How Probiotics Might Be Bad For You
Because these good bacteria already exist in the body, theyâre considered safe for most people. But there are some things to consider.
They can trigger an allergic reaction. They might cause mild stomach problems, especially the first few days you start taking them. You might have stomach upset, gas, diarrhea, or bloating. Those symptoms usually go away after your body gets used to them.
If you have an immune system problem or another serious health condition, you may have a greater chance of issues. Some reports have linked probiotics to serious infections and other side effects. The people most likely to have trouble are those with immune system problems, people whove had surgery, and others who are critically ill. Dont take probiotics if you have any of those issues.
Always talk to your pediatrician before giving probiotic supplements to your child. If youre pregnant or nursing, you should also talk to your doctor before you try one.
Most probiotics in the U.S. are sold as dietary supplements. That means the companies that make them dont have to test their products and show that they work or that they are safe. More research is needed to confirm that probiotics are safe and effective.
Ask your doctor which probiotics are the right ones for you. Be sure to stop taking them if you have any problems.
Show Sources
Dont Miss: What Causes Sudden Severe Stomach Pain
Probiotics 60 Billion Cfu
Probiotics 60 billion CFU contains 60 CFUs per serving, unlike other probiotic supplements that might exaggerate their serving CFU. These CFUs work to give the body maximum energy and stamina. The supplement is made of 10 probiotic strains and premium grade non-GMO ingredients. Probiotics and organic prebiotic components are clinically approved as effective and safe for consumption for improved digestive functionality. Benefits of Probiotics 60CFU are improved intestinal health, gas, and bloating relief after eating, reduced constipation without needing fiber foods, repairs a leaky intestinal tract, improved digestion, enhanced immune function against infections and promotes weight loss.
The once-daily Probiotic for women has 50 CFUs per serving that help with digestion, improve the immune system and general feminine health. It is made of prebiotics and six organic strains with D-Mannose and a cranberry extract called Procan, rich in antioxidants that protect the body from free radicals and oxidative stress. Womens prebiotic and probiotics with patented cranberry extract help fight Urinary Tract Infections and Vaginosis.
Read Also: Why Am I Gaining Weight In My Lower Stomach
Are Refrigerated Probiotics Better
There is some evidence that suggests that refrigerated probiotics are more effective than those that are not. This is because the live bacteria in probiotics can become damaged when exposed to heat or light.
However, more research is needed to confirm this. If youre buying a probiotic supplement, its a good idea to check whether it needs to be refrigerated.
Don’t Miss: Why Do Individuals Take Probiotics
How Probiotics Can Help Digestion
Although researchers are still learning about how probiotics work and at what doses they are effective, probiotics appear to help keep the digestive system in balance and help the body get back on track after a bout with bad bacteria, according to the NCCIH. We know probiotics have a lot of benefits, says Strealy. These include improved digestion of lactose reduced digestive symptoms such as gas, bloating, pain, diarrhea, and constipation and aiding in carbohydrate digestion and production of certain vitamins.
Editors Picks
Dont Miss: What Does Anxiety Feel Like In Your Stomach
Can You Take Probiotics While Pregnant
When carrying a child, a mother wants to create the safest environment possible. This is a time where the mother-to-be will begin integrating new and recommended health practices like exercise, supplements, and new diet habits. One question that is asked by pregnant women is whether or not probiotics are safe to take while pregnant. The benefits of probiotics are well documented, and many pregnant women want to know if probiotics will benefit them as well.
Pregnancy may be a good time to integrate a probiotic into your regimen simply due to the increased potential for an imbalance in gut bacteria that pregnancy naturally produces. Stress, medications, diarrhea, and vomiting as well as certain diet choices can cause bad bacteria to overrun the gut and lead to a dampened immune response, inflammation, fatigue, and more.
The simple answer is yes, probiotics are generally safe to take while pregnant. However, it is always recommended to discuss any introduction or discontinuation of supplements with your healthcare provider.
Many studies have shown that not only are probiotics safe to take while pregnant but also that they can add great benefits for mother and baby. A 2019 study by Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology found that the pregnant womens gut microbiota improved through probiotic supplementation and that her immune system was enhanced.
