The name ‘probiotic’ was coined about a hundred years ago by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Prof. Ilya Mechnikov who researched why it was that some people managed to live extraordinarily long lives. But it is only in recent years that there has been an explosion of scientific interest in the ‘friendly bacteria’ which seem to be crucial to our health.

In 1908 Mechnikov proclaimed that ‘Death begins in the colon.’ The March 1st issue of Science News surveys some of the bleeding-edge research currently going into probiotics which explain why this is may be the case. Scientists are finding amazing evidence that probiotics can help with

  • obesity
  • osteoporosis
  • food-allergies and other auto-immune diseases
  • irritable bowel syndrome
  • fungal infections such as Candida ablicans
  • the common cold
  • poor diet

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