lassesen 2:58 pm on September 14, 2013  

Probiotics lacking (Lactobacillus) Acidophilus

Readers of this blog know that I use studies that found that:

  • CFS patients are low/very low in healthy E.Coli
  • L.Acidophilus kills E.Coli

This leads me to advocating that any product (probiotics, yogurt, etc) containing L. Acidophilus should be avoided or minimized. This may account for some CFS MDs citing at conferences that they have seen no positive effects from probiotics (and privately mention, that they encourage their use solely for reasons of “bed side manners”). Since IBS and CFS tend to be co-morbid, probiotics that are effective for IBS are always a good choice.

This post is a listing of all probiotics that I have so-far located that are available over the shelf for human consumption. There are additional ones that require prescriptions (in the few countries where it is available) or are used in Veterinary practice. NOTE: Some are temperature sensitive, make sure you know the providence(shipment history) of them.

  • Easiest to obtain: Align, in many pharmacies and on Amazon (98 capsules ~ $70 is best buy) – B. infantis 35624 ONLY; IBS effective
  • Prescript-Assist: on  Amazon (90 capsules ~ $60 is best buy) – 28 species, none are Lactobacillus. IBS effective
  • Mutaflor: Available in Canada and Europe. ($60 for 30 in larger volumes)   E.Coli Nissle 1917 only. From Germany. IBS, UC, Crohns Disease effective
  • BioGala Protestic: on Amazon (30 sticks for $27) –  Lactobacillus reuteri Protectis ONLY . From Sweden
  • Jarrow Fem-Dophilus: on Amazon (120 capsules for $52) –  Lactobacillus rhamnosus, GR-1® and Lactobacillus reuteri, RC-14 ONLY . From Denmark (PubMed: unclear results)
  • BioGala Prodentis : See merchant list; on Amazon  (28 capsules for $36) –  Lactobacillus reuteri Prodentis  ONLY . From Sweden
  • Thorne Bacillus Coagulans on Amazon (60 capsule for $20) or Source Naturals Dura Flora on Amazon  – Bacillus Coagulans  AKA  Lactobacillus Sporogenes (PubMed: Some help for IBS)
  • 4XProBiotic Caplets on Amazon (84 capsule for $35) – Bifidobacterium infantis, Bifidobacterium lactis, Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium bifidum. Note: Bifidobacterium infantis is the same species as Align, but not the same strain — it may be effective for IBS (no studies on pubmed)
  • Jarrow Formulas Saccharomyces Boulardii + MOS
    on Amazon (90 capsule for $18) – Saccharomyces Boulardii (PubMed: No impact on IBS)
  • Now Foods OralBiotic on Amazon (60 capsule for $14) – Streptococcus salivarius BLIS K12
  • Oragenics Evora Plus Probiotic on Amazon (30 mints for $16) – Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus uberis, and Streptococcus rattus
  • Threelac Probiotic on Amazon (60 packages for $42) – bacillus coagulans, bacillus subtilis and enterococcus faecalis [Fivelac contains Acidophilus – avoid]

Example of good providence:  Mutaflor: flown from Germany to Toronto Canada, immediately placed in cold storage there. Shipments sent by 1 or 2 day express, packed in styrofoam box with ice packs to customer.

Single Species versus Multiple Species

A 2013 studies found that some mixtures were more effective than single species. Comparative in vitro inhibition of urinary tract pathogens by single- and multi-strain probiotics found  “Probiotic mixtures prevented the growth of urinary tract pathogens but were not significantly more inhibitory than single strains.”

A 2012 study, In vitro evaluation of single- and multi-strain probiotics: Inter-species inhibition between probiotic strains, and inhibition of pathogens. found ” When single species were tested against mixtures, the multi-species preparations displayed significantly (p < 0.05 or less) greater inhibition of pathogens in 12 out of 24 cases. Despite evidence that probiotic species will inhibit each other when incubated together in vitro, in many cases a probiotic mixture was more effective at inhibiting pathogens than its component species when tested at approximately equal concentrations of biomass.”
T%he full text of “Monostrain, multistrain and multispecies probiotics—A comparison of functionality and efficacy” is an interest read. It’s bottom line is that a properly engineered mixture is best – the problem is that most combinations do not have their effectiveness published as studies.