10 billion? 30 billion? 100 billion? Is more bacteria really better?
10 billion? 30 billion? 100 billion? Is more bacteria really better?
In recent years, influenced by the pandemic, people in Taiwan have placed greater emphasis on daily health maintenance. Probiotics have thus firmly held the title of best-selling health supplement. In addition to the primary demand for digestive health, the needs for allergy regulation and immune system enhancement have also become significant reasons for people to focus more on probiotic supplementation.
Please set aside the myth that more probiotic strains are always better!
It is most important to choose a proven effective number of strains for appropriate supplementation!
Most probiotic products on the market leverage consumers' mindset of "more is better" by claiming their products contain over a hundred billion strains per serving. However, they often include more than 90% of easily cultivated, weaker strains that are low-cost and have limited health benefits (e.g., Enterococcus, Bacillus). Enterococcus is a type of lactic acid bacteria that is relatively fragile and often gets destroyed before it even reaches the digestive tract. In contrast, truly beneficial high-cost strains with stricter anaerobic cultivation and preservation conditions (e.g., Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, or Plantarum) make up less than 10% of the total content.
As a result, the "bacteria" consumed may raise concerns about digestive health, and in Europe, the addition of Enterococcus in health supplements is explicitly prohibited. Therefore, when selecting probiotics, do not base your choice solely on the number of strains. Instead, understand each strain you are consuming and choose quality over quantity!
When choosing probiotics, you should not only focus on the number of strains or the variety of strains. It is essential to select products developed by a professional research team, supported by research findings, backed by reliable safety studies, with complete product testing reports, and from trustworthy brands to ensure quality probiotics!
Many probiotic products on the market boast a diverse range of strains to highlight their advantages. Does this mean they are good products? Can too many strains lead to mutual exclusion? In fact, this is a marketing tactic aimed at consumers, making them believe they are getting a high-value product.
Many people online suggest that "if probiotic products contain too many strains, it may lead to mutual exclusion among the strains, causing interference and competition, which can affect efficacy." Essentially, the number of strains in a product is subjective, and there is no research proving that different strains will exclude each other; nor is there evidence that having more strains guarantees better efficacy. Scientific evidence shows that consuming the right strains, with a count of about 1 to 2 million, is sufficient! Including many low-quality strains is less effective than having a few strains that are well-supported by research data regarding their health benefits, safety, and stability, and that have been experimentally validated together.
According to the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP), regularly supplementing with effective doses and strains as documented in the literature can achieve the specific health benefits you desire. Therefore, when choosing probiotics, please discard the misconception that higher strain counts are better.
