“How do I choose probiotic products?”

 Oh wait! Before you learn how to choose probiotic products,

We must first learn about <<what is probiotic>> and <<why we need probiotic>>,

Then we can choose the right probiotic product for ourselves and for our family.

So, what is probiotic?

Probiotics are a group of active microorganisms. After they pass through our body’s digestive tract, they will compete with the harmful bacteria in the body for the living space and nutrients in the intestine. After that, they will adhere to the intestinal wall and stay for a few days. Probiotics improve the intestinal bacterial equilibrium by reducing the growth of harmful bacteria, and help the host to avoid infection and disease. In short, probiotics are microorganisms in the intestine which provide health benefits to human body.

All "good bacteria" that are helpful to our human health are called probiotics, and among all probiotics, about 90% of them are lactic acid bacteria, so when it comes to probiotics, it is almost equal to lactic acid bacteria. Lactic acid bacteria are named because they help our body to metabolize sugar and produce lactic acid.

Besides, other common probiotic families also include bifidobacterium and streptococcus. Each type of probiotic can provide different benefits to our health.

Do you know that probiotics are not only benefit for intestine?

"Mom, I have constipation problem!" "Go to the cupboard and eat that probiotics son, it can help you!"

Most people know that probiotics are very helpful for our intestinal health, especially when we have stomach problems like constipation, diarrhea, bloating and so on. But in fact, the benefits of probiotic to our health are far more than what we know.

According to a nutritionist’s report published in the British "Daily Mail", the intestinal tract affects both our physical and mental health. Once our intestinal bacterial equilibrium break, we might have various health diseases. This is because about 70% of the immune cells in the human body are located in our intestines, and the balance of the intestinal flora is therefore closely related to our immunity. When there are enough probiotics in our intestines, our immunity will be stronger; when harmful bacteria in the intestines grow, the immunity will be weakened, and this will lead us to various diseases.

And because the probiotics in our body will gradually decrease due to various factors, such as age, environment, diet, etc., so we need to supplement ourselves with probiotics.

Let’s move to the main topic – How should we choose the right probiotic products?

There are many types of probiotic products in the market, sometimes we do not know which one to choose.
Liquid form? Powder form? Tablet form? Paste form? Which one the best?
Should we consider the types of probiotics too? Is it the higher the number of probiotics, the better?
Do we need to place it in the fridge?

First, let's take a look on which probiotic is better.

Liquid form

I believe most people know the common liquid form probiotic products on the market, which labelled with “10 billion live lactic acid bacteria” and most children love it! Usually there is only 1-2 types of probiotic in this product and such probiotic products need to be refrigerated to ensure the probiotics inside survived, but sometimes they are also affected by temperature during transportation. And in fact, this kind of liquid probiotic products is the fermented milk with sugar added. The sugar content is even higher than carbonated drinks! The sugar content in every 100ml is close to 16g! Therefore, it is better to drink lesser!

Powder form / Tablet form

There are also many probiotic products in powder or tablet form on the market. Usually, chemical additives are added if it needs to be compressed into powder or tablets. However, taking such chemical additives for long-term will inevitably have an impact on our health.

Powder form probiotic products tend to stick on the packaging when we pour them out, and it also stick to our mouths when we swallowed, and thus may not reach the intestines thoroughly. Moreover, when the taste of the powder form probiotics are not good, it is difficult for us to consume it. Therefore, flavouring agents like fruit juice powder are usually added to make the taste better.

For tablet form probiotics, more additives such as excipients will be needed to compress it into tablets. This is also means that we will be taking excess additives the same time when we taking these probiotics. In addition, in the process of making tablets, hot pressing is required, and high temperatures can easily kill probiotics. Therefore, we may not be able to consume the exact amount of probiotics labelled on the bottle.

Paste form

On the other hand, paste form probiotic products are rarely found in the market, especially those that are directly filled into capsules after fermentation. But in fact, this kind of paste-like probiotics products are more stable and active.

What do you mean by a paste form probiotics product? Paste means to mix all ingredients such as fruits and vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, seaweeds, etc., together with carefully selected probiotics, and ferment them at room temperature to form a paste-like probiotic product. How long does it take to ferment those ingredients until they become paste? It must be a very long time, even years needed! So which manufacturers do you think will take such a long to produce a product? Therefore, usually paste form probiotic products are relatively rare in the market.

Is it the more the probiotics, the better?

“Even if there are trillions of probiotics in it, if these probiotics are no longer active when they reach the intestine, then the product is useless.” from a book titled <Boost Your Health with Bacteria>

Therefore, colony forming units (CFUs) cannot be a product quality consideration. In contrast, when choosing a probiotic product, it is necessary to understand the probiotic activity in the product.

Do probiotics need to be refrigerated?

The need for refrigeration is related to the technology and strains of probiotics used to produce the product. Good probiotic strains have high stability, coupled with good production technology, there is absolutely no problem when stored at room temperature! Some probiotic products emphasize the need to refrigerate to avoid lowering the survival rate of probiotics. Therefore, when choosing a probiotic product, we must also pay attention to the storage method indicated on the product, so that we know the stability of the probiotic product.

In this era, the benefit of probiotics to our health cannot be ignored.
And choosing a probiotic product that suits you and your family contains a lot of knowledge

Have you choose the right probiotic product?

Wan Shing
Nutritionist