PERSPECTIVE
Probiotics
Probiotics as mainstream allergy therapy?
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor Simon Murch
Clinical Sciences Research Institute, Warwick Medical School, Clifford Bridge Road, Coventry CV2 2DX, UK; s.murch@warwick.ac.uk
Commentary on the paper by Weston et al (see page892)
Keywords: allergy; eczema; probiotics
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Probiotics, live microorganisms which confer a health benefit on the host when administered in adequate amounts,1 continue their impressive march from the fringes of scientific propriety to potential mainstream therapy. Claims for their efficacy, from the time of Metchnikoff and Nissle onwards, have sometimes appeared unfeasibly broad, with suggested benefits ranging from increased longevity to prevention of cancer and immunomodulation.1 Remarkably, the earliest patient known to have shown resolution of eczema with probiotics was Adolf Hitler, whose symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome also abated when treated with Mutaflor (Escherichia coli Nissle 1917) by the extravagantly quackish Theodor Morell, after dysbiosis was diagnosed by Nissle.2 With over 1
million internet pages, many commercially driven, probiotics remain big hitters in the alternative medicine arena. In contrast to many inhabitants of the fringe scene, they do however have a record of properly conducted trials confirming efficacy in specific areas – notably
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- Effects of probiotics on atopic dermatitis: a randomised controlled trial
- S Weston, A Halbert, P Richmond, and S L Prescott
Arch. Dis. Child. 2005 90: 892-897.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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