Extra, Extra - Read All About It

As promised, here’s the next news installment we found during our probiotics research. This story is courtesy of Fox 7 News!

If you are one of the millions of Americans who suffers from stomach issues like bloating or constipation, relief may be as close as the grocery store! 7's Diana Diaz shows us why some doctors are making the Push for Probiotics.

Look in almost any supermarket or health food store and you'll see them: products that promise to strengthen your immunity and regulate your digestive system with probiotics.

But do they really work?

Karen Cohen is a busy mother of three.

"After I delivered Jarod, my second, I started having hoarseness, and I thought it was sinus," Karen says. But what Karen was feeling wasn't a sinus problem, it was actually a digestive problem. "I looked into it further and found it was reflux."

So she went to see gastroenterologist Charles Gluck at Memorial Regional Hospital for help.

He says the digestive system requires a critical balance. "There's a hundred trillion bacteria living in the colon, and they are an ecosystem just like any other ecosystem. If they're out of balance, you're out of balance."

Imbalances in the system can be caused by taking antibiotics that wipe out both the good and bad bacteria, causing a variety of symptoms.

"It could present itself as diarrhea, constipation, bloating, gas," Dr. Gluck says, adding that probiotics are "friendly" organisms that can be found in supplement form or by eating foods like Activia and DanActive yogurt. "What you are doing in that situation is flooding your colon with non-gas-forming friendly bacteria, thereby crowding out some of those aggressive or disease-causing organisms."

Karen had been taking a prescription medication for her reflux but wasn't getting relief.

Then she started taking two different probiotic supplements daily and watching what she eats.

"So, two weeks in, three weeks in, I started noticing I wasn't as hoarse, feeling better."

Dr. Gluck says there is no downside to taking probiotics, even though they might not work for everyone. All Karen knows is they worked for her!