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Article: Healthy bugs living in harmony, inside the world of friendly probiotics.
- Article from:
- Environmental Nutrition
- Article date:
- October 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Belvoir Media Group, LLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Digestive health is a big priority these days--the U.S. probiotic ("friendly bacteria") market is projected to be worth up to $2 billion or more by 2013, according to a recent Datamonitor study commissioned by Kraft Foods. Yet even with famous faces and large food companies touting the gut health benefits of probiotics, confusion abounds. The Datamonitor study revealed that 63 percent of consumers are still confused by probiotics and only 13 percent could accurately define what they are. So what are these friendly microbes and how do they work?
In the early 19th century, when the concept of probiotics and their proposed colonic health benefits first emerged, ...