While humans have been consuming fermented foods such as yogurt and kimchi for centuries, a visitor to a modern grocery store can see the recent commercial enthusiasm for adding probiotic bacteria to foods. A recent article in Slate explores the confusion over potential health benefits for these added bacteria.

The bacteria that live inside us seem to play an important role regulating metabolism, the immune system and the nervous system, but scientists have a lot to learn about how those interactions take place.

Researchers at Emory have been clarifying exactly how probiotic bacteria promote intestinal health. Andrew Neish and his colleagues have found that the bacteria give intestinal cells a little bit of oxidative stress, which is useful for promoting the healing of the intestinal lining.

Beneficial bacteria induce reactive oxygen species production by intestinal cells, which promotes wound healing.