Out of curiosity, which ones do you take? I've been taking them for a few years now and have had similar results as you, although it took a while to find a combination that worked for me personally.
Real science behind the strains they choose and I've never seen a probiotic with more of them (115 different bacteria).
Starting taking these, suddenly was able to use the washroom normally. No coffee needed, finally quit that. No diarrhea.
It's been about three weeks. So I doubt it's a coincidence. In a span of that length I would have had multiple problems in the past. Only alternate cause I can think of is that I was reducing coffee before I took them, but still drinking decaf. However, digestion had been entirely the same during this reduction process.
And I was on the pills + coffee for about 10 days, with improved digestion, so I suspect the pills.
BTW antibiotics is usually the cause of C. Diff and can be a cause of other bowel diseases
Many probiotics are labeled as "active". I think this means they are dead but the remaining proteins are "active". They'll only last as long as proteins are available. The industry really needs to clarify this stuff. Independent evaluators need to check out their claims.
Live strains will reproduce.
There are many tricks to get them to survive the stomach acids: imbed them in gelatin or psyllium. Another trick is to prefeed them in airtight, dark bottle so they're growing before you eat them. Just put it in your pocket for a couple of hours.
Clinical trials need to be done to firmly establish efficacy; but I've given this concoction to several people and they were very happy with the results.
More research needs to be done on which species of fungi, bacteria , and arachea give good results.
The gut microbiome is an interdependent environment. Restoring the balance occasionally may benefit lots of folks.
Many probiotics are labeled as "active". I think this
means they are dead but the remaining proteins are
"active". They'll only last as long as proteins are
available.
Labdoor (which is advertising-supported) tests probiotics based on how accurate their CFU numbers are: https://labdoor.com/rankings/probiotics (These tests, of course, don't say if the probiotic in question is actually good for you or not.)
I've taken both General Biotics Equilibrium and (115 strains, 1 billion CFUs, shipped unrefrigerated) and Renew Life Ultimate Flora Extra Care. (10 strains, 50 billion CFUs, refrigerated)
If either of them had any effect at all, I didn't notice it.
I'd bet that a lot of these species die on the shelf.
The industry might still benefit from consistently labeling as "live" on the bottle if the probiotics are live.
I suspect that not everyone has an imbalance that would benefit the user.
A good strategy might be to try various species until something works.
An over the counter "23 and me" for gut species genomes assays might help; but that's a few years away.
An over the counter "23 and me" for gut species genomes
assays might help; but that's a few years away.
Costs $89.
I'm not sure I got a lot of actionable information from either, though. Certainly not as much of detailed interest as from the 23andme data.
L. reuteri ATCC PTA 6475[0]
L. reuteri DSM 17938[0]
Lactobacillus reuteri Protectis[1]
[0]- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AH3RT9Y
[1]- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001XUQNN4
I was taking others too, as well as some prebiotics but I stopped for awhile and been taking these two again for about a week and already feel much better - at least as good as before when I was taking more.