Specific probiotics alleviate allergic rhinitis during the birch pollen season

Specific probiotics alleviate allergic rhinitis during the birch pollen season
-Arthur C Ouwehand, Merja Nermes, et al.
World J Gastroenterol. 2009 July 14; 15(26): 3261–3268. doi:  10.3748/wjg.15.3261

Excerpts:

• Birch pollen allergy was shown to be associated with changes in fecal microbiota composition. The specific combination of probiotics used was shown to prevent the pollen-induced infiltration of eosinophils into the nasal mucosa, and indicated a trend for reduced nasal symptoms.
• ...our results indicate that gut microbiota are involved in regulating the inflammatory processes also in airway allergies. 
• The fecal levels of bifidobacteria, clostridia and Bacteroides were reduced at the peak of the birch pollen season. 
• In conclusion, our study showed that consumption of a combination of L. acidophilus NCFM^TM and B. lactis Bl-04 could positively influence markers of respiratory allergy, especially in the mucosae, and also resulted in a tendency for a reduction in reported nasal symptoms.
• Probiotics may provide an alternative or complementary treatment for pollen allergies. A future study could investigate whether this would lead to a reduced use of antihistamines.