Spore, Regular, Pre, Pro, or Post? Which Type of Biotic Do You Need?
The variety of gut health supplements isn’t so simple these days.
Probiotic supplements have been used for decades to help alleviate a multitude of issues for some people. Gut health has proven to be a key component in overall health, and the delicate balance of gut bacteria plays an important role in your immune system. As more research has been done on probiotics, the options of probiotic supplements have greatly increased. Over the last 5-10 years, spore based probiotics have become increasingly recommended by expert health practitioners.
What’s the difference? Spore based probiotics are bacteria strains that are encased inside of a spore. These exist all over the place in nature- soil, dirt, plants, even in aquatic environments. These bacteria want to be consumed by people and animals, so they’ve evolved alongside humans to develop these spore shells that protect them from the environment until they are consumed. Scientists actually found spore encased bacteria inside of some fossilized amber that was 25 million years old- and the bacteria was still alive!
When spore based probiotics are consumed, they shed their spores soon after entering the colon- keeping the spore intact as they move through the stomach and small intestine ensures that the bacteria inside survives exposure to stomach acid and bile. Then they shed the shells, balance and clean up your gut biome, and right before being excreted they “re-sporalate”, which means they reproduce. The “baby bacteria” has spores, which are put out into the environment and the cycle starts all over again. This process, from consumption to excretion, usually takes about 4 weeks.
Spore based probiotics are all derived from bacillus strains of bacteria. Regular, or bacteria only (no spores) can be either lactobacillus or bifidobacterial strains. They don’t contain a spore shell, and scientists believe this leaves them more fragile and easy to kill.
Do Regular Probiotics Make it to the Colon Alive?
Studies do show that they survive. It’s likely that the probiotics used in studies were stronger than those used in commercial products- when bacteria are mass produced for products, they tend to lose their strength and efficacy. As more and more studies have been done recently regarding gut health and the use of different types of probiotics, most researchers agree that bacterial based probiotics aren’t anywhere near as effective as we once thought they might be (1,2).
But if you’ve ever taken a probiotic, you likely know it does transfer some benefit- so how does it do that if they are all dead from our stomach acid and bile? Turns out that the mRNA in bacteria will actually trigger some genetic exchange with the live bacteria in our gut, and this can improve gut health- and related symptoms- for a short time frame. These alterations only last a couple of days, whereas it seems the changes from a spore based probiotic last 3-4 weeks. This would also explain why eating fermented, probiotic heavy foods like kimchi, kefir or yogurt on a regular basis would help with gut health. Cultures that consume fermented foods daily, or even at every meal, don’t tend to have the sort of gut dysregulation we have in the US where fermented foods aren’t part of a typical diet.
In the US, we have also heavily sterilized our food sources and food systems. This means we are no longer exposed to the spores we once consumed on a regular basis, when we were growing our own food and eating it straight from the ground. The good news here is that you can increase your amount of spore based probiotic exposure by simply planting a garden or purchasing produce from a local farmers market, where the fruits and veggies are not going to be as heavily washed or sterilized.
Effects of spore based probiotics seem to last longer
Probiotics can be helpful with many symptoms that are not gut related
Regular probiotics likely don’t survive the gut environment, but do still transfer some benefit
Prebiotic and Postbiotic supplements aren’t necessary for most people
What Can Probiotics Help With?
Depending on who you ask, probiotics have the potential to help with almost any symptom a person is experiencing. This goes back to the gut being such an important part of our overall immune system. Most research shows that whatever type of probiotic is being taken, it needs about 8 weeks to show any benefit. Studies typically use 1 billion to 100 billion CFUs (colony forming units) per dose.
Symptoms shown to be helped by probiotics:
Mental Health- anxiety, depression, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and memory issues or generalized “brain fog”.
Insulin resistance- high insulin levels may be reduced
Inflammation- C-reactive protein may be reduced
Cholesterol- some strains of bacteria in the gut help to break down bile. When bile isn’t broken down, we can reabsorb it and it enters the bloodstream as cholesterol, possibly contributing to high cholesterol levels.
IBS/IBD type symptoms- bloating, cramps, gas, diarrhea, constipation, nausea
Immune health- 80% of your immune system is in your gut, and studies have shown reduction in frequency of respiratory infections, UTIs, and an increase in production t-lymphocytes and natural killer cells.
Eczema- this topic is highly nuanced, and the evidential link between reduction of eczema and probiotic use is weak. Eczema is often (not always) caused by intestinal hyperpermeability, and probiotics can be a key component of fixing that issue.
Allergies – both food an environmental. Again, most food and environmental allergies develop due to gut health issues, so adding a high quality probiotic can be key to reducing or resolving symptoms though it’s likely not the ONLY thing you need to work on.
What About Pre- and Post-Biotics?
Many probiotic companies also sell prebiotics. Whether or not you need a prebiotic is really dependent on your diet. Prebiotics are high fiber foods that feed the probiotics- bacteria have to eat too! If you eat prebiotic containing foods them frequently and in decent quantities, a prebiotic is really a waste of your money and unnecessary. However if you are eating a Standard American Diet, or if you have a child with a highly limited diet, then a prebiotic is definitely a good idea.
Foods that are high in prebiotics:
Asparagus
Beans and legumes (e.g., soybean, peas)
Chicory
Jerusalem artichoke
Raw garlic
Raw honey
Raw onion
Raw asparagus
Tomatoes
Under-ripe bananas
Whole grains
Post-biotics may be a new term for some of us. Post-biotics are the byproducts produced when probiotics break down and consume prebiotics. These include short chain fatty acids like butyrate, enzymes, cell wall fragments, vitamins and amino acids, and other metabolites. Many of these byproducts are important for immune health. For example, butyrate helps cue your gut to increase its mucosal barrier. An increase in these substances can led to an improvement in immune health, which in turn can lead to a decrease in symptoms.
If you are consuming ample prebiotics and taking a good probiotic, a post-biotic would be fairly unnecessary as the other two should be creating plenty of post-biotic substances on their own. Some individuals can be particularly sensitive to probiotics, so if this applies to you, a post-biotic could potentially give you the same end benefits of consuming a probiotic and prebiotic.
Which Brand is Best?
My personal favorite brand of spore based probiotics is MegaSporeBiotic by Microbiome Labs. I like this one because it contains more strains than any other spore based probiotic product on the market. MegaSporeBiotic contains all 5 of the researched spore based strains- Bacillus indicus, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus licheniformis, and Bacillus clausii.
JustThrive is also pretty popular. It contains 4 strains- Bacillus indicus, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus coagulans, and Bacillus clausii.
BioSpora by Klaire Labs and Soil Based Probiotic by Dr. Ruscio both contain just two strains, Bacillus coagulans and Bacillus subtilis.
Another personal favorite of mind is specific to individuals experiencing GI distress. Proglora4R, by Biocidin, contains 3 strains of spore based probiotics- Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus coagulans, and Bacilus clausii- as well as marshmallow root extract, quercetin, and aloe extract. I don’t usually love highly complex supplements, like multivitamins, because you rarely get a therapeutic dose of any particular nutrient. However the amounts of both probiotics and marshmallow, quercetin, and aloe are all at therapeutic levels in this particular product.
When beginning a spore based probiotic, it’s recommended to start low and slow, especially if you know you have dysbiosis. As the probiotics regulate your gut bacteria and overgrowth dies off, it’s possible to experience a “die off reaction” which is just the human body’s inability to break down the endotoxins released when bacteria die en masse. This usually results in flu like symptoms for a few days, but can last longer.
Sources:
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(18)31102-4
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(18)31108-5?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867418311085%3Fshowall%3Dtrue