Center for Complementary Medicine

Alternative medicine has long recognized the use of “probiotics” to counter the widespread use and harmful effects of antibiotics to the intestinal tract. Mainstream medicine has finally caught on, and researchers are studying the use of feeding live bacteria to newborns — and even expectant mothers — to ward off a variety of illnesses. I actually had a pregnant patient whose pediatrician recommended she begin a regimen of probiotics so that her newborn would be less likely to suffer from the same allergies as her first born.

Researchers at the Univ. of CA-San Francisco are conducting a study where newborns will be fed live bacteria in hopes it will keep them asthma-free. Researchers believe these “good bacteria” have the potential to prevent or treat a variety of illnesses, from colon cancer to gum disease to asthma. Along with the billions of bacteria naturally found inside our bodies, probiotics are believed to aid digestion and help us fight invading organisms. (more…)