How to analyze a probiotic brand to determine if it contains the best and most appropriate strength and variety of strains necessary for therapeutic benefit to improve gut function.
The number of probiotic supplements on the market is nothing short of staggering!
This reflects their huge importance to our health and immunity especially if we have taken a round of antibiotics or other gut flora-altering meds like the Pill.
The fact is that the bacteria living in and on your body outnumber human cells according to the Microbiome Institute. (1)
It is clear that selecting the best probiotic supplement to support and sustain this beneficial microbial activity working synergistically with your biological systems is a critical decision.
Basic Questions to Answer
How to choose the best probiotic supplement for your particular situation?
Which strains are best and most effective for your particular health challenges?
Are soil-based probiotics important and safe?
Do particular strains really even matter?
Is refrigeration important?
While specific strains have been studied for certain therapeutic applications, generally it is best to make sure the probiotic you choose contains a variety of beneficial microbial species from each of four main categories:
- Lactobacillus (lactic acid bacteria)
- Bifidobacteria
- Soil-based organisms (SBOs)
- Beneficial yeasts (anti-candida)
Your strategy toward choosing a probiotic should ideally include all four of these categories for optimal health effects if your diet contains no fermented foods.
What if you do eat cultured food regularly? In that case, you probably still need a probiotic.
Let’s look at this more in-depth.
Fermented Foods versus Probiotics Supplements
Some people may be under the impression that if they eat fermented foods, then they don’t need a probiotic supplement.
This commonly held view is both true and false.
The reason is that different probiotic foods contain different strains from the four categories above.
**I don’t know of a single cultured food that contains one or more strains from all four types!
Thus, if you eat sauerkraut and drink kombucha, you will still need a probiotic.
This is because sauerkraut and kombucha only contain probiotics from the first category above (Lactobacillus or lactic acid bacteria).
These fermented foods don’t contain any Bifidobacteria, soil-based microbes (that aggressively recolonize the gut and eliminate pathogenic strains), or beneficial yeasts (that combat candida).
If you add homemade kefir made with live grains to the home menu, then you have the beneficial yeasts and bifidobacteria categories covered.
If you include natto, which contains the soil based microbe Bacillus subtlis, you now have all four categories of important beneficial microbes in your diet.
Very few people I’ve come across even if eating a fully traditional diet get all the types of beneficial microbes they need for optimal gut health.
Thus, it is a good idea to have a safe, effective probiotic brand to fill in the gaps.
Let’s go over how to find a good probiotic by reading labels.
Analyzing a Probiotic Label
Once you have zeroed in on a few brands that contain all of the above, be sure to note that the best probiotic supplement companies list on the bottle the genus (i.e. Lactobacillus) species (i.e. acidophilus) and strain (i.e. DDS-1) of each beneficial microbe included in the probiotic.
If the brand you are considering does not list bacterial strains on the bottle, then a phone call to the company is necessary to learn more.
If the company doesn’t know or won’t tell you, then it is wise to choose another brand.
A recent and worrisome occurrence in the probiotic industry is the widespread use of lab-created probiotic strains that are patented as intellectual property (this means they are not 100% natural).
Avoid these probiotic brands like the plague!
You do not want your gut colonized by synthetic microbes with unknown long-term health effects.
Is Refrigeration a Sign of Quality?
According to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD, the best probiotic supplements do not need to be refrigerated and can be stored at room temperature. Â
This means that the bacterial strains are hardy and the product is high quality to withstand the warmth and enzymatic activity of the digestive process.
How Much to Take
When working on a health issue it is important to work up to a therapeutic dose. Based on age, a therapeutic dose would consist of the following:
- Infant up to 12 months – 1-2 billion bacterial cells per day
- Toddlers from 1 to 2 years – 2-4 billion bacterial cells per day
- Children from 2 to 4 years – 4-8 billion bacterial cells per day
- Children from 4 to 10 years – 8-12 billion bacterial cells per day
- Adolescents from 12 to 16 years – 12-15 billion per day
- Adults should have around 15-20+ billion bacterial cells per day
A therapeutic, age-appropriate dose should be maintained for an average of 6 months to overtake harmful microbes and reestablish beneficial microbes.
Following a clean, whole foods diet is essential during this time.Â
If you continue feeding your pathogens in the gut with sugar and processed carbohydrates then the probiotics will not have much chance of helping you.
After six months it’s beneficial to reduce to a maintenance dose of probiotics and/or consume a variety of fermented foods daily that contain strains from all four probiotic types.
A maintenance dose would be half the therapeutic amount. Â
After completion of a course of antibiotics, the maintenance dose should be continued for at least 2 weeks.
This article contains specific guidelines for restoring gut health after antibiotics.
Probiotics When Traveling
It is a good idea to take a probiotic when traveling as it is protective of pathogen exposure in an unfamiliar environment.
For example, taking 1-2 capsules of your preferred brand twice daily for 1 week prior to travel is a helpful preventative practice.
During travel, 2 capsules twice a day is recommended.
This regimen should be continued for at least 1 week after arriving back home.
This article contains detailed information on using probiotics for traveling to help keep you well.
Help! My Probiotic is Making Me Sick!
Whenever you introduce a healing food or supplement it is possible to experience a die-off reaction.
Pathogens are being eliminated and releasing their toxins, which can make you feel miserable if it happens too quickly.
