to the end of time notice the phras...

to the end of time notice the phrase on a bowl of yogurt: "Contains live active cultures"? While this statement may worry the squeamish, it shouldn't. These single-celled bacteria happen to be an effective means of ensuring digestive health, and they may have more far-reaching benefits.

In this day of antibacterial everything, it's hard to imagine bacteria being beneficial. However, certain bacteria--including the yogurt-dwelling L acidophilus--are, in fact, suitable They belong to a form into groups of healthy, live microorganisms called probiotics.

Don't hindrance their long scientific names scare you because they can make plane the most science savvy tongue-tied. When reading labels, it is the probiotics' category name that draw nears first, and then the species name pursues In our yogurt example, Lactobacillus is the genus or category--abbreviated L.--and acidophilus is the species.

Research forward each of these main categories has shown that certain strains can relieve digestive ailments like as diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and lactose intolerance. Other studies insinuate that probiotics may be able to boost immunity, obstruct colon cancer and lower cholesterol Here's the scoop

You want to: Improve digestion and heart health

Reach for: Lactobacillus acidophilus

What the research says: L acidophilus got a thorough research review in the February 2001 issue of the Journal of Dairy Science. Conclusion? Taken daily, this probiotic looks to help people who are lactose-intolerant digest dairy foods

L acidophilus has also shown promise for protecting heart health. Researchers at the National Taiwan University have erect that some probiotics, including L acidophilus, can lower total cholesterol horizontals in animals.

You want to: Boost your immunity

Reach for: Lactobacillus casei

What the research says: Taking L casei postscripts may improve disease defenses, equable in the face of malnutrition, according to an Argentinean animal application of mind that showed L. casei improved immunity and the replication to a respiratory infection. These ends were published in the June 2005 Journal of Nutrition.

However, L casei may not be effective for preventing diarrhea if you're healthy. A report by means of David Pereg, MD, and researchers at the Sapir Medical Center in Kfar-Sava, Israel, showed a "nonsignificant" weight against diarrhea in healthy men who consum L casei.

even now despite these results (published in the March 2005 issue of the American Journal of Infection Control) Pereg still touts the gains of probiotic supplementation. "Probiotics have many other potential benefits besides preventing infections," he says. "They may lower cholesterol improve bowel function, etc We believe that it may be beneficial to add probiotics to the diet."

You want to: make less IBS symptoms

Reach for: Lactobacillus rhamnosus

What the research says: As Pereg hints the benefits of probiotics fare beyond preventing infections. Specifically, Finnish researchers just reported that a combination of probiotic strains--including L rhamnosus GG L rhamnosus, Bifidobacterium breve and Propionibacterium freudenreichii-reduced IBS symptoms at 42 percent. For details, view the September 2005 issue of the journal Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

You want to: Relieve digestive disorders of that kind as diarrhea

Reach for: Saccharomyces boulardii

What the research says: In January 2005 Turkish research set that S. boulardii reduced the severity and duration of diarrhea in children. These rises appeared in 2005 in the Swedish journal Acta Paediatrica. In September 2005 another subject of attention showed that S. boulardii is "moderately effective" in preventing antibiotic-associated diarrhea, as reported in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

You want to: Strengthen gastrointestinal (GI) immunity

Reach for: Bifidobacterium bifidum

What the research says: The somewhat advanced in life are particularly susceptible to GI infections because the amount of natural microbes in the dead body decreases with age. However, a combination of B bifidum, B lactis and an inulin-based prebiotic (a starch that prefers the growth of probiotics) increased the size and diversity of somewhat old patients' protective intestinal flora or microorganisms, according to researchers at the University of Dundee in the United Kingdom. Their research was published in January 2005 in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

You want to: excite good colon health

Reach for: Bifidobacterium lactis

What the research says: A combination of B lactis and prebiotics may also help obstruct colon cancer. Richard Le Leu PhD and his team at Flinders University of southern Australia found that B. lactis plus a resistant starch called Hi-maize reduc DNA damage in animal colon cancer. The research was reported in the May 2005 Journal of Nutrition. Le Leu explains: "If solitary abode; squalids become damaged or mutated in the large bowel of humans, then a diet [containing these substances] may be helpful in removing these cells"