What To Look For In A Probiotic
Since over-the-counter probiotics are supplements and not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as drugs, its important to look for third-party certification. Third-party testing can ensure the product actually contains what it says it does, and that its free of harmful ingredients like heavy metals. Resources like ConsumerLab.com and Labdoor.com can provide information on a supplements certifications and testing.
And, as mentioned above, a probiotics health benefits are strain-specific. Speak with your doctor about which strain is best for you and your needs.
Benefits Of Taking Probiotics
Not all probiotics are the same. Different strains of the bacteria have different effects. For example, one strain may fight against cavity-causing organisms in our mouths and don’t need to survive a trip through our guts.
Research has been promising for these friendly critters. Potential benefits of probiotics have been seen in the treatment or prevention of
- H. pylori
- vaginal infections
- infection of the digestive tract caused by Clostridium difficile
- pouchitis
- eczema in children.
What Is Up4 Probiotics
Maintaining your health may appear to be an easy task, requiring you to eat healthy and exercise often. However, while you may think that your slim build is a testament to your health, you could still have a body that is riddled with toxins from the environment or the foods you think are healthy. To help you clear out the bad and toxic bacteria, UP4 Probiotics can make the difference.
UP4 Probiotics was founded in 1970 by Dr. Dash, and they have been creating innovative solutions for consumers that want to improve their health in the most natural way possible. Their company uses a trademarked superstrain of bacteria, which has not been surpassed by any other probiotic company.
Their formulas all begin with their superstrain, called Lactobacillus acidophilus DDS®-1. The strain has been studied and improved over the course of four decades, and is proven to have a significant impact on the gastrointestinal tract, digestive system, and immune system.
Recommended Reading: What Do Probiotics Do To The Body
There Is No Right Dose Of Probiotics
The average dose of probiotic supplements is 1 to 10 billion colony forming units according to the National Institutes of Health.
Most probiotics on the market have this amount, though you may see products that claim to have up to 50 billion CFU. However, there’s no concrete research that says what the most effective dosage is, says Farhadi.
“This is kind of uncharted territory. Most of our knowledge about probiotics is not pharmaceutically scientific or chemically scientific, and it’s a little bit different from other medications,” he says. For these reasons, researchers don’t know exactly which probiotics and what the effective dose is for health benefits.
However, if you are taking probiotics to deal with the uncomfortable effects of antibiotics, there is some evidence that a higher dose of certain probiotics might help abate the side-effect of diarrhea. In a small 2010 study, published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, patients who were given two capsules of probiotic, each containing 50 billion CFU, had fewer instances of antibiotic-induced diarrhea than patients who were given one capsule or no probiotic at all.
Probiotics And Gut Health
The best case for probiotic therapy has been in the treatment of diarrhea. Controlled trials have shown that Lactobacillus GG can shorten the course of infectious diarrhea in infants and children . Although studies are limited and data are inconsistent, two large reviews, taken together, suggest that probiotics reduce antibiotic-associated diarrhea by 60%, when compared with a placebo.
More common than diarrhea is the opposite problem constipation. In a search for studies on the benefits of probiotics in treating constipation, researchers found that probiotics slowed “gut transit time” by 12.4 hours, increases the number of weekly bowel movements by 1.3, and helped to soften stools, making them easier to pass. But the jury is still out on specific recommendations when it comes to the benefits of probiotics for constipation.
Probiotic therapy may also help people with Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel syndrome. Clinical trial results are mixed, but several small studies suggest that certain probiotics may help maintain remission of ulcerative colitis and prevent relapse of Crohn’s disease and the recurrence of pouchitis . Because these disorders are so frustrating to treat, many people are giving probiotics a try before all the evidence is in for the particular strains they’re using. More research is needed to find out which strains work best for what conditions.
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There Is No Way To Know What Dose You Are Taking
The probiotic supplement market is relatively unregulated, so it’s hard to know how many CFUs we actually are consuming when we take probiotics in pill form. Moreover, it’s difficult to know if the organisms in those probiotics are even still alive and capable of doing their job, or if they’re dead and useless. Even if the bacteria are alive, there’s a question about whether they can survive once inside your gut.
If you are getting your probiotics from foods like store-bought yogurt, there are also very few ways to be sure that you are consuming a significant dose of good bacteria. The conditions that the yogurt is stored in down the supply chain, the temperature of your refrigerator, and the strain of probiotic that the yogurt contains all have a significant effect on the dosage of CFU. Many of the beneficial microbes could have perished before you consume the yogurt.
Can Probiotics Be Harmful
- Probiotics have an extensive history of apparently safe use, particularly in healthy people. However, few studies have looked at the safety of probiotics in detail, so thereâs a lack of solid information on the frequency and severity of side effects.
- The risk of harmful effects from probiotics is greater in people with severe illnesses or compromised immune systems. When probiotics are being considered for high-risk individuals, such as premature infants or seriously ill hospital patients, the potential risks of probiotics should be carefully weighed against their benefits.
