A Cup of Bifidobacterium Animalis Strain DN-173 010, Please
If you watch TV you’ll have noticed celebrities eager to tell you about their “digestive health”. They attribute their well being to regularity and their regularity to eating probiotics, which are live bacteria. The NYTimes also noticed and reported on the issue today. Especially of note to lawyers is the discussion of the $35 million Dannon, maker of probiotic product Activia, has agreed to pay to settle claims of mislabeling and deceptive marketing.
Interestingly, Dannon has agreed to “increase the visibility of the scientific names of the unique strains of probiotics that are in each of these products”. Pity the poor consumer who has enough trouble understanding the nutritional data already on food products – “hmmm, should I buy the yogurt with streptococcus thermophilus, lactobacillus acidophilus and a generic bifidobacterium or the one with just bifidobacterium regluaris?”
Then there’s the law of unintended consequences. The idea that certain strains of bacteria have been essentially domesticated and can be turned loose in the gut to work their magic without fear that they might mutate or disrupt an already balanced system seems overly hopeful. While the milk intolerant have been happily ingesting lactobacillus acidophilus for years and research on certain species of lactobacillus seems to support the theory that these “good” bacteria wage war in your guts against “bad” cancer-causing bacteria both directly and indirectly (e.g. by inducing intestinal epithelial cells to shore up their defenses) one wonders how long it will be before a good strain goes bad, a good strain is unmasked as a double agent or a good strain is demonstrated to have a dark side.
