According to an animal study from Hong Kong, probiotics may speed up the recovery of people with stomach ulcers.
Stomach or peptic ulcers are a small hole or erosion in the gastrointestinal tract. Most stomach cancers are caused by Helicobacter pylori bacteria.
The said study, investigated the effects of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, (one of the most extensively studied strains of probiotics) on gastric ulcer induced in rats.
According to lead author Emily Lama from the University of Hong Kong:
“In this study, we demonstrate for the first time that a probiotic strain L. rhamnosus GG is capable of accelerating gastric ulcer healing.
It is important …read more

A few days after laboring over my very first post, and I encounter this article about superfoods. It’s oldish, written a year ago, but still captures the concept of what functional foods are: foods that are valued not as much for their calorie or nutrient content, but for the amount of health-beneficial compounds they bear.
It also raises the issue of labelling. See, the US Food and Drug Administration is very strict on what claims food companies are allowed to write on their labels. Here’s an example:
[snip]… juice makers can claim that cranberry products help maintain urinary tract health, but they …read more