"Probiotic Supplements: Separating Hype from Reality in the Multi-Billion Dollar Industry"

2023-05-07 11:14:51

Today, probiotic supplements have become a multi-billion dollar industry, and the main reason for their popularity is the claims about their ability to fill your gut with beneficial bacteria that can enhance your health and help you overcome many ailments, from constipation to obesity to depression. (1) But is this really true?

From the digestive system to the brain

When the gut suffers from unhealthy levels of certain bacteria, some bad symptoms start to appear, and this is where probiotics can help restore the balance of the gut. (Shutterstock)

Probiotics are “good” bacteria that can help maintain a healthy digestive system and strengthen the immune system. A person can obtain probiotics through a variety of food sources, as well as through supplementation. The Harvard Health Platform states that the bacteria in the lower intestine help us digest food, fight off harmful bacteria, and regulate the functioning of the immune system. But sometimes, when the balance of bacteria becomes imbalanced, this leads to diarrhea and other health problems.

When the gut suffers from unhealthy levels of certain bacteria, some bad symptoms start to appear, and this is where probiotics can help restore the balance of the gut. Research has found that these bacteria secrete protective substances, which sometimes boost the immune system and prevent pathogens from establishing themselves and causing serious symptoms. Some studies also suggest that if a person takes probiotics while taking antibiotics, they are less likely to get antibiotic-induced diarrhea, so it is common for people to take probiotics along with antibiotic medication.

When doctors prescribe antibiotics to their patients, they know that not only will these drugs kill the harmful bacteria causing the health problems they’re trying to get rid of, they may actually wipe out entire communities of beneficial bacteria in the gut, when the emptying holes fill with harmful bacteria that secrete toxins. Which causes inflammation of the intestines and leads to diarrhea (2). On the other hand, probiotics are commonly used to reduce digestive symptoms that are not caused by acute illness, such as gas, bloating, and constipation. (3)

Some researchers have called the gut the “second brain” because it produces many of the same neurotransmitters as the brain, such as serotonin and dopamine, all of which play a major role in regulating mood. (Shutterstock)

Probiotic supplements can also reduce symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. But supplementation is neither the only nor the most reliable way to get probiotics, there are more effective ways to nourish your gut microbiome. One way is to eat a variety of vegetables, nuts, seeds and whole grains, which provide your gut microbes with the fiber-rich fuel they need to grow and thrive. Also, researchers have found that eating fermented foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, and kimchi, which contain probiotics and other beneficial compounds, have positive effects on boosting the gut microbiome. (2)

The potential benefits of probiotics don’t stop there. The Harvard platform asserts that probiotics can do more than just improve a person’s gut health, to indirectly boost mental health as well. The platform says that this finding is based on research that has shown that the gut and the brain are interconnected, with a partnership called the gut-brain axis. The primary informational connection between the brain and the gut is through the vagus nerve, which is the longest nerve in the body. Some researchers have called the gut the “second brain” because it produces many of the same neurotransmitters as the brain, such as serotonin and dopamine, all of which play a major role in regulating mood. (4)

But there is one problem in this context, which is that all of the above is related only to pathological conditions, and even in those cases, this type of supplement is a side addition to basic treatments, especially since the research supporting its benefits is still in its initial stages, but the results were positive on All Situations. It is at this point that problems begin to appear.

Industry worth 131 billion dollars

The value of the global probiotics market was estimated at $62.4 billion in 2022 and will increase to around $131 billion in 2032. (Shutterstock)

The popularity of probiotic supplements has grown a lot in recent years. Scientific American explains that this huge popularity has led some companies to add these microorganisms even to cosmetics. According to a survey by the National Institutes of Health, the number of adults in the United States who take probiotic supplements or prebiotics, which are indigestible fibers that help the growth of gut bacteria, more than quadrupled between 2007-2012.

The number of users in 2007 was less than a million people, but after about five years this number reached nearly four million people. The San Francisco-based business consulting company “Grand View Research” estimates that the global probiotics market exceeded $35 billion in 2015, and the company expects the figure to reach $66 billion by 2024. (1) Some statistics also indicate that it is expected to reach The global market value of probiotics supplements will reach $94.48 billion by 2027, registering a compound annual growth rate of 7.9%.(5)

More recent estimates indicated that the value of the global probiotics market was estimated at $62.4 billion in 2022, and will increase to about $131 billion in 2032, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.9% between 2023-2032. (6)

Are probiotic supplements really helpful?

