BB12 and The Immune System – A Good Team
Your immune system and your gut are deeply connected, around 70% of your body’s immune cells are located in the intestinal lining. It’s one of the body’s busiest communication hubs, constantly learning, adapting, and responding to what you eat and what you’re exposed to. It therefore almost goes without saying that the health of your gut, and especially the microbial community in your gut, can have a real impact on how your immune system responds to threats.
Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12 is one of the world’s most researched live bacterial strains for supporting this connection. Scientists have explored how it interacts with the immune system, from helping the body respond to vaccines, to supporting balance during seasonal challenges and everyday immune stress.
Across numerous clinical trials in adults, children, and infants, BB-12 has shown very promising results, with a real indication that it can help the immune system to remain responsive and calm, and keep it ready for the threats it was built to face.
So, what did the researchers find?
Within immunity the research has explored a few different areas. Let’s break some of them down and have a good look at what the actual results were.
Stronger response to vaccination
In a large double-blind, placebo-controlled study of over 200 healthy adults, those who took BB-12 daily for six weeks, that’s two weeks before and four weeks after an influenza vaccination, showed a stronger antibody response to the vaccine than those who took a placebo. Levels of key immune markers, including IgG and IgA, which help the body recognise and respond to challenges and threats, were all higher in the BB-12 group.
This shows us an interesting possibility, that BB12 could actually help our vaccines to be more effective by encouraging our immune system to respond faster and more effectively. An encouraging piece of evidence!
Respiratory infections in Infants.
Respiratory infections are never fun, and can be especially concerning when we see them in the very young, as their immune systems are still developing.
In a randomised, controlled trial involving more than 100 infants, researchers found that babies who received BB-12 daily through a specially designed slow release pacifier tablet were significantly less likely to develop respiratory infections during their first months of life.
About 65% of the infants who took BB-12 experienced an infection, compared with 94% of those given a placebo, a very encouraging 31% reduction in risk.
This study focused specifically on early life, and found similar results to the testing in adults, suggesting that the support BB12 may be able to offer our immune systems can be seen across multiple age groups. These are encouraging results indeed, especially when it comes to reinforcing the youngest around us.
Shorter, milder colds in adults – a BB12 + LGG blend.
In another double-blind, placebo-controlled study, over 230 college students took a daily combination of BB-12® and LGG®, the same two strains of bacteria offered in the products from the BetterGuts range, for twelve weeks during the winter months.
Students taking the two-strain blend reported experiencing shorter colds, around 2 days less on average. Not only this but the symptoms were less severe as well, with a reported drop of 34% in severity. This led to ultimately fewer missed days of study in the probiotic group compared to the placebo, and therefore less disruption to their daily lives.
This research highlights how BB-12 and LGG can complement each other and work together. LGG has also been researched heavily into its effects on the immune system, check out our LGG immune article for more info on that. This can be taken as encouraging evidence that these two well studied bacteria can pack a powerful punch as a team.
Increased immune markers
Some other smaller studies in adults have found that taking BB-12 daily for just a few weeks can increase natural immune markers in the gut, including secretory IgA, a key line of defence for the intestinal and respiratory surfaces. These findings, whilst coming from smaller studies, may go some way to explaining the mechanics of how BB12 can benefit the immune system.
Why It Matters to You
Your immune system is constantly active, and it’s always on the lookout for anything that shouldn’t be there, but it also depends on balance. When that balance is disrupted by stress, travel, diet, or the changing seasons, your body’s defences can feel sluggish, or even become too active, leading to problems such as allergies.
The research on BB-12 shows some very encouraging trends. The immune system in these studies was shown to respond more effectively, and faster too, leading to faster recovery times and less severe symptoms.
This doesn’t only apply to the immune response when you actually get ill, either. The study alongside vaccination shows a very real possibility for BB12 to boost the immune response to vaccination, leading to greater effectiveness and faster too.
Whether it’s supporting the body’s response to seasonal changes, helping maintain comfort during everyday immune stress, or pairing with LGG for broader coverage, BB-12 has a very robust group of studies behind it into seasonal wellbeing and immune response. Studies that are mostly randomised control trials, for gold standard science that you can trust.
References (the science) – Don’t just take our word for it:
1. Rizzardini, G., Eskesen, D., Calder, P.C., Capetti, A., Jespersen, L. and Clerici, M. (2012) ‘Evaluation of the immune benefits of two probiotic strains Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis BB-12® and Lactobacillus paracasei ssp. paracasei L. casei 431® in an influenza vaccination model: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study’, British Journal of Nutrition, 107(6), pp. 876–884. doi: 10.1017/S000711451100420X. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21899798/
2. Taipale, T., Pienihäkkinen, K., Isolauri, E., Larsen, C., Brockmann, E., Alanen, P., Jokela, J. and Söderling, E. (2011) ‘Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12 in reducing the risk of infections in infancy’, British Journal of Nutrition, 105(3), pp. 409–416. doi: 10.1017/S0007114510003685. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20863419/
3. Smith, T.J., Rigassio-Radler, D., Denmark, R., Haley, T. and Touger-Decker, R. (2013) ‘Effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus LGG® and Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis BB-12® on health-related quality of life in college students affected by upper respiratory infections’, British Journal of Nutrition, 109(11), pp. 1999–2007. doi: 10.1017/S0007114512004138. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23020819/
4. Kabeerdoss, J., Devi, R.S. and Mary, R.R. (2011) ‘Effect of yoghurt containing Bifidobacterium lactis Bb12® on faecal excretion of secretory immunoglobulin A and human beta-defensin 2 in healthy adult volunteers’, Nutrition Journal, 10, Article 138. doi: 10.1186/1475-2891-10-138. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22196482/
