#302 Probiotics Don't Cure Stomach Flu (So what?)

Life By Design Podcast

In a recent study that was published by The New England Journal Of Medicine, probiotics given to children with gastroenteritis (commonly called the stomach flu) had no effect in helping treat the stomach flu. Nine hundred seventy-one children were selected between the ages of 3 months to 4 years to participate in a randomized controlled double-blind study to measure whether probiotics had a positive effect on the treatment of the stomach flu. The conclusion reached by the medical team was the group treated with the probiotic showed no improvement over the placebo group, therefore, probiotics are not effective in treating the stomach flu. The purpose of this podcast is to review the study but more importantly to apply the conclusion to the philosophical difference between disease treatment (the practice of medicine) and health creation - what we are encouraging with The Life By Design blueprint. We do not doubt the study's results - although we are sure there could have been better measures taken by the doctors to ensure specificity (a bacterial culture was not performed) and repeatability. What we covered

• A review of the study and the findings.
• So what and who cares? Just because the study found that probiotics don't treat the stomach flu doesn't mean that probiotics are useless and you shouldn't take them. There is more to life than just the treatment of disease.
• A quick review of strategies vs. requirements - yes we do this every time because it's that important
• A discussion around the requirements for creating health and why health is much more challenging to measure than disease treatment.
• A discussion and assumption that supplements should not be used to treat any disease and that is not their purpose, but that doesn't mean that they are useless and should be ignored either.