If someone has a weakened immune system due to an illness or medication, probiotics may negatively affect that person. (Shutterstock)

Now let’s come to the most important question: is it really worth all this trouble and all this expense? Millions of consumers of probiotic supplements who pay billions of dollars to get these supplements may really believe that taking probiotic supplements is absolutely and categorically beneficial, and they may repeat to themselves that even if it is not beneficial, it is at least safe, but the reality is not. .

Numerous research that has attempted to study microbe-based supplements shows that most health claims for probiotics are just “hype”. The majority of studies fail to reveal any benefits of probiotic supplementation for individuals who are already healthy, noting that these bacteria only seem to help those with certain intestinal disorders.

“There is no evidence to suggest that people without gastrointestinal disorders benefit from taking probiotics,” says Matthew Ciorba, MD, a gastroenterologist at Washington University in St. Louis. Surprisingly, in some cases, taking probiotic supplements may be dangerous for healthy people, as it is associated with higher rates of lung, breast, and prostate cancer. But that hasn’t stopped marketers from pushing consumers to get and take these supplements as highly beneficial or, at the very least, “safe.” (1)

One theoretical risk of probiotic supplementation is that if someone has a weakened immune system due to an illness or medication, the probiotics may negatively affect that person. Another major concern is that these compounds are classified as dietary supplements, not drugs. As a result, for example, in the United States of America, the US Food and Drug Administration may not monitor the manufacture of probiotics. Here it becomes unclear whether the probiotics that can be purchased at pharmacies and health food stores are high quality products or not. Also, be aware that some low-quality products may not even contain the amount of probiotic bacteria listed on the label. (3)

Concentrated doses of a few strains of bacteria can upset the balance in the gut. (Shutterstock)

To confirm this point, Dr. Patricia Hibberd, a professor of pediatrics at Massachusetts Hospital in Boston, who has studied probiotics in young children and the elderly, says that an essential part of the problem with probiotics is the way they are advertised, explaining that none of the nutritional supplements or foods that are used have been approved. They contain these bacteria to prevent or treat certain diseases, but manufacturers are allowed to offer “general” health benefits to advertise their product. For example, makers of certain foods that contain probiotics can say that their product “improves digestive health,” which is a vague statement that isn’t clearly defined. (7)

Lorenzo Cone, professor and director of the Integrative Medicine Program at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, told The Washington Post that high doses of a few strains of bacteria can upset the balance in the gut. “You can inadvertently create an imbalance by having too many good bacteria,” Lorenzo explains. (2)

In this context, studies indicate that taking probiotic supplements to support a person’s overall health can alter the composition of the microbiome and reduce levels of microbial diversity in the gut, which is associated with a number of health problems. Even in terms of the benefits that probiotic supplements can bring when taken with antibiotics, one study published in 2018 that was conducted to investigate the benefits of using probiotics with antibiotics yielded surprising results (8).

It’s more complicated!

The human digestive system contains about 39 trillion bacteria, most of which are found in the large intestine. (Shutterstock)

The idea of consuming probiotics to enhance the ability of native bacteria that are already doing well is questionable for several reasons, explains American Science. The first of these reasons is that manufacturers of probiotics often choose specific bacterial strains for their products because they know how to grow them in large numbers. The problem is that certain strains of bacteria, which are commonly found in many yogurt products and supplements, are the kind that can only survive in the highly acidic environment of the human stomach, which doesn’t enable these bacteria to reach the intestines in the first place.

“Probiotics are still just a drop in the bucket,” says Shira Doron, an infectious disease expert at Tufts Medical Center. “The gut has a huge number of microbes.” According to the most recent estimates, the human digestive system contains about 39 trillion bacteria, most of which are found in the large intestine.(1) That we know so little about these organisms indicates that messing with them can be too risky.

In addition, there are also many unanswered questions about probiotic supplements, such as: How much probiotic product do people need to consume to achieve the beneficial health effects? And how exactly do probiotics work in the body? And what doses work best when dealing with certain medical conditions? Unfortunately, we do not yet know the answer to these questions. (4)

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