"Very interesting article. It's a very short article but I think it is worth reading the whole article and not the bits and pieces one person has chosen to quote from it."

Yes it is. I did point you to it, not wanting you to think that I'd only mention the juicy bits, and, by the way, contrary to what you say, I didn't quote from it. You're both quite good at misrepresentation today! I think the bottom line from the Lancet piece is that probiotics don't come out of it very well at all. You'll find similar demurrals in other sources too (though not, of course, the ones that are there to push probiotics). As I said, because they are classed as foods, not medicines, they escape rigorous examination of their claims and are not subject to clinical trial. Of course, not everything that isn't clinically trialled is bad. If you like taking them and believe they're doing you good, that's great. As for me, I'd rather spend the considerable money they cost on nice food. I've just come off two weeks of one gram of flucloxacillin four times a day, as well as a short bout of intravenous antibiotics. That was a heavyweight assault on my gut (which, in spite of decades of good living, is generally in remarkably robust working condition) and I felt it at times. I found that eating mild-flavoured and easy-to-digest foods did the trick. But that's not science, that's just me, and we're all different.