If you thought probiotic yogurt was only here to help you digest, think again! Researchers at Georgia State University have just published a study on how the lactic acid bacteria in your probiotic yogurt can actually help you protect you from some subtypes of the influenza A virus. Influenza A is the orthomyxovirus that is most likely to exhibit genetic shift which can result in a novel strain of flu every couple of years. Matching the vaccine with the influenza subtype each year is extremely difficult and sometimes we don’t get it right which can result in flu shots that are only 10% effective.
The researchers in this study wanted to look at a specific killed lactic acid bacteria (DK128) and its antiviral protective effects against influenza A. They pretreated mice with the DK128 bacteria and were exposed to lethal strains of influenza A. The mice that were pretreated with DK128 all survived and had “about 18 times less influenza virus in their lungs compared to control mice.” The study was significant in showing how the lactic acid bacteria was extremely effective in providing resistance to primary and secondary infection of influenza A - specifically the H1N1 and H3N2 strains. Hopefully this research will be effective in providing large communities with a simple way of gaining broad protection against the influenza A virus subtypes.
-Meley Gebresellassie
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