Probiotic risks

JUST because a label on a bottle of probiotic supplements has some details around the live organisms included with estimated numbers per capsule, health professionals cannot assume the information is adequate to assure consumers of a positive risk-benefit ratio, according to an article published in JAMA Internal Medicine this month.

Somerville Hospital Primary Care physician Pieter A Cohen wrote that identifying and eliminating potentially transferrable antibiotic resistance genes for all bacterial strains prior to marketing should be mandated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as is already required in Canada.

Cohen challenged the FDA’s “underdeveloped regulatory framework” - jamanetwork.com.