Most of us, I’m sure, have heard about probiotics and take them daily! There is some important info on probiotics that many of you might not know or realize so I’d like to break it down here and explain some ways you can improve the effectiveness of your probiotics! The goal is to take your probiotics game to a new level, by making a few simple tweaks to what you’re already doing. Before we get into those details, I’d like to explain a bit more about probiotics and how to select the right one, then we will explain how to take them for best results!
Probiotics are a foundational element of health and should be part of healthy living for everyone. For prevention, probiotics should be taken daily lifelong, just like a multivitamin! For chronic or acute conditions, it should be taken in high dose and then tapered off to a maintenance dose once the condition has resolved.
The Human microbiome:
- Is made up of 100,000+ billion microbes )bacteria, fungi, archaea and protozoa) that colonize the mucosal surfaces of our body
- Constains10 times more microbes than human cells present in the body
- Is predominantly established the first 6 of life & largely on maternal microbiome
The Human microbiome evolves over the course of our lives and is influenced by:
- General state of health
- Stress levels
- Sleep patterns
- Medications and antibiotics
- Environmental toxins
- Food choices
- Beneficial: fermented foods, fiber and foods rich in omega 3s
- Detrimental: processed foods, high sugar foods, pesticide laden, foods containing heavy metals
Probiotic Fun Facts
Both bifido and lactobacilli are able to live in both oxygen rich and oxygen depleted environments however lactobacilli prefer oxygen rich environment whereas bifidobacterial prefer anaerobic (lack of oxygen). Lactobacillus is the biggest species found in the vaginal tract as it loves oxygen-rich environments.
How to Choose A Great Probiotic
When choosing a probiotic, you want to ensure that it meets these three criteria:
- That it is human strain – HMF probiotics can adhere to the intestinal wall and creates a symbiotic relationship with our immune system that soil based or dairy strain probiotics cannot do.
- That it is backed by clinical studies (ideally human research, not animals).
- Look at CFU count and delivery method
- Ensure the potency is guaranteed
Don’t start at step 3 and choose any probiotic that meets the CFU count as for many brands, more is not more. Instead first, make sure it is human strains instead of SBO or dairy strains. Then secondly, make sure the quality of the probiotic you are choosing is there and that the strains are clinically studied. Lastly, go for potent probiotics when possible to stimulate quorum sensing.
Genestra brands is the leading company for probiotic production as their whole like contains human strains and they thoroughly study each strain to ensure its effectiveness, durability, etc. Lastly, they have perfectly formulated products to support your entire gut and ensure that the probiotics can adhere to the intestinal wall for longterm benefits. they also guarantee their potency which means that when producing the probiotic, they put a much higher cfu count so that when the product is reaching expiry, it still has the claimed amount of probiotics alive. Most other companies do not do this.
Difference Between a Species vs Strain
When choosing a probiotic, BOTH the the species AND the strain is important. An example of a Species would Lactobacillus or bacillus coagulans, saccharomyces boulardii, etc. The Strain is the culture (the number at the end of the species as seen on any high quality probiotic supplements) such as CUL-21.
A great example from Dr. Cooper is if you were to go dogsledding and showed up to find a bunch of chihuahuas attached to the sled, you wouldn’t be excited because you want to go far and fast and there is no amount of chihuahuas in the world that could pull that sled. In this analogy, ‘dog’ would be the species (lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, etc) but the TYPE of dog ‘aka breed’ (husky, German shepherd, etc) is the strain. We need a DOG to pull the sled but the RIGHT breed of dog to make the sled actually move.
Probiotics are the same ! We can see lactobacillus acidophilus in almost every probiotic but there are tonnes of different STRAINS of Lactobacillus and while there may be overlapping characteristics (just like how most dogs bark, they all have 4 legs, etc) there are huge differences (some dogs are big, some are small. Some have floppy ears, some stick out, etc). Likewise, not all probiotic strains are created equal and some may help with reducing cholesterol whereas others may help with digestion or infections.
