Marketing Pro-Buyotics

 

There is little doubt that our microbiome - the collection of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and their genes that naturally live on and in our bodies - influences our overall health in significant ways, many of which are as yet poorly understood. That hasn't slowed the food industry from trying to convince you that products containing "beneficial" bacteria are healthier than ones that do not. Are they correct? Spoiler alert: No.

"Scientists have not defined what a healthy microbiome looks like," says Geoffrey Preidis, a gastroenterologist at Texas Children's Hospital. "Everybody's microbiome is different and it is impacted by many factors like age, genetics, diet, exercise, lifestyle habits and so on." That a healthy microbiome should look a certain way is a misconception. And even if you wanted to "adjust" your microbiome, no one knows how to do that. Certainly not the marketing department of your favorite probiotic maker.

So far, most researchers agree, the most likely route to a healthy microbiome is to eat a diet rich in fiber from fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans. But that's no help if you are selling cereals, snack bars. muffins, juices, trail mixes, teas, or just about anything else "enhanced" with probiotics. "Whenever companies see an opportunity to boost profits they will use science, no matter how good is is," says Marion Nestle, professor emerita of nutrition, food science and public health at NYU.

"The public's enthusiasm for probiotics is just not matched by the evidence" that they are effective, concludes Pieter Cohen, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

There is plenty of evidence that bacteria rich foods like yogurts and fermented foods have health benefits. But don't allow yourself to be swayed by the word "probiotic" on a food label.