Can probiotics help prevent COVID?

COVID is in the news almost every day.  A new variant is popping up, etc.  The news recently was fascinating.  Are there foods or supplements that not only can help prevent COVID but also reduce symptoms?  Why hadn’t we heard this before?  You may have seen the many headlines about Probiotics can Reduce COVID Symptoms and Delay Disease.  Researchers at Duke University have come out with surprising findings about probiotics and COVID.  

What did the Duke University study find about COVID and probiotics?

Before COVID, researchers already knew that probiotics were helpful in preventing respiratory infections.  In March 2020, before many people had been vaccinated for COVID, Duke researchers studied unvaccinated individuals who had been exposed to COVID.  They studied 182 people, with half getting the probiotic lactobacillus and the other half taking a placebo pill.  Even though the research was cut short because study participants started to get vaccinated against COVID, their findings were remarkable.

The group taking the probiotic, lactobacillus:

•  Were 60% less likely to get COVID symptoms
• And the probiotic study group staved off COVID infections for a longer period of time

Thus, the study at Duke University demonstrated “probiotics, specifically lactobacillus, demonstrated significant ability to delay a COVID infection and reduce symptoms among a group of unvaccinated people who had been in contact with someone in their household diagnosed with COVID.”   However, it is important to note that probiotics cannot treat or cure COVID-19 .

Why are probiotics helpful in fighting infections?

Most people know that probiotics are good for your gut.  Probiotics actually strengthen your gut by making your gut wall more able to keep out any harmful bacteria or toxins.  Probiotics help repopulate your gut with “good” bacteria and help prevent the growth of “bad” bacteria in your gut. (See: Healthy gut for a healthier you .)   Probiotics also help your body fight infections, even infections in the lungs.  Studies have found that strains of Lactobacillus can “halt the development of upper and lower respiratory tract infections…”. 

What are probiotics?

I told my students that probiotics are the good bacteria in foods and in your intestine.  “Probiotics are often called “good” or “helpful” bacteria because they help keep your gut healthy”. 

What probiotics fight infections?

The Duke study cited above, used lactobacillus, specifically Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG or LGG.  But other studies about COVID and the role of probiotics being therapeutic used different strains of lactobacillus including lactobacillus acidophilus, lactobacillus bulgaricus, or Bifidobacterium.

What foods have probiotics?

Although probiotics can be found in probiotic supplements, a number of foods contain probiotics.  Foods that contain healthy probiotics include yogurt, sauerkraut, tempeh, kombucha and some aged cheeses like “Swiss, provolone, Gouda, cheddar, Edam, Gruyere and cottage cheese”.  (For a good video on probiotics, watch Probiotics – What are Probiotics ).  You can read the label on yogurt containers to note what live cultures or probiotics the yogurt contains, although some manufacturers have stopped including this.  Maybe they should reconsider and put the names of the cultures back on their packaging.

Conclusion:  Who knew that probiotics had any link to COVID?  Yet researchers caution that more research is needed.  On the other hand, much research has been done on probiotics boosting immunity and reducing inflammation.  Many relatives in my family enjoy foods such as yogurt every day to add not only probiotics to their day but also calcium, vitamin D, and high-quality protein.  Other relatives like kombucha.  Most people like cheese and as noted above aged cheeses also provide probiotics.  The research noted above was done with probiotic supplements.  More research is needed on the effect foods with probiotics may have on COVID and on health.  Cleveland Clinic notes that probiotics help boost your immune system against infections. What foods can you add to your day to add some healthy probiotics to your diet?  

 

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