Probiotic popsicles? Yum!

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Probiotics are hot health items right now. Laced with beneficial microbes such as Lactobacillus acidophilus or the alluringly-named Bifidobacterium bifidus (is that the microbe in the yogurt Jamie Lee Curtis is promo-ing on TV?) such products have variously been purported to aid digestion, ward off infections, boost immunity and things more extravagant besides. You’ll find them in supplements, yogurts, drinks, cereals, snack bars--a colleague even spotted a probiotics skin care line at a recent natural products trade show.

Now news from England: the world’s biggest ice cream maker, Unilever, has launched a new treat for kids: probiotic popsicles (or ‘ice lollies,’ as they’re called in Blighty). Yum! The launch ‘comes at a time when ice cream sales have been falling across western Europe,’ notes the report from Dairyreporter.com, a website that covers news related to the dairy industry.

Hmm. Could it be that--as usual--we’re going a tad overboard on how we dole these products out and assuming if a little of something’s good we should go whole hog and put it in the water?

--Rosie Mestel