All over your grocery store:
There’s yogurt, of course, but there’s so much else. You can buy pills for your gut, creams for your face, tablets for your breath. You can buy blueberry juice with germs, and pizza with germs.
But none of the products are scientifically proven:
While the microbiomes of humans are similar to one another, each of us has a mix of species and strains that’s unique–a mix that also changes from day to day. That variability makes it hard to say that adding in one particular species is going to make a different to anyone who’s sick with a particular disease. Even an exquisitely rare microbe might play a crucial part in the overall ecosystem.
None of these hurdles has blocked the growth of the business of the microbiome. But the $8.7 billion industry has thrived because the microbiome occupies a fuzzy middle ground in the regulatory landscape. Purveyors of germ-loaded products can vaguely hint that their wares will bring you medical benefits. But to the U.S. government, their products are not, officially speaking, medicine. They’re food or cosmetics. It’s possible that the bottle of probiotics you buy in the drug store really will help your digestion, or your immune system, or your bad breath. But it’s also possible that the bacteria you’re buying will get annihilated in the ruthless jungle that is your body.
Update from a reader:
I love the variety of topics on your site. On germs and probiotics, there is a lot of bad science going on out there and a lot of dumb products on the market (I am sick to death of Jamie Lee Curtis discussing her digestive issues on TV). But I have had my own experience with our microscopic hangers-on and I have to give a shout out re: the usefulness of the right probiotic.
I switched toothpaste brands a few years back, after having used a particular brand for a decade or so (the fizzy kind with peroxide in it). Switching to a non-peroxide hippy brand, I started having sores in the corners of my mouth that would not heal. Assumed it was a cold or canker sore, tried all the OTC remedies – no dice. Went to see the doc, who told me I had angular cheilitis – which can be caused by all kinds of things, but often it’s a bacterial or yeast overgrowth. I tried the medicine she prescribed, it sort of worked but the sores kept coming back.
Finally I tried some oral probiotics, meant to aid with breath odor and tooth health, and what do you know. Gone. I assume that the foamy peroxide stuff had been killing off my normal mouth flora for years (good and bad), and once I stopped killing everything, something icky took over. Once I repopulated with some helpful little guys I haven’t had any more problems – my gums look healthier too, my dentist has said. It would seem that probiotics (the right ones, for the right problem) can help.
The Dish 