Strong Bones for Fish
Probiotic supplementation in fish often confers health benefits. Lactobacillus rhamnosus, for instance, enhances reproduction and the development of young Danio rerio (zebrafish), even increasing bone mineralization. Italian scientists have now found out that this happens through increased expression of key genes related to bone growth. The gene expression pattern induced also suggests that L. rhamnosus may also be beneficial for some bone disorders.
Probiotics May Be Relevant for Arthritis
Studies have shown that the intestinal microbiota in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients is altered, which indicates that probiotic treatment may be helpful. Scientists from Iran explored this possibility by treating RA patients with Lactobacillus casei 01 for a total of eight weeks in a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trial. After the treatment period, the disease activity score was significantly improved along with several immune parameters.
The Cheese Probiotic Survivors
Petit-Suisse cheese (meaning Little Swiss) is a French cream cheese that is made from drained, fermented milk and cream. Brazilian researchers were interested to know if probiotic bacteria added to the cheese (Lactobacillus acidophilus La-5, Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis Bb-12, and Lactobacillus sakei subsp. sakei 2a) could survive extended storage and simulated digestion. Using a novel method of real-time PCR combined with live cell analysis; they were able to determine that the best survivor was B. animalis subsp. lactis Bb-12. Approximately, 73% of the probiotic bacteria survived the simulations.
References
- Villarreal ML, Padilha M, Vieira AD, Franco BD, Martinez RC, Saad SM. Advantageous Direct Quantification of Viable Closely Related Probiotics inPetit-Suisse Cheeses under In Vitro Gastrointestinal Conditions by Propidium Monoazide – qPCR. PLoS One 2013; 8(12): e82102.
- Vaghef-Mehrabany E, Alipour B, Homayouni-Rad A, Sharif SK, Asghari-Jafarabadi M, Zavvari S. Probiotic supplementation improves inflammatory status in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Nutrition 2013. [Epub ahead of print]
- Maradonna F, Gioacchini G, Falcinelli S, Bertotto D, Radaelli G, Olivotto I et al. Probiotic Supplementation Promotes Calcification inDanio rerio Larvae: A Molecular Study. PLoS One 2013; 8(12): e83155.