Recover Faster With Probiotics

It's been found that athletes who undergo probiotic supplementation have fewer infections, and recover from injury more quickly than those who do not. This information comes from a study done by the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, and it was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The researchers studied twenty elite endurance runners for two months, telling them to either take the probiotic supplement Lactobacillus fermentum, or a placebo. The athletes recorded the times that they felt symptoms of a "winter cold", such as coughing, sneezing, or a runny nose.

The researchers added up the number of days that both groups of athletes experienced cold symptoms, and found that the placebo group had symptoms for 72 days, and the probiotic group only had thirty days' symptoms. Blood tests revealed that the athletes who'd taken probiotics had two times the level of an immune agent called interferon gamma than the athletes in the placebo group.

While the researchers aren't sure exactly how probiotics provide this benefit, these bacteria can boost the body's immune response and provide other beneficial effects, even in small doses. These probiotic bacteria can even help regulate the metabolism. The research was done on athletes, because the extreme training regimen that marathoners undergo is known to weaken the immune system. Even a minor cold can set an athlete far back in their training. However, these findings might not be as relevant for those of us who aren't as active as the athletes in the study.

The fitness level, diet, and lifestyle of a marathon runner is a lot different than that of the average person, and those who have lower BMI (body mass index) have a different composition of bacteria in their digestive tract. The conclusions drawn from the Australian study on athletes may not apply the same way to those of us who are unfit, and who don't practice proper nutrition.