Pro and Pre Biotics drinks?

[Homer55]

What are they supposed to do for you and do they actually work?

[BBWCHATT]

I don't know a thing about them myself, but I found this on the internet for you:
Probiotics are live bacteria that can have a beneficial effect on the balance of so called 'good' and 'bad' bacteria that already live in our large gut. There's some indirect evidence from studying people that regularly consume these kinds of bacteria in fermented milk that they have better health. In this case, lower rates of food allergy, gut cancer and so on. And the scientific evidence for their health benefits is currently building. They do seem to have some beneficial effect on boosting the immune system, reducing the symptoms of food allergy and helping to breakdown potential cancer causing compounds in the large gut. But scientists still don't know how they really work, and whether regular consumption over a long period of time will definitely reduce your risk of chronic disease, especially cancer. I use the phrase 'reduce your risk' because with diseases like cancer there are so many causes. It's hard to isolate one single cause or one way of preventing cancer. So all of us should talk about reducing or increasing risk rather than
absolutes such as 'prevent' or 'cure'. More interesting though is use of prebiotics in treating specific groups of the population or specific conditions. For example, the elderly are more prone to food poisoning due to changes in the bacterial profile of the gut as they age. Regular consumption may help reduce their risk of suffering from upset stomachs. Some children with eczema have shown improvement in their symptoms with consumption of probiotics. There is also interest in taking probiotics as a prophylactic to prevent traveller's diarrhoea when going abroad on your hols, and of course using them after a course of antibiotics. In these situations you will actually "feel" the benefits. I'm not sure you're supposed to feel "superhuman" just by taking probiotics - the effects are far more subtle than that.