When Sandy Parks* brought her four-month-old daughter to a mom-and-baby meet-up in her Toronto neighbourhood in the fall of 2017, she wasn?t expecting to drop $200. The first-time mom was nervous about introducing solid foods and was eager to hear from the guest speaker, a holistic nutritionist. The speaker talked about the importance of gut health for babies and recommended giving infants a daily probiotic supplement. Parks ended up buying a several-month supply on the spot. She liked the idea that she was taking this extra little step to try to keep her daughter as healthy as possible. ?I strongly believe it can help, and I see it as risk-free,? she says. 
If you?ve spent any time on a Facebook parents? group or even idly chatting with other tired parents at the playground, you?ve probably heard some variation of the pitch Parks heard about the wonders of probiotics. Colicky baby" Try probiotics. Gassy baby" Probiotics. Your kid?s on antibiotics" Probiotics! From capsules to powders to drops to yogurt drinks, probiotics are a booming business, and some parents swear by them. But is there any actual science to back up all the marketing hype and crowd-sourced remedies" Gut dwellers
Every one of us has a unique microbiome?the trillions of microbes that live inside each of our bodies?and research has increasingly shown that these organisms play a critical role in our overall health and well-being. Bacteria and other micro-organisms, like viruses and fung...