What are probiotics, and what role do they play in the body?
Probiotics are a form of “good” bacteria. When we say the word probiotics we are most probably talking about a supplement (a pill or powder) of beneficial bacteria, but we also use the word probiotics when talking about fermented foods.
Where do probiotics come from? Probiotics are bacteria, and bacteria are on everything – so in a sense, our bacteria come from everywhere. Most of our probiotics historically are coming from two places though: dirt and food.
First, hygiene wasn’t such a big issue back in the day – people ate a lot more dirt, and didn’t run around squirting Purell on every exposed surface, human or otherwise. Our ancestors had exposure to far more soil based sources of bacteria.
In addition, historically probiotics were a regular part of our daily diet. Before refrigeration, fermenting foods was one key way we preserved them. Most of the Neolithic “traditional” cuisines around the world served fermented foods daily, if not at every meal – so there’s our food based sources of probiotics.
Today, food-based sources of probiotics include anything fermented and not pasteurized, as pasteurization will kill the bacteria. These foods include sauerkraut, kimchi, lacto-fermented fruits and vegetables, non-pasteurized yogurt, kefir and cheese, non-pasteurized meats like salami and some sausages.
Nowadays we also have supplements of probiotics, in pill or powder form.
How does someone know if they need probiotics, and what kind is the best?
everyone needs “probiotics” from time to time, but I’m super picky about my probiotic supplements. With a lot of other supplements you can get good brands over the counter (OTC), but not so much with probiotics. There hasn’t been a lot of testing that I’m aware of in this area, but what little I know of was pretty damning to the OTC probiotic market. Most were contaminated with pathogenic bacteria (“bad” stuff), or did not meet their potency/strength claims, or failed to grow (were non-viable). Meaning at best you wasted your money, at worst you hurt yourself more by taking the supplement.
In my practice, I use the high end stuff you get from the better supplement companies. Most aren’t easily available to the general public. Here are a couple of suggestions:
Probiotics are a form of “good” bacteria. When we say the word probiotics we are most probably talking about a supplement (a pill or powder) of beneficial bacteria, but we also use the word probiotics when talking about fermented foods.
Where do probiotics come from? Probiotics are bacteria, and bacteria are on everything – so in a sense, our bacteria come from everywhere. Most of our probiotics historically are coming from two places though: dirt and food.
First, hygiene wasn’t such a big issue back in the day – people ate a lot more dirt, and didn’t run around squirting Purell on every exposed surface, human or otherwise. Our ancestors had exposure to far more soil based sources of bacteria.
In addition, historically probiotics were a regular part of our daily diet. Before refrigeration, fermenting foods was one key way we preserved them. Most of the Neolithic “traditional” cuisines around the world served fermented foods daily, if not at every meal – so there’s our food based sources of probiotics.
Today, food-based sources of probiotics include anything fermented and not pasteurized, as pasteurization will kill the bacteria. These foods include sauerkraut, kimchi, lacto-fermented fruits and vegetables, non-pasteurized yogurt, kefir and cheese, non-pasteurized meats like salami and some sausages.
Nowadays we also have supplements of probiotics, in pill or powder form.
How does someone know if they need probiotics, and what kind is the best?
everyone needs “probiotics” from time to time, but I’m super picky about my probiotic supplements. With a lot of other supplements you can get good brands over the counter (OTC), but not so much with probiotics. There hasn’t been a lot of testing that I’m aware of in this area, but what little I know of was pretty damning to the OTC probiotic market. Most were contaminated with pathogenic bacteria (“bad” stuff), or did not meet their potency/strength claims, or failed to grow (were non-viable). Meaning at best you wasted your money, at worst you hurt yourself more by taking the supplement.
In my practice, I use the high end stuff you get from the better supplement companies. Most aren’t easily available to the general public. Here are a couple of suggestions:
- Use a reputable brand – I’ve seen good results with VITAFORCE Superfood Powder (which is available online through their website).
- Look for potency/strength. We’re not exactly sure how strong probiotics need to be, but in general stronger seems better. An 2 billion/dose is the optimal dose in my experience. A lot of OTC brands are down in the 1 billion/dose range, which most of the time just isn’t going to cut it. And if they don’t list the dose (some probiotics have secret proprietary formulas or some such) don’t bother with it.
- Be suspicious of the kitchen sink. This isn’t as hard and fast a rule as the others, but I’ve seen a lot of crappy brands try and look impressive by putting a lot of strains in their formulas. Most of the high grade probiotic supplements we use have around 1-6 strains in them. Is that ideal? Probably not, but if you see a brand with 10+ ( especially if it’s vague on the counts), there’s a reasonable chance they’re padding out the product to try and make it look more impressive than it is.