Heart issues likely are not probiotic related.
Doctors, nutritionists and pediatricians often recommend patients of all ages try probiotics---live strains of "good" bacteria. As far as supplements and medications go, probiotics are relatively harmless. However, not all probiotic manufacturers use identical strains of bacteria.
Probiotics
Probiotics bacteria may aid digestion, boost the immune system and counteract yeast or parasites. You can find probiotics in foods such as yogurt and in supplement form. Probiotics increase the productive bacteria in your intestinal tract and reduce the activity of cancer-causing enzymes according to USProbiotics.org. Supplementation may also help create healthier intestinal cells, according to the nonprofit Council for Agricultural Science and Technology in a 2007 issue paper.
Uses
Your doctor may recommend probiotics after taking antibiotics, which kill off all bacteria, or for digestive issues. Made with different strains of bacteria, some are dairy based. Patients should know what bacteria strains are present in the probiotics they take, why they have been included, and store them.
Allergies
Vendors of probiotics typically use live cultures produced in labs, and may not the cultures' source or content. If you have a dairy allergy, you could react to dairy-based probiotics with hives, a rash or even anaphylactic shock. Heart palpitations aren't a common allergic reaction.
Infections
In rare cases, infections occur from ingesting probiotics, such as sepsis, a blood infection, according to the CAST issue paper. Infections also can settle in body organs like the heart, causing infective endocarditis. CAST cited 69 cases of endocarditis related to lactobacilli (live bacterial strain) since the 1970s, but the patients also had dental surgery around the same time. With infective endocarditis, symptoms far exceed heart palpitations, and include fatigue and body aches.
Side Effects
The side effects associated with probiotics are gas, bloating and infections. According to Kathleen Grall, pharmacist for The Medicine Shoppe in Colorado Springs, Colorado, heart palpitations would not be a probiotic side effect, as the bacteria stays in the gastrointestinal tract. She believes that a heart infection would be rare, as probiotics don't go into the bloodstream.
Heart Palpitations
According to the National Institutes of Health, some "herbal and nutritional supplements" cause heart palpitations, but a specific list isn't given. Typical causes of heart palpitations include anxiety, strenuous exercise, medications, hormonal changes, dehydration, anemia and other medical conditions. Probiotics didn't make the list.
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