Summary: Probiotics may provide extra protection to unvaccinated people after exposure to COVID to delay infections and reduce their symptoms.

Since the beginning of the COVID era, medical science has acknowledged the connection between this serious respiratory disease and a person’s gut health.

Often, gut dysbiosis — disruptions in the healthy balance of bacteria in your gut — have been the focal point in studies that link your health to COVID.

Not so long ago, we learned how probiotics can do a lot of good to alleviate common symptoms for patients already suffering from Long COVID.

The benefits of probiotics may also extend to people exposed to COVID who haven’t received a vaccine, according to findings recently published in Clinical Nutrition.

Protection before a vaccine

Recognizing how effective probiotics were in relieving respiratory infections, researchers at Duke University and the University of North Carolina launched a study prior to the widespread release of vaccines in 2020 to test the protective effective of probiotics on the unvaccinated who had been exposed to COVID.

Half of the 182 patients took a probiotic containing a proprietary strain of Lactobacillus while the rest received a placebo daily for four weeks.

No surprise, those who took a probiotic were 60 percent less likely to develop COVID symptoms even after exposure to the disease compared to those in the placebo group and were able to protect themselves from contracting COVID for a longer time.

And, probiotic patients had more significant remnants of beneficial bacteria in stool samples taken 70 and 85 days after the initial trial too.

Although the study’s sample size was small (due to the rapid development of vaccines), scientists were very encouraged about the results yet not surprised by them, says Dr. Paul Wischmeyer, co-lead author on the study.

“While limited in sample size, our study lends credence to the notion that our symbiotic microbes can be valuable partners in the fight against COVID-19 and potentially other future pandemic diseases.

So, if you’ve been lax about staying up-to-date on your COVID vaccine schedule — less than 20 percent have received updated vaccines according to the CDC — you may want to consider getting some extra protection by taking a probiotic like EndoMune Advanced Probiotic, formulated with multiple strains of beneficial bacteria and a prebiotic that feeds the beneficial bacteria in your gut.

Advisory note

For the most up-to-date advisories on COVID-19, visit the CDC website at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.

Resources

Clinical Nutrition

Duke Health/News and Media

Washington Post