Probiotic drinks? They sound healthy, but they may just be sugar water!

Everyone is familiar with probiotics. Advertisements on e-commerce platforms, a wide variety of probiotic supplements in pharmacies, and probiotic drinks everywhere in supermarkets are all creating an atmosphere that probiotics are so important that everyone needs them! But is this really the case?

Probiotics are the dominant flora in the human digestive tract, including Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium or Streptococcus. The World Health Organization defines probiotics as "live microorganisms that, when taken in appropriate amounts, can have a positive effect on the health of the host." Current research suggests that probiotics can resist the growth of pathogenic bacteria and are part of the human intestinal mucosal defense system. Their metabolites may also be beneficial to the human body.

Since probiotics are beneficial to the human body, should we take more of them?

First of all, probiotics already exist in the human intestine, and even without additional supplementation, these probiotics are always working. Secondly, probiotics are beneficial, but they are not a panacea. In terms of the efficacy of diseases, especially diseases of the digestive tract, the American College of Gastroenterology updated its latest clinical guidelines in May 2020, reiterating the conclusion: For most digestive system diseases, there is very little evidence to support the use of probiotics in treatment. Translated into human language, it means: Gastroenterologists believe that probiotics are almost impossible to have any effect. In other areas, such as improving immunity, preventing colds, improving constipation, etc., there is even less reliable research to support the "effectiveness of probiotics."

Seeing this, some people may say that probiotics are not good to eat, but they are not bad to eat either, so it is better to eat them than not to eat them. That being said, for probiotics to work, the necessary condition is that you have to ensure that they enter your stomach "alive" and in sufficient quantities.

Take the popular probiotic drinks for example. The package says 10 billion lactic acid bacteria. Doesn’t it seem like a lot at first glance? But when it really reaches the stomach, it’s hard to say whether there are hundreds of millions or even hundreds of millions. This is because probiotics have very high requirements for the living environment.

First of all, probiotics are extremely sensitive to temperature. 4 to 8 degrees Celsius is a relatively stable range, but probiotic beverages have to go through multiple links such as packaging, transportation, storage, and sales, which requires cold chain management throughout the process. Once in the hands of consumers, they must be refrigerated as soon as possible. If any link goes wrong, you may end up drinking just sugar water.

Even if we drink a cool probiotic drink, it does not mean that the probiotics can enter the stomach smoothly. Human saliva contains a small amount of lysozyme, which can kill some bacteria, and probiotics are no exception. When the "lost" probiotics reach the stomach, they will face the test of gastric acid. The main component of gastric acid is hydrochloric acid, which is a strong acid with a pH value as low as 1. Under normal circumstances, gastric acid can kill most bacteria in food. People will not distinguish which bacteria are probiotics and which are harmful bacteria and will attack them indiscriminately. After these two rounds, the probiotics have suffered great losses, and the remaining part has fortunately arrived in the intestines, but it is still baptized by bile that can dissolve bacterial cell membranes. Of course, it also has to face the "exclusion" of the original intestinal bacteria. It is really not easy for probiotics to survive.

Finally, Rong Ge has to point out that in order to reconcile the strong sour taste brought by fermentation, probiotic drinks generally add a lot of sugar. Some products have a higher sugar content than the same volume of cola. So, you think you are drinking probiotics, but in your stomach, there is only sugar left. Rong Ge doesn't need to explain what this means. In fact, healthy people do not need to supplement probiotics. It's okay to drink probiotic drinks occasionally, but it's just a drink. Don't think it has any special effects. A balanced diet can keep the intestinal flora healthy.