Probiotics (beneficial bacteria thought to stimulate immunity and promote digestive health) may help fight nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), according to recent animal-based research. In tests on young rats with NAFLD, scientists found that those treated with probiotics had a reduction in inflammatory liver damage. The probiotic treatment in the study included the bacteria Streptococcus thermophilus and several species of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria.
Human-based research on the use of probiotics in treatment of NAFLD is currently lacking. However, preliminary studies have proposed that intestinal bacterial overgrowth might contribute to the development of NAFLD, suggesting that probiotics could play a role in NAFLD prevention.
An increasingly common condition marked by fat buildup in the liver cells, NAFLD can lead to liver failure in some cases. There's no way to treat the condition medically, but research indicates that maintaining a healthy weight, following an antioxidant-rich diet, and reducing your exposure to toxins might protect against NAFLD.
While you do need flora (good bacteria) in your intestinal tract, you don’t need to take a probiotic, often produced by a pharmaceutical company, to achieve that. To replenish your good flora, simply eating plain organic yogurt each day with help a lot. Yogurt provides natural good bacteria. It is important that it is not sweetened yogurt though, as sugar feeds the candida (bad bacteria). I hope that this helps those people out there who believe that they need to buy special “pro-biotics” to be healthy. It’s simply not true.
Sarah
http://NaturallyGoodMagazine.com/blog
I agree with Sarah and would like to add to that. There are other cultured food options out there like kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut etc. Different people have different response to these cultures, i.e. some benefit more than the others. Cultured food are a great way to get benefits in digestion issues, Candida etc. More over they make for a great drink too.
xoxo
@Sarah:
While this may be true. I have severe problems digesting carbohydrates and yogurt and kefir are chalk full of them. I get serious blood sugar reactions from these products.
For those of us who have problems with this issue, taking a probiotic is a much better option.