- Possible harmful effects of probiotics include infections, production of harmful substances by the probiotic microorganisms, and transfer of antibiotic resistance genes from probiotic microorganisms to other microorganisms in the digestive tract.
- Some probiotic products have been reported to contain microorganisms other than those listed on the label. In some instances, these contaminants may pose serious health risks.
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Up4 Daily Probiotic Review
Summary:
Detailed review of UP4 Daily Probiotic. See how this probiotic supplement compares against all the others!
Product Name: UP4 Daily Probiotic
Overall Rating:
Capsule Size: 19mm X 6mm
Price: $16.59
Serving Size: 1 Capsule Per Day
Servings Included: 60
Cost Per Day: $0.27
Live Cultures Guaranteed Through/At: Expiration date
Main Ingredients and Cell Count: 5 billion CFUs in 2 probiotic strains: Lactobacillus acidophilus DDS-1 and Bifidobacterium longum, Fructooligosaccharides
Satisfaction Guarantee?: No
Where To Buy:
How To Ensure Your Probiotic Will Work
The most important way to make sure the probiotic you choose will work is to find a reputable brand and follow the label directions suggested on how to take it. Each brand will have specific information based on the product.
Manufacturers are constantly trying to improve probiotic effectiveness by using different methods such as microencapsulation to protect probiotics from the environment, increasing chances of survival and potency.
tips for effective probiotic use
For a probiotic to work for you, it should be:
- Good quality . Choose one that shows proof of effectiveness.
- Stored correctly. Read labels and store as the label states .
- Taken as directed. Read labels and take as suggested .
- Able to survive in the body. The probiotic must be able to survive the trip through stomach acid and bile and colonize your gut.
- Safe for you. Read the label and note added ingredients. Watch out for added fillers and binders which might cause reactions.
A typical label will have the name of the specific probiotic , the dose in CFU, an expiration date, and instructions for use and storage.
The expiration date is important because it should have the use by date, which is how long the product will have live cultures.
Avoid products that list expiration as time of manufacture. The cultures may not be active or be less than listed by the time you buy it.
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Renewlife Extra Care Probiotic
This company promises to help you fill your best every day thanks to 30 billion live cultures from 12 probiotic strains that are included in each capsule. This brand offers something different that most companies should consider incorporating into their own design: a delayed-release capsule that helps most of the probiotics bypass the stomach and enter the digestive tract.
A one-month supply is $16.44. You can save 10% by signing up for a monthly subscription service.
Symprove Review: Week 1
The box arrives via a delivery driver. If he’s wondering what’s in the heavy box he doesn’t ask, though I wish he would. I would explain that I’m on a ‘gut transformation journey‘ and, if he cared, we could chat about how it was going the next time he delivered a parcel. He doesn’t and we say a silent goodbye.
I’ve primped for the ‘Mango and Passionfruit’ flavour, because, full disclosure, I’ve tried Symprove’s ‘Original’ option and, whilst it just scrapes past palatable, I’d prefer to pretend I’m downing a slightly sour mango cocktail instead, thanks.
On the first sip, I neither like nor dislike it. It just is. There are hints of mango interspersed with a tanginess that isn’t necessarily passionfruit but isn’t not passionfruit either. I suppose one could say it’s passionfruit-adjacent?
Whatever it is, it’s a solid 6/10 on the flavour front. I won’t pitch it as a new Ben and Jerry’s flavour but I also won’t be dreading drinking it each morning.
With the same texture of thin, watery squash I gulp down the first 70ml capful and wait an hour and a half to have breakfast. This isn’t down to Symprove’s recommendations they actually suggest waiting for just 10-minutes but being ever the perfectionist, I decided to push it just a little longer.
Read Also: What Do Oral Probiotics Do
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.
How To Pick The Right Probiotic Supplement For You
5 billion, 10 billion, 20 billion: the range of probiotic strengths is really quite varied. According to the experts, 5 billion bacteria are a good option for those trying to improve their gut bacteria and general digestion. To deal with an IBS flare-up or difficult digestion, it’s recommended you plump for a higher level of CFUs, more like 20 billion.
As with everything, it’s always best to speak with your GP or a registered dietician before starting with a new supplement or lifestyle change.
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How Might Probiotics Work
Probiotics may have a variety of effects in the body, and different probiotics may act in different ways.
Probiotics might:
- Help your body maintain a healthy community of microorganisms or help your bodyâs community of microorganisms return to a healthy condition after being disturbed
- Produce substances that have desirable effects
- Influence your bodyâs immune response.
What Are The Alleged Benefits Of Probiotic Supplements
For the non-gut lingual ‘probiotics are live microbes, including bacteria and yeast, that have shown a health benefit in scientific studies,’ says gut health expert Dr Megan Rossi, Registered Dietitian and founder of The Gut Health Clinic. ‘Theyre typically used in capsule form, although they’re similar to the live microbes found in many fermented foods like kefir, kombucha and kimchi,’ she explains.
