Just add a little `friendly' bacteria

Chicory, blue cheese and yogurt may not yet be on your daily menu, but these foods are emerging as possible new ways to prevent -- and perhaps treat -- common skin and intestinal ailments.

It all comes down to healthful bacteria.

Trillions of these microscopic organisms -- more than the number of cells elsewhere in the body as a whole -- populate the gastrointestinal tract, especially the colon. There they serve as a key line of defense against harmful bacteria, viruses and toxins that attempt to invade the body through the intestines.

"It is becoming more and more apparent that an appropriate microbial balance in the intestine is crucial for human health," the University of Munich's Ilse J. Broekaert and Harvard University's W. Allan Walker say in a review article published recently in Nutrition Today.

The trouble is that changes in diet -- for example, decreased consumption of fermented foods such as blue cheese, buttermilk and yogurt -- have altered the natural balance in the intestines for many people. Increased use of antibiotics has also taken a toll on healthful bacteria.

That shift comes just as scientists better understand the value of these beneficial organisms, which have tongue-twisting names but are known collectively as probiotics. Among the leading strains are bifidobacteria and lactobacillus.

Studies show that probiotics, when ingested, can shorten the duration of viral diarrhea by a day in otherwise healthy children. They boost immune response to polio and rotavirus vaccinations and cut by 40% the diarrhea linked with antibiotic use.

There's also evidence that they can help reduce the bloating and flatulence of irritable bowel syndrome, inhibit growth of the bacteria responsible for stomach ulcers and boost effectiveness of drug treatment for this common disorder. "Yogurts containing live probiotics could become inexpensive tools for the treatment" of ulcers, suggest Broekaert and Walker.

There appear to be significant benefits outside the gastrointestinal tract too, including improved immunity, possible cancer prevention and better skin.

One study found that probiotics reduced eczema symptoms in children. Another found that infants born to women with a family history of eczema were 50% less likely to develop the disorder in the first four years of life when their mothers took probiotics during the last month of pregnancy and the first few months of breast feeding.