For the first time, researchers have been looking at the way that probiotics change gut microbes, which play a vital role in our metabolism. Abnormalities in these microbes have been linked to a range of diseases, including type II diabetes.

They have discovered that drinking a probiotic with live bacteria changed the make-up of the microbes. In effect, said lead researcher Jeremy Nicholson from Imperial College London, the live bacteria ‘talked’ to the gut microbes.

Nicholson and his research team hope their discoveries may one day lead to the introduction of specially formulated probiotics that are designed for individual metabolic types and for specific health problems.

(Source: Molecular Systems Biology, 2008; 4: 157 (published on-line, January 15, 2008)).