall of the large intestine is irritated and ulcerative, the motility is often increased as much as 10-fold, and the patient has repeated diarrhoeal bowel movements.

During this state there is an impaired absorption of nutrients and a massive loss of fluids and electrolytes and thus a vicious circle for the patient. Both during everyday stress and during extreme stress situations as well as infections the additional Yoghurt intake with large amounts of viable lactobacilli may prove as beneficial in preventing and curing gastrointestinal disturbances (4).

References:
1. Boudraa, G., M. Touhami, P. Pochart, R. Soltana, J. Y. Mary, and J. F. Desjeux. 1990. Effect of feeding yoghurt versus milk in children with persistent diarrhoea. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 11:509-12.
2. Like, N. 1987. Stress and intestinal microflora. Nahrung. 31:443-7.
3. Neumeister, K. 1969. Experimental therapy of intestinal radiation reactions in patients undergoing abdominal irradiation. Radiobiol Radiother. 10:843-5.
4. Schultz, M., and R. Sartor. 2000. Probiotics and inflammatory bowel diseases. Am. J. Gastroenterol. 95:19-21.
5. Siitonen, S., H. Vapaatalo, S. Salminen, A. Gordin, M. Saxelin, R. Wikberg, and A. Kirkkola. 1990. Effect of Lactobacillus GG yoghurt in prevention of antibiotic associated diarrhoea. Ann. Med. Feb; 22:57-9.