Probiotics risky for some

A study published in The Lancet suggests that under certain circumstances, probiotics can be deadly. Researchers studied 296 patients at risk for severe pancreatitis, a potentially lethal inflammation of the pancreas. Each was randomly assigned to receive either a commercially available probiotic or an identical-looking placebo. All patients were otherwise given conventional treatment. There was no significant difference between the two groups in severity of illness at the start of the trial. But while 31 percent of the probiotics group required intensive care, only 24 percent of the placebo group needed it. Eighteen percent of those who took probiotics, but only 10 percent of the others, required surgical intervention. In the probiotics group 24 people died, a death rate more than twice that of those given the placebo.

Bonnie - this is one of the most disturbing study designs I have ever seen.

First, the subjects were given INTRAVENOUS probiotic therapy. I have never heard of this method, I have never seen any research on it, and I certainly would never have taken this route if I was the researcher. Healthy flora exists in the digestive tract, not in the bloodstream. How could the researchers have thought that bacteria (even if good) would improve outcomes when injected into the bloodstream?

Second, the subjects were gravely ill with pancreatitis! How and why the researchers thought probiotics could help their outcomes is asinine. These are not the kind of subjects to be testing intravenous probiotics on.

Probiotics are very safe and incredibly well-researched when administered as they should be...orally or topically!! They have been found naturally in fermented foods for thousands of years.