Re: RC: Probiotics Question

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/25/99 6:08:54 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
guest@endurance.net writes:

<< I just read Susan G.'s web page on probiotics, and have a question
 for her and any vets out there willing to lend a hand.  When the
 cecal pH drops and kills many species of microflora during a grain raid 
 (thank you Lactobacillus species), how the heck can a probiotic be fed
 without the gastric acid destroying the bugs first?  Hydrochloric acid
 is nasty stuff --- from what I understand, the supplemented probiotics
 are not "coated" from this acid, or are they??? Enquiring minds want 
 to know :-D! >>

I'm sure that SuG can answer this in much more detail, but for one, the 
stomach pH in horses isn't anywhere NEAR that of humans, unless, of course, 
there is pathology going on there, too, as in some sort of delayed emptying 
and resultant fermentation.  For two, even though there is likely SOME kill 
in the stomach, gastric emptying is reasonably rapid, and between those two 
things, apparently sufficient "bugs" survive to go to work elsewhere in the 
GI tract.

Heidi


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