ne of the most interesting aspects of probiotic supplementation is directed towards the immune response.
In a human trial, 24 subjects were fed 450 g of yoghurt
per day for 4 months, and showed signi"cant increase in
the production of c-interferon (Halpern, Vruwink, Van
de Water, Keen & Gershwin, 1991). In animal models,
probiotics have been shown to stimulate the production of antibodies (local and systemic), enhance
the activity of macrophages, increase c-interferon levels
and increase the concentration of natural killer cells.
Obviously, the non-pathogenic nature of the probiotic is
crucial.