15 February 2008 - Researchers at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra have recently demonstrated that the immune system of long-distance runners was enhanced after the use of the probiotic - Lactobacillus fermentum, which is considered useful towards treating diarrhoea and other gut infections.
According to a study published in ‘British Journal of Sports Medicine’, 28 male athletes, competing in events ranging from the 800m to marathons, were enrolled in an experiment that coincided with intensive winter training programs.
The men were either given the probiotic in freeze-dried powder as gelatin capsules, or via a fake lookalike capsule called a placebo that contained harmless starch. Moreover, neither the athletes nor the researchers knew who received which capsules or when.
The athletes took the capsules daily during 4 weeks, followed by 4 weeks of taking nothing; they then took the placebo for 4 weeks, followed by 4 weeks of taking nothing.
Lead researcher, Dr. David Pyne, concluded that the use of Lactobacillus fermentum did not alter athletic performance, but it did reduce respiratory illness.
The study showed that 7 of the men reported having respiratory problems (sore throat, cough, runny nose, chest congestion, sneezing) on days when they took the placebo. However, when they took the probiotics, only 3 reported respiratory problems.
Blood tests revealed that levels of interferon gamma, an important immune-system molecule in the fight against viral infection, doubled during the "probiotic" period. Furthermore, the researchers discovered that athletes given a probiotic supplement suffered less severe flu and cold symptoms than the others and their illness also generally half as long.
Dr. Pyne described the improvement in resistance to common illnesses as an "important benefit to elite athletes undertaking high level training in preparation for national and international competitions”.
These new positive findings on probiotics come less than a month after FLEXNEWS reported that Dutch researchers warned against using probiotics to treat patients with severe acute pancreatitis.
24 patients (16%) in a study group died completely unexpectedly and 9 patients (6%) in a control group. Therefore more people died in the group that was given probiotics than in the group that was not.
The investigators were surprised by the outcome as the previous small-scale trials showed that the treatment would normally reduce the rate of infection.
The names of the bacteria strains, which were used in the treatment, were not disclosed by the researchers.