Read Also: Peppermint Delight Probiotic Tea Reviews
Don’t Miss: Bio K Plus Probiotic Where To Buy
What Causes Stomach Acid
So, what causes gastric acid reflux? There are a few things that can contribute to this condition, such as eating spicy or fatty foods, lying down after eating, and wearing tight clothing.
If you have GERD, you may experience heartburn, chest pain, difficulty swallowing, and a sour taste in your mouth. These symptoms can be aggravated by lying down or bending over.
Stomach acid can be a sign of GERD, but it can also occur for other reasons such as consuming too much spicy food, drinking alcohol in excess, or smoking cigarettes. Another reason why someone may be suffering from stomach acid issues is stress from their lifestyle.
You May Like: Best Probiotic Yogurt For Toddlers
How Popular Are Probiotics
The 2012 National Health Interview Survey showed that about 4 million U.S. adults had used probiotics or prebiotics in the past 30 days. Among adults, probiotics or prebiotics were the third most commonly used dietary supplement other than vitamins and minerals. The use of probiotics by adults quadrupled between 2007 and 2012. The 2012 NHIS also showed that 300,000 children age 4 to 17 had used probiotics or prebiotics in the 30 days before the survey.
Recommended Reading: What Will Soothe An Acid Stomach
Read Also: Are Refrigerated Probiotics Better Than Non Refrigerated
Note: Probiotic Supplements May Also Be Delivered Outside The Gi Tract
The issue of gastric conditions and bile exposure in the GI tract can be irrelevant when probiotic supplements are delivered to specific sites.
- The oral cavity has also been targeted for the prevention of conditions such as gingivitis and periodontitis.
- In addition, rectally administered probiotic formulations show potential in treatments for inflammatory disorders such as ulcerative colitis.
Enhanced Survival Of L Rhamnosus Gg Occurs Only In The Presence Of Metabolizable Sugars
In order to determine if there was a link between glycolysis and the enhanced survival in the presence of glucose, we established the relationship between the survival of L. rhamnosus GG in the presence of metabolizable and nonmetabolizable sugars. Growth over 16 h was found to occur in MRS medium containing glucose and fructose, while low levels of growth occurred in MRS medium containing lactose .3). In addition, growth was also confirmed by the decrease in pH of the cultures containing glucose and fructose, while there were only small decreases in cultures growing in lactose .3). Further analysis showed that glucose and fructose enhanced survival of L. rhamnosus GG in simulated gastric juice at pH 2.0, while lactose and sucrose, which L. rhamnosus GG could not metabolize, did not enhance survival .
Don’t Miss: Biote Medical Multi Strain Probiotic 20b
How Do Probiotics Help With Acid Reflux
The answer is that although there is not a wealth of research on this yet, there is a growing field of thought that probiotics can indeed help alleviate acid reflux. We already know that probiotics are a highly useful way of rebalancing the gut bacteria but can they help combat H. pylori? It is thought that probiotics can help in several ways. Probiotics are thought to help strengthen the barrier against H. pylori by producing antimicrobial substances, and competes with H. pylori for adhesion receptors, i.e. space on the stomach lining! Its also thought to stabilise the gut mucosal barrier. Some argue also that the production of relatively large amounts of lactate by Lactobacilli is also an inhibitory factor of H. pylori3 as its possible it might lower the H.pylori urease. Additionally probiotics may be able to modify inflammation levels by interacting with the epithelial cells and managing the secretion of inflammatory proteins.
A meta analysis in the World Journal of Gastroenterology4 concluded that The use of probiotics plus standard therapy was associated with an increase in the H. pylori eradication rate, and a reduction in adverse events resulting from treatment in the general population.
Does The Administration Of Probiotics Alter The Composition And Metabolism Of The Intestinal Microflora
The intestinal microflora within a given individual are remarkably stable, although major differences may exist among different persons . Nevertheless, administration of probiotics to either newborns or adults results in certain changes in the microbial profiles and metabolic activities of the feces. Admittedly, such changes are minor yet, when applied to pathologic situations, they are often sufficient to beneficially alter the course of disease. In most situations, probiotic administration results in an increase in fecal counts of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, a decrease in fecal pH, and a decline in those bacterial enzyme activities that are associated with the development of colon cancer.