These colonies of bacterial bugs help to digest food and keep your gut flora happy and healthy. However, according to Dr Rossi, the science behind probiotics may be lacking if you don’t have a specific health need.
‘Generally speaking, if youre in good health with no specific issues the evidence for taking a probiotic at this stage is actually pretty weak. Theres certainly no one-size-fits-all and no single probiotic is a “cure”. We need to think of probiotics like medications, in the same way, that you wouldnt take an iron supplement for a vitamin D deficiency.’
It’s also true that there are myriad strains of bacteria, and they all do different things. That makes one probiotic unlikely to work for everyone. ‘Just like medications, different probiotics do different things and each probiotic can have hundreds of different strains, all with their own capabilities and specific indications.’
Recommended Reading: Does Taking Probiotics Help Acne
But Why Take Them On An Ongoing Basis
Many people choose to take probiotics every day, whilst some might just use them periodically or whenever they feel that they need a little support. Whichever way you find works best for you, it is worth remembering that many factors can negatively affect the probiotic colonies in our gut.
So, whilst you might think that once you have established good gut flora that it can then be left to its own devices, in reality our lifestyles are now so challenging for our microbiome that many of us need to nurture it on an ongoing basis. If you would like to learn more, read our article on the gut microbiome – all you need to know.
Most people know that antibiotics do not differentiate between the good and bad bacteria in our guts, and therefore negatively impact on our probiotic colonies, but even if we don’t take them ourselves, it’s possible there may be other sources of antibiotics in our food chain, such as in meat and other animal products. These have a similarly negative impact on our gut flora.
In addition, we are often exposed to chemicals such as chlorine in our drinking water. Chlorine is a strong anti-microbial agent, and whilst it helps to keep undesirable bacteria out of our water supply, it also damages our delicate gut flora.
For Immune Health: Bio
There are hundreds of strains of edible bacteria known as probiotics found in food, as well as available in supplement form, says Kristin Gustashaw, MS, RDN, an advanced clinical dietitian at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. L. acidophilus is known to support a healthy digestive system and sustain and boost your immune system. She says it can also protect against the damage bad bacteria like Salmonella or E. coli can have on your digestive system. If you are looking to supplement your diet with L. acidophilus, Bio-K Plus is a reputable brand. Check out some of the other health benefits of probiotics.
Recommended Reading: Probiotics To Strengthen Immune System
What Types Of Bacteria Are In Probiotics
Probiotics may contain a variety of microorganisms. The most common are bacteria that belong to groups called Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Other bacteria may also be used as probiotics, and so may yeasts such as Saccharomyces boulardii.
Different types of probiotics may have different effects. For example, if a specific kind of Lactobacillus helps prevent an illness, that doesnât necessarily mean that another kind of Lactobacillus or any of the Bifidobacterium probiotics would do the same thing.
What Is Seeds Shipping Policy
This Seed probiotics review found out that they offer free shipping to those living in the United States. For other countries, they charge a flat rate of $10.
According to their website, If you live outside of the US, after your first month you may continue with monthly refills shipped flat rate, or enroll in our Sustainable Transport Program for 90-day refills, billed every 3 months, shipped free.
Customers will receive a tracking number via a confirmation email in order to monitor their package.They do not offer expedited shipping at this time.
Due to COVID19, Seeds carrier partners are experiencing a surge in deliveries, so they ask for some patience as unforeseen delays occur.
They understand that some countries may even temporarily shut down receiving inbound shipments, and in that case, Seed will notify their customers immediately.
You can find out more on all the locations that they deliver by visiting their website. You can also find out more information by accessing your My Seed account, by inputting your Seed login credentials.
Read Also: Do Probiotics Help With Bloating
Elm & Rye Daily Probiotic
Are you looking for the best probiotic offer to people throughout the United States?Elm & Rye has a long and storied tradition of offering only the finest dietary supplements to discerning customers throughout the country. With their probiotics, this trend continues. All you need to do is take a single tablet or gummy and for the rest of the day, your digestive system will be filled with the good bacteria it needs in order to operate at peak efficiency.
Members of our team were well versed in this brand before we started our review process. As such, we knew going into the review what to expect. Excellent customer reviews. All-natural ingredients. And a dedication to excellence that is second to none. Our results after carefully reviewing everything from the ingredients list to customer reviews and the price show that this is one of the best brands available for those looking for a high-quality and affordable probiotic dietary supplement.
A one-time purchase is $44.99 though you can say 20% by signing up for a monthly subscription service. For those looking to try out a probiotic dietary supplement, we wholeheartedly recommend that this brand be the first you go to. After all, why should you consider going with a cheaper brand if you cannot guarantee that it will be the best product available for your dollar?