Specific strains are studied in research such as Lactobacillus plantarum CUL-66. This has been studied and proven to lower cholesterol. This does not mean that ALL lactobacillus plantarum strains will do this, but rather specifically the strain CUL-66 will. It is very important to make sure you are selecting the RIGHT strains, NOT just the species.
Determining Optimal CFUs & Delivery
I ONLY use Genestrabrands probiotics with my clients because I have yet to see better and higher quality probiotics than this company. Below are some great suggestions for probiotics from the genestra range that you could look into.
Genestra HMF Forte (10 billion cfu) is great for daily maintenance and preventing the development of issues in the future. This is great for the duodenum as the duodenum only requires a smaller amount of probiotics.
Genestra HMF Intensive (25 billion) is great for issues that are present currently Where we can reign in the dysfunction a little more and bring more of a balance back to the gut.
The Large intestine is where we break out the big guns. The Genestra HMF Intensive 500 (bifido bacteria heavy for large intestine) is used when there are issues that involve the large intestines such as skin concerns (eczema, psoriasis, acne) or digestive concerns (constipation, colitis, chrons).
Genestra HMF Multi Strain 50 and 100 are one of my favourites in my practice because they replenish a wide range of strains for those who are deficient across the board.
There are DOZENS more probiotics to choose from Genestra but these are some of my favourites !
Indications of A Need For Probiotics
- Antibiotic use
- Digestive symptoms (bloating, constipation, diarrhea)
- Symptoms of inappropriate immune activity (food intolerances)
- Ongoing use of certain medications (oral contraceptives, HRT, PPIs, SSRIs)
- Acute or chronic stress
- Pregnancy/post-natal
- Preventive health maintenance
- Nutrient deficiencies
- Skin conditions
- Autoimmune disease
- Mental health issues
- And much more
As we go deeper into the digestive tract, we see an increase in probiotic concentration. Gut-brain activity happens in the duodenum which contains anywhere between 10,000 and 100,000 cfu of mainly lactobacilli and streptococci. The Large intestine contains the most probiotics (100 -1000 billion cfu) and usually is out of balance when you have skin issues, chrons, autoimmune, etc. It contains many different strains but the most concentrated is bifidobacteria.
Microbiota in the small intestine (duodenal region – gutbrain axis hot spot) help produce acetylcholine, dopamine, serotonin, catecholamines, melatonin, GABA, histamine, active B vitamins. These are all essential for proper brain and nervous system function and can help with anxiety and depression.
When to incorporate prebiotics and why you may be reacting to them
If you can’t tolerate Fructooligiosaccharides (FOS) it is usually because you have an imbalanced microflora. A lot of times you need to understand that the worsening of symptoms when taking a probiotic is due to die-off of undesirable species within the gut when supplementing with probiotics and prebiotics.
If you leave your gut unattended for many years (no probiotics, bad foods, antibiotics, stress, etc), just like an unattended garden, there would be a lot of weeds. You would never fertilize a garden full of weeds. Instead you would first weed the garden, plant the flowers and THEN fertilize. Treat prebiotics the same way. Start with a probiotic that is free from any prebiotics (no FOS) and then get that turnover (you may still have die off) and once the ‘garden’ (aka gut) is fully weeded, then fertilize with prebiotics.
Common Probiotic Myth
HMF bacteria are NOT gas producing (they produce lactic acid) so bloating and gas that you may be experiencing when taking a human strain probiotic is by undesirable bacteria in the gut dying off. As HMF strains go in and replace them you may feel extra gas, loosening of stools or constipation depending on what kind of gas producing organisms are present in the gut. Methane-producing organisms tend to produce more constipation and sluggish bowels whereas hydrogen-producing organisms will cause looser stool. This is something that can be alleviated by slowing down the dosing, taking a day off or two between doses, etc.
