New Help For Diarrhea

If your child gets diarrhea, there's new help from an old cure.

And what it is probiotics, or good types of bacteria our digestive system needs to function like it's supposed to.

Each of us has about 500 different kinds of bacteria in our stomachs and digestive tract. Some of these cause things like diarrhea, but some of them help us digest our food or keep from getting things like diarrhea.

And now the American Academy of Pediatrics says that these probiotics might help with a couple of different childhood types of diarrhea, namely those they get from a viral illness and those they might get from taking antibiotics. This goes along with what companies that produce products with probiotics--- things like yogurts, milks and some juices-- have been saying for years.

On the other hand, they say there isn't enough evidence about probiotics yet to recommend it for other intestinal issues like constipation, irritable bowel syndrome or Crohn's disease. But at least for diarrhea, something fairly common in children, grabbing a bit of yogurt might help get there stomach under better control.