"Bugs" in Your Food Can Keep You Healthy

It's the latest health craze: adding bugs to your food. Not the creepy, crawly kind! These "bugs" are probiotics, or "friendly" microscopic bacteria like those normally found in your digestive tract. Manufacturers are adding them to everything from yogurt to baby formula to help keep you healthy, not make you sick.

Promising to "regulate your digestive health" or "strengthen your body's defenses," major food manufactures like Kraft and Dannon are promoting a growing number of products that contain probiotics in an effort to capitalize on the burgeoning health food craze. Experts say the microbes are generally safe and might even be helpful, though more research is needed to verify the rather vague claims appearing on food labels. This week the National Institutes of Health is sponsoring a conference where scientists will discuss recent advances.

This year more than 150 probiotic and prebiotic (fiber and nutrient containing microbes that feed probiotic bacteria) products have been introduced in the U.S., compared to 100 in 2006 and just 40 in 2005. Current studies of probiotics suggest they may be beneficial in treating gastroenteritis, diarrhea and some allergic skin reactions.