By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    What Are the Benefits of CBD?
    November 27, 2021
    How to Measure Adult Diapers- The Ultimate Guide to Picking the Right Size
    March 8, 2022
    medicine cabinet
    The Effect Of Finished Dosage Form Manufacturing In New Drugs
    July 5, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Ebola Education, Hospital Marketing, Healthcare Marketing, Healthcare Communication
    Hospital Marketing and Ebola: Communication and Education Needed
    October 30, 2014
    healthcare IT
    The Billion Dollar Healthcare IT Opportunity That the US Government Wasted
    January 27, 2013
    red bull
    Downing Energy Drinks: A Real Buzz Kill
    March 17, 2015
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Risks of Probiotics – Who Cares?
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Policy & Law > Public Health > Risks of Probiotics – Who Cares?
Policy & LawPublic HealthWellness

Risks of Probiotics – Who Cares?

Michael Kirsch
Michael Kirsch
Share
4 Min Read
SHARE
Earlier this year I read about a medical study that concluded that a diet high in saturated fat won’t kill you after all.  Moreover, piling on polyunsaturated fat won’t save you.
 
Hee hee.  I love this stuff.  Established medical dogma back flips every 10 years.  Butter in, butter out.  Hormone replacement treatment for perimenopausal women is mandatory, until it isn’t.
 
Who knows what to believe when even doctors are confus
Earlier this year I read about a medical study that concluded that a diet high in saturated fat won’t kill you after all.  Moreover, piling on polyunsaturated fat won’t save you.
 
Hee hee.  I love this stuff.  Established medical dogma back flips every 10 years.  Butter in, butter out.  Hormone replacement treatment for perimenopausal women is mandatory, until it isn’t.
 
Who knows what to believe when even doctors are confused or just don’t know.
 
We have a medical industrial complex that is a beast that needs to be fed. It fuels itself on our fidelity to medical practices that are labeled as truths.  ‘Wellness’ rules.  How many decades did the public and the medical community preach that the P.S.A. blood test saved men’s lives?  While I believe that urologists were sincere in their mistaken beliefs and practices, there was a whole industry behind the scenes that was fueling the fire.  It was good business for hospital operating rooms, medical device companies and radiation therapy suites. 
 
Of course, you could make this same point with respect to my own specialty of gastroenterology, as I often do on this blog, as readers know.
 
Just because something sounds true, or we want it to be true, doesn’t make it true.
Is obesity really a killer on the loose?  When a reputable study is published that pulls back from this draconian conclusion, what happens?  The study is attacked by those who either truly believe that the study is flawed or by those who are threatened by it.  Mammography is a superb example of this phenomenon.  It is increasingly recognized that mammography is deeply flawed, problematic and harmful, but try discussing this with a mammography zealot.  If you dare to do so, don the Kevlar first.
 
Kevlar – Use for Zealot Protection
 
Probiotics are the rage for maladies spanning digestive disorders to depression to chronic fatigue.   Do they work?  Does it matter?   The science girding most of their claims is porous, deceptive or absent.  We should demand that their products be rigorously and independently tested, but this will not happen.  Why should these companies tamper with perfection?  We’re already buying their potions faster than you can say ‘gluten-free’.  Why risk the pesky scientific method that might cast a penumbra of doubt on their healing claims?
 
Think about the probiotic process.  Folks are swallowing billions (that’s billions with a ‘b’) of bacteria every day.   Of course, these are ‘good bacteria’, little microscopic elves that will gobble up diseases that are beyond the reach of conventional medicines.  First, let’s call them what they are – germs.   Is there any brave voice out there who is willing to vocalize concern about changing the human flora which took a gazillion years to develop through evolution?  Are bifidobacteria really smarter than millions of years of natural selection?
Years from now, when probiotics are off the shelves, folks will nod their heads wondering how millions of us swallowed billions of germs just because we wanted to believe. 
 
Skeptics of the world unite!
TAGGED:probiotics
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

biopharma beat
BusinessFinanceHealth ReformMedical EthicsMedical InnovationsPublic Health

BioPharma Beat: We Want Healthcare at Any Price – Until We Have It

May 7, 2014

Clinical Training Must Be Coupled with Policy, Management to Improve Care

May 29, 2012
Health careWellness

5 Vital Things To Know About Ambulatory Detoxification

January 23, 2019
Covid-19Health care

How to Get Kids to Wear Face Masks

February 10, 2021
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?