What can you tell me about probiotics vitamins?

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  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
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    elphie754 wrote: »
    elphie754 wrote: »
    KiyaK wrote: »
    I suffer from/have suffered from sinus issues & depression. My aunt (who has gluten & dairy allergies) recommended a brand of probiotic. Of course, I can't remember the brand right now...

    Anyway, I take them on weekdays when I remember. My sinus issues have been much better. My depression is doing very well right now. I'm not seeing it contribute to my weight loss though. I've never had much trouble pooping or anything, so no changes there.

    As others have said, probiotics are just one piece in a large puzzle. You have to supplement the probiotic with exercise, healthy diet (low sugar, low processed food), etc. Just diet alone will not always work, as some people actually need help rebuilding their gut flora. Beware of foods that say they have probiotics in them. Not that they're bad, just that our modern food processing (homoginization, pasturazing, etc) kills the good bacteria with the bad. That's why many people have started fermenting their own foods & taking probiotics.

    Probiotics have nothing to do with depression.

    You're wrong.

    http://www.prevention.com/mind-body/probiotics-antidepressants

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25470391

    http://www.livescience.com/49248-gut-bacteria-mental-health.html

    Google it, there are tons of articles out there.

    Google is not a good source of scientific information.

    Please explain how probiotics that can effect guy bacteria have anything to do neurotransmitters in the brain.

    Yeah-I think I'll stick to my psych meds instead of trying probiotics.

    Huh?

    90% of the body's serotonin is located in the gut.



    Correct, but it won't passs the blood-brain barrier.


    Not to call you out. I just find it interesting, so I thought I'd share. Actually things like that do travel to the brain...Chemicals like tryptophan, serotonin and even DNA have been proven to make their way up the blood stream. In fact, that's how SSRI's work. That's why there are "brain foods" They have even found with scientific research that women who have male babies store some of the childs dna in their brain because it travels from the gut to their brain. It's pretty neat if you think about it!

    Neurotransmitters do not pass the blood brain barrier in normal operations, which is why we use precursors such as L-Dopa and not Dopamine. Tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin. Unless all of neuro science has changed since I got my degree I believe you are mistaking neurotransmitters for certain chemicals, including psychoactive drugs and precursors, that will transit the blood brain barrier.
  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,338 Member
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    you can get the same result by eating greek yogurt.

    I spoke to a pharmacist about that idea, and she said it's virtually impossible to eat enough greek yogurt to get beneficial results.

    True. And if you could, you would have to eat a ton of yogurt..

    For example, 1 capsule of the probiotic i take is equal to 22 tubs of yogurt

    Oh my gosh, I could just about yak just thinking about eating that amount of yogurt!
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    you can get the same result by eating greek yogurt.

    I spoke to a pharmacist about that idea, and she said it's virtually impossible to eat enough greek yogurt to get beneficial results.

    True. And if you could, you would have to eat a ton of yogurt..

    For example, 1 capsule of the probiotic i take is equal to 22 tubs of yogurt

    Oh my gosh, I could just about yak just thinking about eating that amount of yogurt!

    Not to mention-

    22 tubs (170g each) of yogurt = 2,797 calories

    1 probiotic capsule = 1 calorie
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    edited March 2016
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    In the morning I have a glass of happy days blueberry goat milk kefir. With another one or two meals I include wildbrine sauerkraut (red beet and cabbage is my favorite). Occasionally I drink ginger kombucha. And I take probiotics. But, I was extremely, severely misdiagnosed and overtreated treated with very strong and double strength antibiotics.
  • JollyHodgers87
    JollyHodgers87 Posts: 165 Member
    edited March 2016
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    you can get the same result by eating greek yogurt.

    I spoke to a pharmacist about that idea, and she said it's virtually impossible to eat enough greek yogurt to get beneficial results.

    True. And if you could, you would have to eat a ton of yogurt..

    For example, 1 capsule of the probiotic i take is equal to 22 tubs of yogurt

    Oh my gosh, I could just about yak just thinking about eating that amount of yogurt!

    Not to mention-

    22 tubs (170g each) of yogurt = 2,797 calories

    1 probiotic capsule = 1 calorie

    I haven't looked to see the comparison of how many probiotics I get from my gummies vs. yogurt, but I take both. I also read that the pills/ gummies are better because the sugar in yogurt cancels some of it out because it feeds the bad bacteria (gut yeist) in your stomach. I do the chewables and eat yogurt. I'd assume you can't have too much. I mean hopefully not. But I like to eat yogurt everyday, bc it's easy to add things into it that are good for you like granola and fruit and nuts etc..
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    Technically a person can take too much, but only if they are megadosing daily on pills well over 200 billion. So, it's nothing to worry about in ordinary circumstances. You can have fermented foods with every meal. Only need to be careful if you have histamine intolerance, and you would know because you would flush, get migraines and neuropathy, and have allergy symptoms. I have histamine intolerance, but it's improving. You don't need to worry too much about the lactose sugar in yogurt or kefir because the probiotics eat it all up while being cultured in the container.
  • JollyHodgers87
    JollyHodgers87 Posts: 165 Member
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    Technically a person can take too much, but only if they are megadosing daily on pills well over 200 billion. So, it's nothing to worry about in ordinary circumstances. You can have fermented foods with every meal. Only need to be careful if you have histamine intolerance, and you would know because you would flush, get migraines and neuropathy, and have allergy symptoms. I have histamine intolerance, but it's improving. You don't need to worry too much about the lactose sugar in yogurt or kefir because the probiotics eat it all up while being cultured in the container.
    Thanks for sharing!

