AURORA, Colo.—Probiotics promote gut health through stimulation of the immune system, which may help reduce intestinal disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease, according to research from University of Colorado Denver (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2009 Dec 14).
Researchers fed an 8-strain probiotic formulation to ice that had been bred to develop ileitis, a Crohn's-like inflammatory bowel disease. The probiotics prevented the onset of intestinal inflammation by stimulation of epithelial innate immune responses (i.e., increased production of epithelial-derived TNF-α and restoration of epithelial barrier function in vivo) in in five of the 11 mice, and was less severe in five of the remaining six. A lower dose of the bacteria, given to another set of mice, provided little beneficial effect. Researchers also demonstrated probiotic bacteria stimulated epithelial production of TNF-α and activate NF-κB in vitro.