This week in class we explored probiotics and food regulations through research and reflection. The research enhanced our learning about bacteria by presenting us with new information about the bacteria naturally in, and sometimes added to, our food. It has made me want to learn more about the specifics of probiotics - which bacteria are the most commonly added to food, what exactly what studies have been conducted supporting or disagreeing with the idea that probiotics actually positively impact your health.
In Live Bacteria, Food Makers See A Bonanza
One of the articles I read this week was called "In Live Bacteria, Food Makers See A Bonanza." It said that companies have discovered that marketing their food products as 'probiotic' has a huge positive impact on their sales, as well as how consumers respond to the sudden surge of probiotic foods.
The article also showed contrasting consumer perspectives on probiotics in their food. Some consumers will only buy probiotics if they feel a significant impact on their health. Others, like Susan Kramer, a middle-aged woman quoted in the article, say instead that buying probiotics "just makes her feel good."
This brought up an interesting idea for me, and I explored the idea further in the questions we answered to reflect on the article. Why do we, as a culture, tend to turn to medical solutions to our problems over more natural ones? This question ties directly into probiotics, because I think the reason we buy probiotics is because of that reliance on medical solutions - to us, something marketed as scientifically good for you, or scientifically able to solve your problems is automatically more attractive to consumers than something 'normal.'
Additional Probiotics Can Make You Healthier?
In class this week, we split into groups and researched yogurt, probiotics, and their health benefits, so we could investigate the claim that "additional probiotics in food can make you healthier" and use what we've learned to decide whether or not we agree with this claim.
To me, there are two keywords especially important to pay attention to when considering this claim. Firstly, the statement specifies additional probiotics. However, as the group researching the basics of yogurt learned in our research, yogurt and other fermented foods actually require bacteria (usually from the types called lactobacillus bulgaricus and streptococcus thermophilus in the case of yogurt, for their fermentation process.
This means that yogurt already has live and active cultures in it, which is why yogurt is such a healthy food in general - its beneficial bacteria already give many of the health benefits highlighted in "extra healthy, probiotics added yogurt."Also, if you compare the health benefits found by the groups researching those of regular yogurt and probiotic yogurt, the most scientifically credited of each tend to match up - they improve digestion and treat bowel conditions like diarrhea and boost your immune system.
This is also the case with most other kinds of fermented foods, which is the main type of food that also claims to have additional probiotics. The fermentation process requires bacteria, so all fermented foods actually already have natural probiotics in them.
Secondly, the claim is that additional probiotics can make you healthier, a very important distinction, as there have been situations where it is truly the more beneficial bacteria the better. The main situation put forward by the group researching the health benefits of probiotics is when someone is taking antibiotics. Antibiotics, while killing the "bad" bacteria in your gut, also take out a lot of the natural beneficial bacteria. Taking probiotics can be extremely effective in repopululating the good bacteria in your gut.
Overall, I think in general that added probiotics do not usually benefit your health in a noticeable way, or in a way beyond the benefits provided by the probiotics naturally in yogurt, but they can be beneficial in specific circumstances, such as when you're taking antibiotics.
Food Packaging and Regulation
The article also brought up the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and we also explored the administration in our research in class. Their job is particularly relevant to probiotics, as it is their task to define and enforce the line between food and medicine, and foods with added probiotics are, in a way, attempting to be both.
The FDA has a major part in the regulation of what's required to be on food labels. Food labels help you determine whether a food is healthy or not - in fact, they are often the single tool a consumer uses to judge the nutritional value of a food item. Because of this, however, it is extremely important for food labels to actually have the food information consumers need on them.
Unfortunately, when it comes to probiotics, label regulations do not always require enough precision, and food companies are often able to get away with vague statements like "additional probiotics added" without specifying exactly what those probiotics are. When packaging is vague like this, it no longer is a reliable source when judging the health benefits of a food - you need to have all the information to be able to come to an informed conclusion.Because of this tolerated vagueness, companies are also sometimes able to leave seemingly irrelevant marketing claims unsupported - such as, say, yogurt claiming to improve the consumers' skin and eyesight. I, or likely any other informed consumer, would be very skeptical about buying this. From what I've learned, beneficial bacteria in your food, natural or otherwise, can have many helpful effects - but improving your skin and eyesight isn't one of them. Even when food with added probiotics does have benefits, it is very unlikely for those benefits to extend beyond heightened versions of the benefits given by regular versions of those foods.
The FDA does not take strong enough stand against potentially harmful or even just wasteful products - such as, perhaps, food with added bacteria that may not even be doing anything. They allow food sold through vagueness, imprecision, and even false or unsupported marketing claims to pass into the consumer market.
They can improve in a number of different ways: labels should be more specific, claims should have to cite studies backing them up, and the administrations should just screen more in general, keeping food companies accountable to the safety and well-being of their customers.
Shopping Habits
Probiotics and their (overstated) health benefits are just one example of situations taking advantage of consumers who are just looking for easy ways to stay healthy or consumers who haven't always taken the time to learn about what they're buying. Keeping this in mind, below I have compiled a checklist of some of the things shoppers should keep in mind or do before going grocery shopping.
1. Do your research before going shopping - are there particular brands that are recommended when buying a certain type of food? How does that compare to brands of that product you and your family prefer? This will help you strike a balance between what tastes good, what's best for you, and when a difference in brand just doesn't really matter that much.
2. Think critically about your choices before you make them. This will help you avoid making the impromptu choices that often lead to bad consumer decisions.
3. Read the label before buying the product. While we know that labels aren't always precise or detailed, they are still there as a resource you should take advantage of.
4. Don't let your desire to be healthy drive you to choose foods that advertise artificial health benefits over foods where healthiness is taken for granted, like fresh fruits and vegetables.
5. Finally, remember that your choices are your choices. While it is very useful to have researched a number of different perspectives, it should be from your perspective that you make your decision. You know what's best for yourself.
