PROBIOTICS
Benefit: Probiotics are living bacteria or yeast that provide a health benefit. A whole food plant based diet is the most important factor in maintaining a healthy gut microbiome, however, in certain situations such as antibiotic use, a probiotic can be helpful. There is evidence showing that probiotics can help with allergies, irritable bowel syndrome and people taking proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole, protonix (pantoprazole), nexium (esomeprazole) and mild improvement of blood pressure and LDL cholesterol. In elderly patients with cognitive decline one study showed 23% improvement in cognitive scores.
Quality: Many probiotics are heat and moisture sensitive. Heat kills them and moisture prematurely activates them before ingested and they die. Freeze dried organisms can be stored at room temperature while others should be refrigerated. Many retailers do not keep products refrigerated and thus selecting freeze dried products is more reliable.
How much should you take? An effective dose for adults is at least one billion CFU (colony forming units) per day. For children the dose is much lower, 100 million to 500 million CFU.
Safety: Probiotics are generally very safe, but independent lab testing has shown that there can be a huge variation – up to hundreds of billions of CFU among different products. Some products have been found to contain zero viable organisms while others contain pathogens. For safe measure, probiotics should be avoided in the setting of immunocompromise and abdominal surgery. The products listed below have passed independent (no financial ties) lab testing and are deemed reliable and safe.