Probiotics and their power to delay consideration

Probiotics, especially lactobacillus, have shown a significant ability to delay covid (coronavirus) infection and reduce symptoms among a group of unvaccinated people who have been in contact with an infected person in their family.

A randomized, placebo-controlled study conducted by Duke Health researchers on 182 people suggests that probiotics could be a relatively simple and inexpensive approach to treating people after exposure to Covid. Paul Wischmeyer, assistant professor of clinical research in Duke's Department of Anesthesiology and co-author of the study, published in Clinical Nutrition."Before Covid, there was strong evidence that probiotics had a protective role against respiratory infections," he says. When Covid broke out, it was imperative to determine whether this simple and tolerable intervention could be useful. Our study provides encouraging evidence for the use of probiotics.

After analysis, the researchers found that participants randomized to receive probiotics were 60 percent less likely to develop Covid symptoms compared to those randomized to placebo (26.4 percent vs. 42.9 percent). Probiotic recipients were also able to keep the infection at bay for longer compared to those who received a placebo.

"We were actually not surprised by the study's findings," Wischmeier said. "There are several studies that have shown the strong effectiveness of probiotics against respiratory infections, including a very large study among infants in India published in Nature in 2017. Other preliminary studies have shown that probiotics also They may enhance the effectiveness of vaccines against other viral diseases, such as influenza."

Wischmeier pointed to evidence that probiotics improve immune function in several ways, including increasing the population of regulatory T cells, reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines, increasing the lung's protective barrier against infection and modulating antiviral gene expression.

"While the sample size in our study is limited, it generally lends credence to the notion that our microbial communities could be valuable partners in the fight against COVID-19 and other future pandemics," Wischmeier added. to be." "This may be particularly important in countries with fewer resources and lower vaccination rates."