The metabolic viability of administered probiotics in the intestinal tract was evaluated in adult volunteers by measuring the amount of exhaled hydrogen. As expected, B. longumfed individuals exhaled more hydrogen than did placebo-fed subjects . That endogenous bifidobacteria are the major actors in colonic bacterial metabolism in breast-fed infants was tested by incubating their feces with 3-glucose. Bifidobacteria, but not other bacteria, generate 13CH313COOH via their bifidus pathway. As expected, most if not all the acetate produced was of this type this promising technique has not been used in vivo.
Don’t Miss: Probiotics One Daily Support Walmart
How To Use Probiotics For Bloating
Along with an anti-inflammatory diet, such as the low FODMAP diet, a combination of three probiotics is a good approach for IBS symptoms like bloating.
Some probiotics protocols make this unnecessarily complicated. However, theres no best probiotic for bloating.
Instead, probiotics generally improve your digestive health by improving your gut environment.
As I discuss more fully in my book, Healthy Gut, Healthy You, the most important probiotic strategy for bloating is to include a diversity of high-quality probiotics.
Most probiotics fall into one of these three categories:
- Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria blends, including species of probiotics such as Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium infantis.
- Soil-based probiotics, usually Bacillus species
I recommend using one high-quality product from each category. When used together, the three probiotics work synergistically to improve your gut health. Probiotic strains from all three categories have been shown to help bloating .
The three types of probiotics work together like the legs of a three-legged stool. If the stool only has one or two legs, its likely to be unstable. With three legs, the stool can stay upright.
When mixtures of several probiotics were compared with single strains of probiotics in the treatment of IBS, two systematic reviews and meta-analyses indicated the multi-strain probiotics were more effective than single-strain probiotics [55
Donât Miss: Why Does Lettuce Give Me Diarrhea
Take A Kombucha Break
Kombucha is a probiotic-rich fermented drink made with tea, sugar , bacteria, and yeast making it a great vegan alternative to other probiotic-rich dairy products, such as kefir or yogurt, Sassos says. You can swap the refreshing probiotic drink for your afternoon coffee or happy hour cocktail, she adds.
Recommended Reading: Douglas Laboratories Multi Probiotic 15 Billion
Effect Of Removal Of Components From Simulated Gastric Juice On L Rhamnosus Gg Survival
We then determined whether any individual component in simulated gastric juice was responsible for enhanced survival of L. rhamnosus GG cultures. The concentration of surviving L. rhamnosus GG was over 5.5 log10 CFU ml1 lower in dilute acid than in simulated gastric juice after 90 min of exposure .2a). Therefore, an analysis of individual components was conducted. It was found that the glucose component was responsible for the enhanced survival of L. rhamnosus GG in simulated gastric juice. The level of survival fell by approximately 5.6 log10 CFU ml1 upon removal of this component .2b). Small reductions in viability occurred in cultures devoid of lysozyme or CaCl2. In addition, L. rhamnosus GG survived in dilute HCl, pH 2.0, when glucose was included ,2c), confirming that the presence of glucose alone in acidic conditions was responsible for the protective effect observed. In addition, microscopic analysis indicated that the chain length or morphology of cells did not change during the exposure period, either in the presence or in the absence of glucose .
Helping Good Bacteria Reach Their Target
Most probiotic bacteria that are added to foods, such as yoghurt, to aid the digestive system are not reaching their intended target in the intestine. Instead, the majority are being destroyed in the stomach before they can do any good. Now, UK scientists have come up with a coating to overcome this problem.1
Shutterstock
Probiotic bacteria are added to food such as yoghurt drinks to aid the digestive system.
Probiotics are bacteria that naturally live in the small and large intestine. They provide health benefits by producing nutrients, compete with pathogenic bacteria for binding sites and stimulate the immune system.
Materials scientist Vitaliy Khutoryanskiy and microbiologist Dimitris Charalampopoulos and their colleagues at the University of Reading overcame the problem of the bacteria dying before they could enter the intestines by building them a coat of alginate and chitosan layer-by-layer. This coat protects the bacteria as it travels through the stomach to the intestine.
