“Good Bugs” Battle Colds

College students are susceptible to upper respiratory infections (URI) due to inadequate sleep, stress and close living quarters.  Previous studies have suggested the utility of probiotics, bacterial organisms that help maintain the natural balance of microflora present  in the intestines, to help modulate the immune response.   Tracey J. Smith, from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (New Jersey, USA), and colleagues enrolled 200 college-each students at a US university, administering a supplement of 1 billion colony forming units (CFUs) of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains , For a 12 week period. When the participants contracted a upper respiratory infection, the researchers observed that the duration of the section lasted for days, as compared to six days in a control group that did not receive probiotic supplementation, equating to a 34% reduction in the duration of the common cold.   The study authors suggest that: “[probiotic supplementation] may be beneficial among college students with [upper respiratory infection] for mitigating decrements in [health-related quality of life].”