Probiotic Bacteria Defend Against Cancer

Carl Lowe | Feb 06, 2013 | Comments 0

When the friendly bacteria that normally live in your intestines are overwhelmed by pathogenic germs that are harmful, you can suffer inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer and other serious intestinal difficulties. And researchers have now shown that keeping your beneficial (probiotic) bacteria healthy keeps your intestinal tract free of disease.

When scientists at the University Lille Nord de France in Lille, France, examined intestinal inflammation and the growth of intestinal tumors in the lab, they found that probiotics play an integral role in protecting against the rise of inflammatory conditions and tumors. In thesetests, fecal transplants (fecal matter transferred from normal intestines to inflamed intestines) restored intestinal health.

The French researchers discovered that probiotic bacteria may stimulate the release of cancer-fighting proteins from the cells that line the intestinal tract.