Dead or alive, ‘good’ bacteria may improve digestion

Probiotics in yogurt, some other dairy products and supplements contain “good bugs,” live microbes that can improve digestion and ease disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease, allergies and even some cancers. But scientists haven’t known exactly how these live microbes work and have worried that some probiotics might pose a danger to infants and those with compromised immune systems.

Now researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem have pinpointed the source of probiotics’ anti-inflammatory benefits and found a potentially safer way to administer them. They inactivated the microbes so they wouldn’t multiply, but preserved their DNA.

In the February issue of Gastroenterology, the researchers reported that after irradiating a commercially available supplement containing billions of live freeze-dried lactic acid bacteria, the bacterial DNA was as good as live bacteria in reducing inflammation among mice with colitis.

Such irradiated probiotics should provide treatment without the risk of bacteria getting into the bloodstream, they wrote.

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Jane E. Allen