Medical Reports: Push for Probiotics

WSVN -- Look in almost any supermarket or health food store and you'll see them: products that promise to strengthen your immunity and regulate your digestive system with probiotics.

But do they really work?

Karen Cohen is a busy mother of three.

Karen Cohen: "After I delivered Jarod, my second, I started having hoarseness, and I thought it was sinus."

But what Karen was feeling wasn't a sinus problem, it was actually a digestive problem.

Karen Cohen: "I looked into it further and found it was reflux."

So she went to see gastroenterologist Charles Gluck at Memorial Regional Hospital for help.

He says the digestive system requires a critical balance.

Dr. Charles Gluck: "There's a hundred trillion bacteria living in the colon, and they are an ecosystem just like any other ecosystem. If they're out of balance, you're out of balance."

Imbalances in the system can be caused by taking antibiotics that wipe out both the good and bad bacteria, causing a variety of symptoms.

Dr. Charles Gluck: "It could present itself as diarrhea, constipation, bloating, gas."

Dr. Gluck says probiotics are "friendly" organisms that can be found in supplement form or by eating foods like Activia and DanActive yogurt.

Dr. Charles Gluck: "What you are doing in that situation is flooding your colon with non-gas forming friendly bacteria, thereby crowding out some of those aggressive or disease-causing organisms."

Karen had been taking a prescription medication for her reflux but wasn't getting relief.

Then she started taking two different probiotic supplements daily and watching what she eats.

Karen Cohen: "So, two weeks in, three weeks in, I started noticing I wasn't as hoarse, feeling better."

Dr. Gluck says there is no downside to taking probiotics, even though they might not work for everyone. All Karen knows is they worked for her!

Karen Cohen: "It was all very surprising, the whole path is surprising and surprising to me that I'm feeling better, so it's good, good news."

Dr. Gluck also recommends keeping a food diary to figure out what might be triggering your symptoms.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Dr. Charles Gluck
4700 Sheridan St., Suite F
Hollywood, FL 33021
Tel: (954) 961-8400