Good bacteria and how to get them

January 13, 2009

Most people know about antibiotics (AN–tee-by-AHT-iks). Those are medicines that kill bad germs. But some germs (also called bacteria – bac-TEER-ee-uh) are actually good for us. They are called probiotics (PRO–by–OT–iks). Eating probiotics improves our health. An article in the Wall Street Journal on January 13th by Laura Hohannes included this table. It tells the name of some of the new products sold at stores that have probiotics in them. In the table below, the word ‘Strain’ tells the scientific name of the probiotic. ‘Benefits’ tells you how it helps you, and ‘Product’ tells you the items sold that have the probiotic in them.