taking Acidophilus before trip to CR
 

I think I read a post before that advised taking Acidophilus a couple of weeks before traveling? Any thoughts on this?

Thanks

This is a medical issue and not one for
a Forum of utter strangers whose credentials are unknown.

See your doc.

I take acidophilus every day regardless, it certainly can't hurt but I have no idea whether it would help any. Personally in CR I've drank tap water, ice, ate salads, fruit, etc and never had any problems but that's just me; everyone reacts differently.

Numerous interactions with medications:

see link:

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/ConsSupple...ophiluscs.html

Damn, but I wish goofy amateurs would STOP making blithe recommendations!

My personal favorite to keep the bugs and germs away: garlic pills. Of course, it might keep your girlfriend away also....

LOL, dnc11--you could be right! Hi Tully, David, fellow Fodorites. We, too, have spent many weeks at a time, have drunk tap water, eaten salads, eating and drinking just as we would at home. No problems whatsoever.

First of all I do not know for what specific reason you want to take Acidophilus.

If it is to ward off an infection from E.Coli, then that is highly unlikely.

Acidophilus ( in the Probiotic category) are deemed to promote good health...these come mainly from fermented foods.

In turn we eat very little of fermented foods in our daily diet.

Most probiotics are bacteria of either the Lactobacillus or Bifido- bacterium genera.

There is even one yeast, called Saccharomyces.

The probiotics may help in preventing(to a small degree) some infections of E.Coli.
They do this by competing with the harmful bacteria in your digestive tract.

The trouble with any antibiotic is that thye are all not very specific...so they kill both the good and bad bacteria....

It is our desire to attempt to replenish this "good" bacteria after the use of antibiotics that we use things like acidophilus.

Or we can not use an antibiotic and instead take a probiotic like Acidophilus and hope that it will work prophylactically......hmmmm....

how effective would this be if you happened to ingest E. Coli containing food.!!

Yogurt is the most common probiotic we use...the MAIN problem with eating yogurt, as an aid to a more healthy digestive tract is that you HAVE to consume about a LITRE per day..!!!!!!

Now , I like yogurt...but a litre per day!!

There is a brand out there called:
Activia yogurt ,that contains a high dose of a specific species of beneficial bacteria...so if you are buy...then get this kind.

Okay what are some good fermented foods..well:
there is
1.Pickled beets
2.Pickles
3.Sauerkraut

So you see , not exactly the kind of food we rush out to eat everyday is it !!?

Hi shillmac

Percy

hi Percy, hi Jill (still owe you an e-mail, lol) I'm slow :) Nothing new to add to this discussion, but.... Percy, you sound much more up on this than I am, sadly - I started taking acidophilus about 5-6 years ago and don't even remember why anymore, it's just a habit. But it seems to be okay so far, heh? ;)

Hi tully

Nothing wrong with eating yogurt!!!

Is acidophilus expensive to take everyday.?

Just got back from Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo Mexico...trying to get back in the groove.
Take Care
Nice to hear from you , as always.

Percy

The Civil War soldiers of German heritage avoided scurvy, by and large, by eating the sauerkraut and pickles supplied by suttlers.

Poppa

I did not know that about the German soldiers.

Then pickles are sauerkraut must contain a lot of Vitamin C.

I know the English ate a lot of limes when they were on a long sea voyage to prevent scurvy.
Hence the at times nickname for the English as "Limees".

Thanks for the added info.

Percy

I'm a pediatric resident and asked a couple of my pedi GI colleagues about giving this to my toddler daughter when we travel to CR in March. They both thought it was a great idea. FWIW, the medical research mostly is on lactobacillus GG, though acidophilus seems to be much more widely available in commercial preparations. Lactobacillus GG is available in Culturelle and one other brand whose name escapes me.

Take anything whose name end in "us."

But not anything that begins with "p."

That's the tip I got from an old gold miner in the Sierra Madre some years ago.

Hi Percy. . .looking forward to your next great vacation while still resting up from the last one?! Glad you made it home safe and sound. . .

Tully, take your time! :) It's nice just to say hello on Fodor's. You've been having some cooler weather down your way? We're still unseasonably warm here in the midwest. Darndest thing I ever saw. Need rain for these fires!!

Hi shillmac and tully.

shillmac , I am seeing that lady tomorrow to see if ther Australian tour is a go or not.

Tomorrow is the deadline date.!!

How is Isabelle doing?

Percy