Two common misunderstandings about probiotics

　　◎ He Guoqing (Professor, School of biosystems engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University)

　　What is the hottest thing in nutrition now? "Probiotics" is definitely an existence that can’t be ignored, and it has become a hot topic on the Internet, giving birth to online celebrity products with all kinds of probiotics as elements.

　　While the topic of "probiotics" is hot, consumers can’t help but have many questions. What kind of bacteria is probiotics? Is there any substantial benefit to ordinary people? The following experts will come out to explain the misunderstandings about probiotics that have appeared in recent years.

　　Myth 1: Probiotic health foods can replace drugs to treat diseases.

　　Tell you for sure: no.

　　First, probiotic health foods are not medicines.

　　So what is a drug? There is a strict definition of drugs. Let’s talk about the purpose of using drugs first. Drugs are used to prevent, treat and diagnose human diseases and adjust human physiological functions purposefully. It is stipulated that there are clear indications or functional indications, in short, what diseases and their symptoms are targeted at, such as colds, fever, cough, pneumonia, enteritis and so on; It must also be clear about the usage: oral (fasting, after meals), intramuscular injection, intravenous injection, and which drugs can not be used at the same time, and the dosage (excessive dosage may have serious consequences, such as sleeping pills can improve sleep, and excessive dosage can kill); It is also necessary to explain what side effects there are. As the saying goes, "drugs are toxic in three ways", that is to say, drugs are allowed to have side effects, because if you want to treat a disease, you can only take the lesser of the two evils, and you should stop taking drugs when you recover, or you should stop taking drugs and change to other drugs after using them for a certain period of time (course of treatment).

　　Second, probiotic health food is food, not for the purpose of treating diseases.

　　The word health food contains two meanings: health care and food, that is to say, it has health care function, but it retains the basic requirement of food: safety. Health food is suitable for a specific group of people, generally a group (s) with poor physiological function, or a sub-healthy group. Moreover, different health foods have different health functions, which are suitable for different groups of people, such as constipation or diarrhea due to disorder of intestinal flora, frequent colds due to low immune function, fatigue and other different conditions, so the corresponding health foods are used. The state stipulates that health foods have 27 functions, and there are 27 different health foods; The purpose of eating health food is also to regulate the body function, prevent and reduce the occurrence of diseases, but not to treat diseases.

　　Health food belongs to food, and the most basic requirement of food must be maintained, that is, it is safe and does not cause any acute, subacute or chronic harm to human body. Any health food must complete acute, subacute and chronic toxicology tests before it is declared. Probiotic health food must also ensure that it will not produce antibiotic resistance tests. Only when it is determined that it will not produce any acute, subacute or chronic harm can it be approved as a health food.

　　Third, the law forbids health food to replace medicine.

　　The Food Safety Law has clear provisions on health food, formula food for special medical purposes, health food and other special foods. It is clearly stipulated in the health food clause that health food cannot replace medicine. At the same time, the law also requires that the label of health food must be marked: "This product is irreplaceable."

　　Fourth, health food can be used for patients, but it still cannot replace medicines.

　　As mentioned earlier, health food is suitable for a certain (some) people with poor physiological function or sub-health. These people can choose health food with corresponding functions, such as probiotic health food, according to their feelings in daily life, such as frequent constipation, frequent diarrhea, fatigue and frequent colds, and some indicators found in routine physical examination reports and medical examinations deviate from normal values, but have not yet reached the disease state, such as high blood pressure, blood lipid, blood sugar and uric acid.

　　As far as patients are concerned, they have serious physiological dysfunction, and when they are in a state of disease, they should seek medical treatment and medication. However, the disordered function in many diseases is consistent with the function that health food can regulate, and health food can be used under the guidance of a doctor. If antibiotics are used, it is often easy to cause intestinal flora disorder and even antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Probiotics can be used to adjust or rebuild the balance of intestinal flora. Nowadays, many doctors will recommend the use of probiotic health foods for intestinal diseases or antibiotics. Of course, when taking antibiotics, probiotics should be eaten after 2 hours to prevent being killed by antibiotics. I would like to remind you once again that patients need to consult a doctor or related professionals when eating probiotic health foods.

　　Myth 2: Long-term consumption of probiotic health foods will lead to dependence.

　　Tell you for sure: no.

　　First, probiotics are not common bacteria in the whole life cycle of human body, "they will not stick to you and depend on you".

　　As we all know, during the fetal period, that is, when the fetus is still in the mother’s stomach, the intestinal tract of the fetus is sterile. After birth, the baby obtains all kinds of bacteria from the outside, including the mother’s birth canal, nipple, milk, and the surrounding environment of the body, and quickly stays in the intestinal tract and grows and reproduces, which constitutes the intestinal flora, which is very important for life activities. Apart from helping digestion, it is also conducive to enhancing immunity, preventing infection, promoting development, and so on. The composition of infant intestinal flora is related to many factors, including the mode of production (natural delivery, cesarean section), the mode of breastfeeding (breast milk, formula milk), the time and type of complementary food addition, etc. With the increase of age, changes in diet, environment and other factors, the intestinal flora has also changed.

　　In infancy, the proportion of beneficial bacteria in the intestine is high, such as Bifidobacterium. With the increase of age and non-dairy food, the types of intestinal flora are increasing, reaching hundreds, including beneficial bacteria, harmful bacteria and neutral bacteria (conditional pathogens).

　　Usually used as probiotics, some strains exist in the intestine at some time, and some are not intestinal bacteria, such as Lactobacillus plantarum.

　　Second, the role of probiotics is to promote the balance of intestinal flora. After stopping eating probiotics, symptoms reappear, which does not mean that probiotics are dependent.

　　On the one hand, probiotics can produce beneficial metabolites, vitamins, etc., regulate the physiological function of the body, enhance immunity, etc., at the same time, it can inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria (pH, bacteriocin, etc.) and adjust or rebuild the balance of intestinal flora; Another important aspect is to promote the growth of beneficial bacteria, such as the production of butyric acid by probiotics, which can promote the growth of bifidobacteria in the intestine, repair digestive tract ulcers and become dominant bacteria in the intestine. These dominant bacteria, like probiotics, produce beneficial metabolites and inhibit harmful bacteria. This is the purpose of using probiotics, which I call "intestinal righting".

　　Some people found that the symptoms reappeared after stopping taking probiotics, which was thought to be due to the dependence on probiotics after long-term use. Actually, it’s not. It’s that your intestinal microecology has not been restored to balance, or the unfavorable factors to your intestines have not been eliminated.

　　There are many factors that are unfavorable to the intestinal tract, such as unrestrained entertainment (staying up late, playing cards, surfing the Internet), unreasonable diet (overeating, high-fat and high-sugar diet, excessive alcohol and tobacco, etc.), excessive stress (mental stress, irregular diet and rest), lack of exercise (sedentary), abrupt climate change (too fast alternating hot and cold), use of antibiotics, etc., all of which will destroy the intestinal microecological balance. As long as these factors are not eliminated, it is difficult to balance the intestinal flora. Therefore, it is also very important for the balance and health of intestinal flora to develop good living habits and laws, balance diet and combine work and rest.

　　Third, there has been no research report on correlation dependence in the past hundred years.

　　Intestine and its flora constitute an open microecosystem, and probiotics are a powerful assistant to maintain the stability of this system. Probiotics have been studied and applied for more than 100 years, but there is no report on the dependence caused by the loss of the reproductive ability of beneficial bacteria in the intestine due to long-term consumption of probiotic health foods.