The claims available for the strain include: “Promotes gastrointestinal health in physically active adults”, and “Helps reduce the incidence of cold-like symptoms in adults with exercise-induced stress”.
Interest in probiotics and microbiome from the sports community is increasing. Athletic populations are recognized as a good model to document effects the potential effects of probiotics on our natural defenses and immunity.
According to Lallemand, the benefits of L. helveticus LAFTI L10 to support an athlete’s immune health have been reported by four clinical studies and several in vitro and in vivo mechanistic studies.
One particular study, published in 2016 in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism (Michalickova et al. Vol. 41, No. 7, pp. 782-789), found that supplementation with L. helveticus LAFTI L10 significantly reduced the duration of upper respiratory tract illness (URTI)-like episodes by more than 3 days.
In addition, probiotic supplementation normalized the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ (T helper/T suppressor) cells.