i keep seeing people talk about taking probiotic yogurt. what are the advantages to this and does it really help immune systems?

 

probiotics are beneficial for the digestive system. Yogurt and Sweet Acidophilus milk have probiotics, or you can take supplements to help your digestive system.

I personally think it's a marketing scheme... I doubt there's a large amount of probiotics in yogurt. You might have to eat several cups to get benefits


Probiotic supplements put healthy bacteria back into your body. Theories are that in the 60's (before or after) we started sterilizing plants and produce and then using chemicals (i.e., pesticides) and killing all the natural/good/bad bacteria that humans have been consuming forever. Now our bodies aren't getting the bacteria, and we aren't building up our immune system to prevent diseases. There's been a huge increase in the number of G.I. problems (IBD, IBS, Crohn's disease, etc.) in the last decade, which may be leading to the influx in "probiotic" marketing.

My wife has Crohn's disease, and takes probiotics daily - Bifidobacterium