Q: Are probiotics safe? Healthy?

A: “Good microbes in our intestinal tracts keep bad microbes in small numbers,” says Gary Huffnagle, PhD, of the University of Michigan. Probiotics, which are “friendly” bacteria found in some yogurts, can help maintain a healthy microbial balance. Many nurses prescribe probiotics to women following a course of antibiotics to prevent yeast infections. In 2003, the medical journal Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease found that yogurt with the probiotic strain bifidus regularis (found in Dannon’s Activia) decreased the amount of time it takes for food to move through the intestine, reducing gas, bloating and constipation.