Probiotics Defined

If we consume probiotic cultures while they're still alive and active, those cultures are able to establish themselves in our digestive tracts for short periods of time-once there, they can offer beneficial effects.

However, in order to do so, they must be capable of surviving passage through our digestive system. Unfortunately, only certain types of probiotics are able to do so; others are quickly destroyed by the digestive enzymes in our stomach. Certain beneficial cultures are able to survive and pass through into our intestinal tracts in sufficient numbers. Therefore, the survival rate of the specific strain of bacteria contained in a probiotic product is an important factor when determining its potential benefits (Oozeer R et al., 2003).

Only certain strains of probiotic bacteria resistant to our stomach's digestive enzymes can survive passage into the colon. To date, several probiotic strains have demonstrated the ability to survive, such as certain Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus casei (Berrada et al., 1991; Pochart et al., 1992). And research has shown that only regular consumption of those probiotics capable of surviving passage into the colon is likely to have a beneficial effect.