Probiotics and pancreatitis: A rational analysis

Last week's headlines screamed out that 24 people had died during a study of probiotics (acidophilus, bifidus, etc.). Unless you read the entire story, the headlines would have you believe that the probiotics were the cause of the deaths.

The Dutch study, conducted from 2004 to 2007, used a population of 296 hospitalized patients suffering from pancreatitis, a disease with a high mortality rate. That 10% of those in the study died during the three years is not surprising.

Probiotics did not in this case seem to help these severely ill pancreatitis patients. I wonder, in a way, why anyone expected them to be helpful, considering they were administered in such an unnatural way — directly into the intestines via a tube!

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