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Pro-, prebiotics hit pocketbook

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I wish we could believe all the health claims a great variety of companies make about their products.

If they where really true, then we should have the healthiest population in the world; doctors offices and hospitals would be underutilized and our taxes and health care premiums would go down.

A brief reality check makes it pretty clear that either we do not make use of these natural or not-so-natural health foods, detoxifiers and herbal cures, or they do not work.

Given the overwhelming demand for government financed health care, it is pretty clear that most of the claims are bogus.

And that includes the claim “your money back” if not satisfied. I have not heard of anyone who successfully got their money back after purchasing any of these remedies or cures.

That may partly be due to placebo phenomenon. There is much evidence that if one strongly believes in the benefits of ingesting a substance, it will make you feel better even though in fact it leaves the body without doing anything beneficial at all.

Other people just cannot be bothered to claim their money back after they find out that they are wasting their cash.

In the meantime, clever advertising playing on people’s fears and desires supports a multi-billion industry of “health products” that are of questionable benefit and largely unnecessary if people would adopt a better lifestyle.

The Canadian government has been rather lax in requiring scientific evidence of health benefits that are claimed by food manufacturers. This is in contrast with the European Union, where so far every application for a health claim label has been refused on account of lack of evidence that it works as claimed.

I will just touch on two of these claims.

In the Canadian print media and on television, we regularly see images of very healthy appearing people promoting probiotics, leaving the erroneous impression that their healthy appearances are due to the use of high concentrations of these live yeasts and active bacterial cultures in specific brand-name products.

As far as I know, there is no harm in buying probiotics other than the harm to your pocketbook.

However, health-wise, I suggest that you benefit equally if you stick to basically the same natural organisms that are commonly found in a variety of regular yogurts, cheeses and other dairy products. Your pocketbook may like that better, too.

Either way, they are thought to help balance the hundreds of different intestinal organism species, each of which can be present in the millions. It is conceivable that in restoring or maintaining that balance, one could prevent diarrhea and other digestive tract disturbances. But these health benefits are not firmly established.

Other advertisements claim the benefits of prebiotics. No, this is not a spelling mistake and the one-letter difference in the words pro- and prebiotics refers to two very different substances. Confusing? Yes.

In contrast to probiotics, the prebiotics are soluble fibers and not live organisms.

Probiotics are great food for the beneficial bacteria living and multiplying in the gut. In theory, that would lead to the same results as are claimed for the probiotics. Based on that theory, these fibers are added to many processed foods, and since they are not fully digested, will help to make you feel full.

Instead of consuming expensive processed foods with added probiotics, it makes much more sense to eat a good variety of lots of fruits and vegetables.

You will then get all the prebiotic fibers your body needs and in a much healthier form.

Moreover, you will get all the necessary vitamins and minerals without having to resort to supplements. The end result may well be that not only you look and feel better, but your bank account may look healthier as well.

Dr. Marco Terwiel is a retired family physician who lives in Maple Ridge.