This Probiotic Guide Will Show You Which Brands Really Work
Our body relies on good bacteria to stay healthy, but eating these bacteria – whether in pills or in foods like yogurt – is n’t always uniquely associated with better health. A new online tool uses published research to link brands to health conditions in which they have proven to be effective.
Buying probiotics is tricky because the foods are so different. Two probiotic manufacturers may include different types of bacteria in different amounts and put them in different tablet or food formulations. So, just because a group of scientists found that a certain type of yogurt reduces constipation, that doesn’t mean that any yogurt you pick up at the store will have the same effect.
To use this tool, choose whether you want results for children, adults or especially women, and choose an indication that is the doctor’s expression for the problem you are trying to treat. (This tool is for healthcare providers, so it is quite technical.) Results include a chart with links for each condition for which drugs or foods have shown promise for treatment. Those labeled “Level I” refer to randomized controlled trials that are considered a good test of treatment.
However, this diagram is incomplete. There is no way to deal with negative evidence, that is, tests in which a given brand has not performed well. For example, Activia yogurt has been recognized for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and the table lists two studies as ‘Level I’ evidence. But there are also studies like this one published in a South African journal that have shown that the probiotic strain Activia does not help people with IBS.
An important caveat is that this tool was developed by the Probiotic Education Alliance , which is funded by probiotic manufacturers such as GoodBelly and P&G Personal Health Care . Many of the studies cited by the tool are also funded by probiotic manufacturers. That doesn’t mean they’re wrong, but it’s possible that both the industry-funded research and the online tool are leaning towards enticing your doctor to recommend their products.
However, it’s still a useful tool because there aren’t many other good ways to tie the products you see in stores to their clinical data. Science still has a lot to learn about probiotics , but at least that tells us a bit of what we do know.