Q. What are Probiotics?
A. Probiotics are naturally occuring bacteria found in our intestine. They are actually one of our natural lines of protection.

Q. What are some examples?
A. Yogurt is one example, when it contains active bacteria. However, the yogurt dwelling bacteria, Lactobacillis acidophilus is probably the least effective according to studies.

Q. How well do Probiotics work for diarrhea illnesses?
A. Two recent studies showed that Probiotics reduced diarrhea duration by 13-20 hours compared with children who did not receive the Probiotics.

Q. What about diarrhea from antibiotics?
A. Because antibiotics can reduce some of the helpful bacteria, this is where Probiotics can be very helpful. A recent study showed that Probiotics reduced the chance and amount of getting diarrhea by 73%.

Q. What do you recommend for my children to reduce or prevent infections?
A. There are three different probiotic supplements shown to be most helpful. They are:

• Cultuerelle: www.culturelle.com. Comes in capsule form. Each capsule contains at least 10 billion Lactobacillus GG cells.
• Probiotica: tablets, lemon-flavored and chewable, are available over the counter. Each tablet contains 100 million Lactobacillus reuteri cells.
• VSL #3: www.vsl3.com. This is a powder that is designed to be mixed with beverages, applesauce and yogurt. Each packet contains 450 billion cells composed of eight different healthy bacteria, four lactobacillus, three bifidobacterium and Streptococ.