Stars: ★★★★☆

Wiley (2012)
188 pages

Summary: Also known as “friendly” or “good” bacteria, probiotics are fast becoming an important component of a successful health program. This hands-on friendly guide gives you everything you need to make informed decisions about adding probiotics to your daily diet. – source back of the book

When I was asked if I’d like to review this book, I wasn’t sure at first but decided that it was the perfect way to learn more about Probiotics. I had heard so much about them, especially from other bloggers but I’m reluctant to try them because I have read about advertising tricks and marketing and how we are led to believe certain super foods and such added to other things like lotions and medications are so much better when that’s not always the case.

After reading this book, I can say I am interested in trying my family on probiotics. It don’t sound like a fad or marketing ploy, it sounds like actual research and the research makes sense to me. Our family could definitely benefit in many ways from Probiotics. Now about the book…

What You’ll Find Information On:

• True Nature of Bacteria
• Introducing Prebiotics and Probiotics
• How Probiotics help:
  • Digestive Health
  • Allergies
  • Urinary Infections
  • Women’s Health
  • Children’s Health
  • Other Health Issues
• Promise of Probiotics
• Filling your Diet with Probiotics
• Probiotic Rich Recipes
• Ten (or so) Lists
  • Ways Probiotics Promote Good Health
  • Misconceptions about Probiotics
  • Famous Bacteria

The book alternated between confusing me a bit with technical data and presenting clear and easy to understand facts.  When it got a bit technical, I read the paragraph again. If I still didn’t get it, I skipped it. I feel this worked well for me. I still feel I understand enough to make an informed decision about using probiotics for my family.

The most informative section was the one that covered how probiotics help each type of body health. The recipes would have been better if they explained which ingredient it was that was contributing probiotics as in many cases it wasn’t clear to me and since I like to be a creative cook and not use recipes as is, I would hate to substitute the key ingredient!

Check out this Probiotics for Dummies cheat sheet or the author’s webpage, Dr. Challa.

*I received a copy of this book for review purposes.