Common die-off symptoms can include:
- Feeling ill
- Headaches
- Bloating and digestive distress in general
- Skin eruptions and rashes (eczema flare-up is common)
- Lacking energy
- More difficulty dealing with stress than usual
- Mood swings & difficulty concentrating
- Any other symptoms typical for you
- For children, this can also show up as bedwetting, moodiness, tiredness, restlessness and any other symptoms typical to your child
Know that die-off symptoms mean the probiotic is working, so feel good about that! Â
Introducing the probiotic slowly and increasing incrementally every few days to a week is a good practice.
To give you a personal example, when my Mom first started taking a probiotic, she could only handle 1/8 of a capsule per day at first. It was basically the equivalent of an infant dose!
She worked her way up slowly to the required dosage over a period of about 6 months.
Her ability to learn how to minimize die-off symptoms was extremely important. This enabled her to stay the course to resolve gut imbalance issues over the long haul.
Best Brands (re-vetted)
In conclusion, below are a handful of good brands to consider on your probiotic selection journey.
Several practitioners I personally know who specialize in gut healing protocols recommend one or more of them as well.
I’ve included suggested brands for improved gut health as well as oral probiotics for ear, nose, throat, and tooth/gum wellness.
These brands all use strains found in nature (no species that are intellectual property!).
- Seed
- Gut Restore (SBOs and candida-busting strains)
- Ultimate SBO (high dose candida busting)
- Pure Encapsulations
- Prescript-Assist
- Trenev Trio
- Yeastbiotic (taken with antibiotics and for a few weeks after)
- Baby Probiotic Powder (both lactobacillus and bifidobacteria)
- Infant Probiotic Powder (bifidobacteria only for making homemade formula)
- Pediatric Probiotic
**Beware that MANY (if not most) probiotic brands now contain one or more synthetically derived strains.
This is a recent and very worrisome development in the industry with probiotic species being identified as intellectual property on the label.
In my view, this is a breach of trust and a bait and switch for consumers seeking purely natural supplements!
Note that probiotic companies can often have one or two products that are safe to use and others that are not.
In other words, each product must be examined individually on its own merit.
If you have a question about your probiotic product of choice or are concerned about a labeling change, please reach out via the Healthy Home Plus purple chatbox (lower righthand corner of the screen) and I will vet your probiotic personally for you.
I hope you find this information helpful with sourcing the best probiotic supplement for the health of your family!
For more visual learners, below is a short video summarizing the main points of this article and how to be sure you get all the important types of beneficial microbes into your diet.
References
(1) How Many Bacterial Cells are in the Body?
More Information
How to Prepare the Birth Canal for the Probiotic Gulp
How Prebiotics Benefit Gut Health
Taking Probiotics  for Maximum Benefit
Hi Sarah,
Your article about the different categories of microbes we need for our gut is very interesting. I have been making some kvass recipes from a blog called Beets & Bones (apple kvass, oat kvass, etc.). They’re delicious! This is my favorite so far:
https://www.beetsandbones.com/russian-apple-kvass/
Traditionally, rye sourdough starter is used as the culture for fermenting some types of kvass. I looked up the microbiome of sourdough starter and the article I read says that it contains lacto bacteria and the yeasts are saccharomyces and candida species. So, for folks who don’t drink dairy, maybe a kvass made w/ rye sourdough starter would be a good cheap way to get the beneficial yeasts.
Dr. William Davis also has this recipe for making a good cheap sparkling juice to proliferate the S. boulardii yeast:
https://drdavisinfinitehealth.com/2022/10/saccharomyces-boulardii-sparkling-juices/
Thanks for all your probiotics articles – I return to them regularly to refresh my memory!
Katie
Thank you for sharing these recipes! They sound delicious!!
Very interesting about the species in sourdough. Kvass is a great idea for getting the beneficial yeasts. Sourdough bread after baking does not have any probiotics in it.
Do you no longer recommend Bio-Kult? Dr. Mercola? If not, for what reasons? I noticed they are not in your Shopping List. Thank you for your time.
This post explains what has happened with the industry in detail. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/gmo-probiotic-strains/
I take Dr. Mercola’s probiotics and was concerned after I read your question and Sarah’s response, so I emailed Mercola’s website. Here’s what they wrote back:
“We have received an inquiry regarding Mercola Probiotics and whether they are derived from GMO strains of probiotics. We can understand the concern regarding this since we all would like to avoid GMO products. Mercola has a set of criteria that is used when selecting ingredients. The very first thing mentioned is that all ingredients must be GMO-free, even the cotton used in some supplement bottles. On our site, under our Quality Standards, there is a main heading under “No GMOs.” This is what it says: “As a long-time advocate for genetically modified organisms (GMO) labeling and transparency, we believe that foods containing GMOs should be labeled as such; therefore, we do not certify our products with the traditional non-GMO label. Instead, Mercola Market uses its own GMO-Free badge as an indication that all of our products have gone through a rigorous process to guarantee that they are free from GMOs—even the cotton filling inside our glass supplement bottles is organic.” We will provide a link to this information below. The Complete Probiotics sold on our site are human-derived strains and are cultured from those strains. We are unsure if the person commenting on our probiotics considers that process GMO. If further assistance is needed, we can be reached via email by clicking “reopen,” by phone, or online chat. Our phone number is 1-877-985-2695. Why Trust Dr. Mercola’s Products | Mercola Market”
Should we be switching types of probiotics every 6 months or annually? Or is it ok to stay with the same brand/type indefinitely or for a long time?
Are probiotics needed everyday or just for the times you mentioned in the article like when traveling and when working on a specific health issue?
If you don’t consume fermented foods every day, you need a probiotic in my opinion. Traditional peoples consumed probiotics every single day with their food and beverages.
If I start using an oral probiotic such as FLORASSIST® Oral Hygiene, will it help the gut as well or is it only effective for the mouth?
Oral help only.