Nasal health depends on the bacterial ecosystem in our nasal cavity. For this reason, probiotics can support both pulmonary and nasal inflammatory conditions including rhinitis.

 

Similar to all orifices in your body, the nose hosts bacteria that ideally serve a symbiotic relationship with their host: YOU. Similar to your gut flora your nasal flora is unique to you and is affected as much by genetic and environmental factors. In contrast, however, with our gut flora, the ones in our nose (as well as those in the vagina and mouth) are not directly affected by nutrition. Consecutively in order to support we have 2 options:
1. Direct administration of probiotics [ref]

2. Oral consumption of lozenges that will affect the proximal nasal ecosystem.

 

As far as probiotics go, Lactococcus lactis [ref1, ref2], Lactobacillus sakei [ref] & staphylococcus epidermidis [ref]  have been tested with positive outcomes. Unfortunately at the moment not all of them are commercially available.

 

If you are dealing with chronic nasal or pulmonary inflammatory conditions and need help you can reach out to me via the contact page.

 

References:

Abreu, N. A., Nagalingam, N. A., Song, Y., Roediger, F. C., Pletcher, S. D., Goldberg, A. N., & Lynch, S. V. (2012). Sinus microbiome diversity depletion and Corynebacterium tuberculostearicum enrichment mediates rhinosinusitis. Science translational medicine, 4(151), 151ra124-151ra124.

 

Bianco, M. R., Ralli, M., Modica, D. M., Amata, M., Poma, S., Mattina, G., & Allegra, E. (2021, December). The Role of Probiotics in Chronic Rhinosinusitis Treatment: An Update of the Current Literature. In Healthcare (Vol. 9, No. 12, p. 1715). MDPI.

 

Cleland, E. J., Drilling, A., Bassiouni, A., James, C., Vreugde, S., & Wormald, P. J. (2014, April). Probiotic manipulation of the chronic rhinosinusitis microbiome. In International forum of allergy & rhinology (Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 309-314).

 

Cho, D. Y., Skinner, D., Lim, D. J., Mclemore, J. G., Koch, C. G., Zhang, S., … & Woodworth, B. A. (2020, April). The impact of Lactococcus lactis (probiotic nasal rinse) co‐culture on growth of patient‐derived strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In International forum of allergy & rhinology (Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 444-449).

 

Endam, L. M., Alromaih, S., Gonzalez, E., Madrenas, J., Cousineau, B., Renteria, A. E., & Desrosiers, M. (2020). Intranasal application of Lactococcus lactis W136 is safe in chronic rhinosinusitis patients with previous sinus surgery. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 10, 440.

 

Schwartz, J. S., Peres, A. G., Endam, L. M., Cousineau, B., Madrenas, J., & Desrosiers, M. (2016). Topical probiotics as a therapeutic alternative for chronic rhinosinusitis: a preclinical proof of concept. American journal of rhinology & allergy, 30(6), e202-e205.