Do Probiotics Improve Running Performance?
How a healthy gut can help athletes train better.
How a healthy gut can help athletes train better.
09/2015
By Robert Lillegard
As sauerkraut, kombucha, and Greek yogurt pop up everywhere, probiotics—live bacteria and yeasts that supposedly improve gut health—are starting to make headlines. But do these little organisms improve running performance? Lisa Dorfman, a competitive runner and nutritionist based in Miami, says it's not that simple.
“I would not look at a probiotic as a performance enhancer,” Dorfman says. “What probiotics can do is keep the runner healthier so they can train better.”
A small 2014 study in the European Journal of Applied Physiologyshowed athletes' run time to exhaustion in the heat improved by 14 percent after taking probiotics for four weeks. A study in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport showed a 50 percent reduction in the incidence of upper respiratory and GI symptoms among elite athletes.
Heavy training wears down the immune system and increases a runner's risk of infection, especially when recovering from a hard workout, so probiotics can be a sensible precaution. They also improve digestive function. Here are a few tips to make sure that your probiotic intake is effective:
Don't Forget Prebiotics
Probiotics love prebiotics, which are nondigestible fiber compounds that help the beneficial bacteria thrive in the intestine. Bananas, asparagus, chicory, and garlic are great sources of prebiotics. Galactooligosaccharide, a prebiotic, is even found in breast milk—not a practical option for runners, but proof that prebiotics are important.
Get Them Fresh
Choose yogurt with the “Live & Active Cultures” seal on the package (all yogurt is “made with” live cultures), or find a product that guarantees a sufficient probiotic count all the way through the time of expiration. Manufacturers can play tricks with labeling—Dorfman recommends you research probiotics on consumerlabs.com before buying.
Keep Your System Healthy
“Eating on the fly, NSAIDs, sports drinks, life stress…all of these decrease the amount of healthy bacteria in your gut,” Dorfman says. Probiotics are just part of total gut health. So relax, eat natural foods, and recover with stretching or an ice bath rather than by popping ibuprofen.
Comment: Dr. Eisenstein explained in the "sterilized" world we live in, it is paramount to build probiotics into your diet. He believed in a combination of both supplements and whole foods. The Dr. Eisenstein also put probiotics into all of our dry products as a way of the body better absorbing the supplements.
By Robert Lillegard
As sauerkraut, kombucha, and Greek yogurt pop up everywhere, probiotics—live bacteria and yeasts that supposedly improve gut health—are starting to make headlines. But do these little organisms improve running performance? Lisa Dorfman, a competitive runner and nutritionist based in Miami, says it's not that simple.
“I would not look at a probiotic as a performance enhancer,” Dorfman says. “What probiotics can do is keep the runner healthier so they can train better.”
A small 2014 study in the European Journal of Applied Physiologyshowed athletes' run time to exhaustion in the heat improved by 14 percent after taking probiotics for four weeks. A study in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport showed a 50 percent reduction in the incidence of upper respiratory and GI symptoms among elite athletes.
Heavy training wears down the immune system and increases a runner's risk of infection, especially when recovering from a hard workout, so probiotics can be a sensible precaution. They also improve digestive function. Here are a few tips to make sure that your probiotic intake is effective:
Don't Forget Prebiotics
Probiotics love prebiotics, which are nondigestible fiber compounds that help the beneficial bacteria thrive in the intestine. Bananas, asparagus, chicory, and garlic are great sources of prebiotics. Galactooligosaccharide, a prebiotic, is even found in breast milk—not a practical option for runners, but proof that prebiotics are important.
Get Them Fresh
Choose yogurt with the “Live & Active Cultures” seal on the package (all yogurt is “made with” live cultures), or find a product that guarantees a sufficient probiotic count all the way through the time of expiration. Manufacturers can play tricks with labeling—Dorfman recommends you research probiotics on consumerlabs.com before buying.
Keep Your System Healthy
“Eating on the fly, NSAIDs, sports drinks, life stress…all of these decrease the amount of healthy bacteria in your gut,” Dorfman says. Probiotics are just part of total gut health. So relax, eat natural foods, and recover with stretching or an ice bath rather than by popping ibuprofen.
Comment: Dr. Eisenstein explained in the "sterilized" world we live in, it is paramount to build probiotics into your diet. He believed in a combination of both supplements and whole foods. The Dr. Eisenstein also put probiotics into all of our dry products as a way of the body better absorbing the supplements.