  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    Another option to try is eating prebiotic foods that feed the probiotics you already have in your intestines.
  • augustremulous
    augustremulous Posts: 378 Member
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    The scientific world is still in the early stages of research about probiotics. At any rate, probiotics are unregulated and most probiotic supplements are just based on a bunch of theories. I don't think they are harmful, but I don't think they're necessary, either. I've tried them, and though something was "different," it wasn't necessarily better. And it changed back the second I stopped taking them, which tells me that it's a product they want you to keep taking and that it doesn't really do anything to change the bacterial composition in your gut.

    I think the best thing to do is to not only ingest probiotics in your food, but also lots of prebiotics (foods that good bacteria love) and to make sure you get a diversity of such prebiotics. For example, good bacteria love whole, unrefined grains, but people who eat the same whole grains day after day don't have much gut flora diversity as people who eat all kinds. Eating a variety of raw vegetables is important.

    As far as natural sources of probiotics: anything fermented that hasn't been pasteurized. For example, kimchi and sauerkraut are fermented vegetables that deliver a ton of vegetable loving bacteria to your gut. If you buy commercial, they sometimes pasteurize it before packaging, which kills all the good bacteria, so it's important to eat homemade or from some place that doesn't pasteurize. I personally have found good quality yogurt to be the best source - I buy a variety of yogurts, and make homemade too. Each brand has a different set of strains, so if you rotate your yogurt you get more diversity of bacteria.

    There are all sorts of fermented foods out there I haven't tried yet, too, like keffir.

    I should also add, when you travel to foreign countries and eat all sorts of new produce, you often introduce a whole ton of new and healthy bacteria too. It's really good for you!

    And this might be controverial here, but if you get a serious infection, I'd take antibiotics right away. A lot of people are against antibiotics because they kill all the good bacteria, but once you have an infection, the bad bacteria have already won. Better to wipe them out and start from scratch with the good bacteria. Otherwise you will always be getting flare ups. Of course, I only take antibiotics every three years or so - eating a lot of probiotics and prebiotics lessens your chance of infections because those bacteria compete with the bad bacteria for resources in your gut, and a new infection won't build a stronghold if there's a lush population of the good bacteria. If you are in the position of taking an antibiotic, stay on it and make sure to replenish as many probiotics during and after as possible to prevent other problems.

    Those are my thoughts :)
  • JollyHodgers87
    JollyHodgers87 Posts: 165 Member
    Options
    The scientific world is still in the early stages of research about probiotics. At any rate, probiotics are unregulated and most probiotic supplements are just based on a bunch of theories. I don't think they are harmful, but I don't think they're necessary, either. I've tried them, and though something was "different," it wasn't necessarily better. And it changed back the second I stopped taking them, which tells me that it's a product they want you to keep taking and that it doesn't really do anything to change the bacterial composition in your gut.

    I think the best thing to do is to not only ingest probiotics in your food, but also lots of prebiotics (foods that good bacteria love) and to make sure you get a diversity of such prebiotics. For example, good bacteria love whole, unrefined grains, but people who eat the same whole grains day after day don't have much gut flora diversity as people who eat all kinds. Eating a variety of raw vegetables is important.

    As far as natural sources of probiotics: anything fermented that hasn't been pasteurized. For example, kimchi and sauerkraut are fermented vegetables that deliver a ton of vegetable loving bacteria to your gut. If you buy commercial, they sometimes pasteurize it before packaging, which kills all the good bacteria, so it's important to eat homemade or from some place that doesn't pasteurize. I personally have found good quality yogurt to be the best source - I buy a variety of yogurts, and make homemade too. Each brand has a different set of strains, so if you rotate your yogurt you get more diversity of bacteria.

    There are all sorts of fermented foods out there I haven't tried yet, too, like keffir.

    I should also add, when you travel to foreign countries and eat all sorts of new produce, you often introduce a whole ton of new and healthy bacteria too. It's really good for you!

    And this might be controverial here, but if you get a serious infection, I'd take antibiotics right away. A lot of people are against antibiotics because they kill all the good bacteria, but once you have an infection, the bad bacteria have already won. Better to wipe them out and start from scratch with the good bacteria. Otherwise you will always be getting flare ups. Of course, I only take antibiotics every three years or so - eating a lot of probiotics and prebiotics lessens your chance of infections because those bacteria compete with the bad bacteria for resources in your gut, and a new infection won't build a stronghold if there's a lush population of the good bacteria. If you are in the position of taking an antibiotic, stay on it and make sure to replenish as many probiotics during and after as possible to prevent other problems.

    Those are my thoughts :)

    Great to hear first hand experience! Thanks!