What an athlete’s poop might do for you
Katie Ledecky, Tom Brady, Serena Williams — all amazing athletes. But researchers at Harvard University aren’t interested in studying their performances. Nope. For a current study, what they want is a sample of elite athletes’ poop!
Why? Because they believe that if they can identify the special mix of bacteria living in the guts of top performers, they may be able to make a probiotic pill that will help the average weekend warrior up his or her game.
That sounds great, but a new analysis uncovers the fact that there’s not much research on the risks associated with taking probiotics. Researchers looked at nearly 400 studies on the effects of probiotics and found that nearly one-third didn’t report whether there were harmful side effects. A full 80 percent didn’t report how many serious adverse events took place. Maybe none did. That’s why, say the researchers, this doesn’t mean probiotics are dangerous, just that we need more information — and people with compromised immune systems should steer clear of them altogether.
The smart move: If you’re healthy and want to take one, look for a probiotic that contains lactobacillus and/or Bifidobacterium strains. They have the most evidence backing them up. And don’t eat saturated fats, added sugars or overly processed foods.
It’s all in the music
When Robert Preston (Professor Harold Hill) and Shirley Jones (Marian Paroo) made theatrical/film music history in 1962 with “The Music Man,” it was the most popular feel-good production of its day. That was more than 45 years ago, and today we’re still discovering the power music has to take care of your troubles whether you live “right here in River City” or not.
A new study from MIT and researchers working in Beijing found that musical training — specifically piano — improves language-learning skills for children and is possibly more beneficial than offering children extra reading lessons.
Looking at three test groups of 74 kids 4-5 years old, researchers found that giving them piano lessons at the age when they’re developing their vocabulary “uniquely enhanced cortical responses to pitch changes in music and speech.”
The piano group demonstrated unique advantages over the reading and control groups in consonant-based word discrimination.” In short, musical training helped the preschoolers with speech-sound processing.
Email questions for Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen to youdocsdaily@sharecare. com.