HMF Research Driven Probiotics
The four top strains that are recommended are:
- Lactobaccilus acidophillus (CUL-60)
- Lactobaccilus acidophillus (CUL-21)
- Bifidobacterium animals subsp.lactis (CUL-34)
- Bifidobacterium bifidum (CUL-20)
These specific strains have a naturally high-tolerance in acidic conditions which allows them to survive stomach acid. Bacteria being able to survive the stomach is hugely important. Secondly, these specific strains are selected for their ability to adhere to the epithelial lining. Once they pass through the stomach and get to the intestinal system, they can attach to the wall of the intestines. The ability to attach is the most important thing because it can then form a colony (CFU is colony forming units) and increase exponentially. If we take a different type of bacteria that is not as adaptive to survive the stomach or attach to the wall of the gut, you won’t get the colony formation even if the probiotic Is 90 Billion CFU. Genestra probiotics stand out because they include these 4 core strains and are researched thoroughly (double blind placebo studies) to ensure their survivability, guaranteed potency and effectiveness. All this being said, there are many more great strains that have similar effects that are used in Genestra HMF probiotics.
Below is a summary of the benefits of these specific four strains (created by Dr. Cooper ND and Seroyal).
Key Points About Probiotics and Biofilms
The key thing about probiotics is that the organisms that implant into the wall of the intestine form biofilms that are part and parcel of how they colonize the intestines. We want to support the biofilms of the good bacteria and decrease the biofilms of the bad bacteria however there is no reliable way to be selective about that. So, the best we can do, when thinking about how to support the favorable flora, is to be sure we’re creating the conditions that favor implantation of the probiotics we’re giving. That means we need to be thinking about quorum sensing. I’ve talked about this in previous posts so please read those to have a better understanding of what this is and then come back here and finish this article!
Each unique probiotic strain (that’s the numbers and letters after the more general name like lactobacillus acidophilus) puts out a unique chemical signature, called a quormone (sounds like hormone). And each member in that strain is also sensing its environment for the strength of that same signal. As Dr. Sam Yanuck explains: “If I walk into a room and say hello, and I only hear my own voice, I’m alone. If I hear lots of other human voices, there are others around. When a strain member hears a stronger signal than can be attributed to what it’s putting out, it knows there are others of its strain around.” That’s “quorum sensing.” When members of a strain are concentrated enough, the quorum sensing signal strength gets high enough that they change their morphology, implant, and make a colony. That’s what we want for the good flora. That’s why we give probiotics.
How do we make the process more efficient? Here are the steps:
- Favor probiotics that have fewer strains per pill. A pill that has 25 different strains means each strain has fewer organisms = less likely to reach the numbers we need for quorum sensing to take place. I like to aim between 4 and 15 strains depending on the persons condition.
- Concentrate doses. I figure out how many probiotic capsules I want to take in a week. I divide that number in half and then take half of the total, twice per week. This is to further increase the concentration of each strain, to increase the likelihood that implantation will take place. If you have not done high dose probiotics before, you need to start with a single dose trial of half the amount you want to take (1/2 of 1/2), or less, to be sure you can tolerate it. So example…. if you are taking 100 billion CFUs daily, that would be 700 billion weekly. Instead of doing 100 billion cfu daily you could 300billion twice per week.
- Avoid taking probiotics at the same time, or near to, quorum sensing inhibitors. Garlic, quercetin, luteolin, and other flavonoid containing substances are natural quorum sensing inhibitors. They are so incredibly useful clinically in many ways to inhibit bad bacteria and biofilms, but if you take probiotics at the same time as you take any of them, you’ll reduce the likelihood of implantation. When I give twice a week dosing of probiotics, described above, it makes it easier to have my client avoid any probiotic in the same part of the day as any supplements. I also ask them to avoid eating two hours before or after any food, to avoid the possibility of eating things like onion or other foods high in quercetin. so to further explain, take your probiotic WITH food but away form antifungals and antibacterial such as the ones mentioned about including black walnut, olive leaf, etc. It is best to take probiotics away from all supplements and just eat it with a normal meal.
Now that you have all this info on how to not only select the right probiotic but to take it to ensure optimal effectiveness, you can have a very happy gut! if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!