Should You Be Taking Probiotics?

Taking probiotics has been trendy for a while now, but are they effective?

Prebiotics VS Probiotics VS Symbiotics

• Probiotics are live microorganisms, which are claimed to provide health benefits to the host when consumed, generally by restoring the gut flora, which in turn, influences overall health.

• Prebiotics are types of fibre that probiotics feed on. In other words, prebiotics are probiotics’ food.

• Symbiotics are pro- and prebiotics combined.

Because probiotics are living organisms, they need certain conditions to stay alive. Unfortunately, not all probiotics on the market remain live. This depends on the whole supply chain of production, packaging and storage. 

Packaging should be dark or otherwise protective from the light.

Once opened, it is advisable to store probiotics in the fridge to avoid heat damage.

Brands pride themselves of containing the most strains of bacteria (measured in billion), but without knowing anything about the processing and packaging, we don’t know how much of that bacteria dies before the probiotics reach your gut. So while in a way, the more strains the better, on the other hand only certain brands can be trusted to keep those strains alive.

While it is not always the case that expensive is better, when it comes to probiotics, the good brands are usually expensive, but it does not mean that all expensive brands are of high quality.

There are many different types of probiotics, but every type has its own health benefits. Taking one or a few types may be beneficial if that particular type of bacteria is linked with a certain health issue, but you may be shooting in the dark if you’re taking something that is not aimed at your health goal. Look for a probiotic with wider range of bacteria.

Taking probiotics prophylactically in healthy individuals has not been shown to have any added benefit.

Taking probiotics with an existing issue has been shown to only be beneficial while the treatment continues, and no further benefits have been observed once the treatment is terminated.

More research is needed, as we still know very little about our gut microbiome and its populations of the different types of bacteria.

You can get probiotics from food rather than supplements

Take-away:

So far, the research on probiotics is very mixed, because everyone’s microbiome is different and on top of that, everyone’s microbiome changes constantly! So it is hard to carry out research, as everything is always changing. For now we know that taking a probiotic won’t hurt, but it won’t necessarily be beneficial, as this depends on your microbiome at a given point in time, what bacteria strains you are taking, the quality of your probiotic, your stress levels, your diet and so much more!