Delivering probiotics via the oral route is considered to be beneficial for treating disorders of the gastrointestinal tract including irritable bowel syndrome, bacterial infections and diarrhoea caused by antibiotics,’ says Khutoryanskiy. ‘However, the majority of probiotic bacteria taken orally cannot pass through the acidic environment in the stomach and remain viable. So, building on our previous work,2 our idea was to protect these bacteria via encapsulation.’
You May Like: Green Tea Probiotics Weight Loss
Do Probiotics Survive Stomach Acid
If you are reading this, then the chances are that you have some concerns about whether or not the probiotics you are taking, or thinking of taking, survive to reach the gut alive. You may be confused as to whether spending money on probiotics is indeed an investment in your own good health, or if it is a waste of money. I’d say that this common concern about survival through stomach acidity is a very valid one, but if you read on, I hope to put your mind at rest that there are some effective, well tested and researched probiotic supplements available on the market. Learn more about how to identify high quality probiotic supplements by reading the article: Researching probiotics online – how to identify quality content.
In part, the concern over the survival of probiotics through the stomach has been perpetuated by one small study1 performed at University College London back in 2014, which tested 8 probiotic products and found that only one of the probiotics tested survived gut acidity and then flourished in the intestines. We reported on this study at the time, and our response to this study on probiotics can be read on the Probiotic Professionals site. It is important to state that no Optibac Probiotics products were included in this study, and we are very confident that if they had been, the results would have shown that our strains show excellent survivability in most acid conditions.
How Probiotics Can Help With Acid Reflux
Probiotics do not increase stomach acid and may help protect against the ill effects of acid reflux.
Lactobacillus johnsonii was shown to have the opposite effect on hydrochloric acid production in a study involving mice.
Bifidobacterium bifidum has been shown to promote the production of mucin, a type of protein that improves the stomach barrier to acidic gastric contents.
Lactobacillus gasseri increases pepsin, an enzyme that helps digest dietary protein, and may improve digestion and absorption. Probiotics can be a solution to GERD, and the bacteria strains listed above may help with adverse symptoms.
Probiotics may help with acid reflux by modulating the esophageal microbiome. Changes in the esophageal microbiota are associated with esophageal diseases such as GERD. Similar factors cause dysbiosis in the esophagus just as they do in the gut, including antibiotic use, lifestyle choices, and food-borne pathogens.
When dysbiosis occurs in the esophagus, an inflammatory response is activated, leading to damage by acid and bile. Probiotics that include bacteria strains from the genus lactobacillus and bifidobacterium showed reduced gastrointestinal symptoms.
The bacteria strain Bifidobacterium bifidum may help regulate a pathway that helps stimulate antibodies for the immune system. The effects of this mechanism can reduce abdominal pain and improve the interactions between nutrients, secretions, and enzymes in the gut and the esophageal tissue in people with GERD.
Recommended Reading: Does Yoplait Strawberry Yogurt Have Probiotics
Addition Of Dccd Leads To The Loss Of The Protective Effect Of Glucose In L Rhamnosus Gg Cultures
In order to evaluate the significance of the role played by the membrane-bound F0F1-ATPase complex in probiotic Lactobacillus survival in the presence of glucose, we added the inhibitor DCCD to two cultures prior to analysis, subjected the cultures to simulated gastric juice, pH 2.0, in the presence and absence of glucose, and compared the levels of survival of these cultures with those of controls. The addition of DCCD abolished the protective effect of glucose in simulated gastric juice containing glucose, so that no viable cells were detected within 30 min .3a). A 2-log10 CFU ml1 decline occurred in control cultures containing glucose, probably as a result of the starvation step prior to analysis, which may have reduced intracellular glucose and ATP supplies. The toxicity of 1.4 mM DCCD to stationary-phase L. rhamnosus GG cells was also studied at pH 7.00, and cells were found to be insensitive to DCCD at this pH .
Survival of stationary-phase L. rhamnosus GG in simulated gastric juice, pH 2.0, containing glucose , glucose and DCCD , no glucose , or no glucose and DCCD . Survival of stationary-phase parent and neomycin-resistant L. rhamnosus GG cultures in simulated gastric juice containing glucose, pH 2.0, following 45 min of exposure and ATPase activity of permeabilized cells . The data are the means of triplicate experiments, and the error bars indicate standard deviations.
