Should you take them? Should you not? We know. It’s confusing. The team at Vitamin & Me is here for you, when it comes to balancing supplement intake with real food. We’re nutritionists first and believe that your nutrition should come from food and supplement to fill gaps. That’s it. So let’s dive into who might benefit and when.Experts agree that probiotic supplementation can benefit your overall gut health in conjunction with eating a variety of probiotic-rich fermented foods including kimchi, sauerkraut and kefir. There are certain populations, though, that can particularly benefit from supplementation. In a 2009 study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, researchers gave mothers and their infants, who were deemed to be at high risk for allergies, either a probiotic mixture or a placebo until the baby was six months old. When the researchers checked in with the subjects four and a half years later, those who were born via cesarean were the only group who benefited from the probiotic protocol – their risk factor for food, insect sting and some drug allergies, among others, was reduced. Other research has suggested that probiotic supplementation can help treat Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Dr. Kellman notes that probiotic supplementation can be very individual – certain probiotics help certain people, and for different reasons – so more study may be needed to determine which helps who, and for what reason.
Written by Rachel Debling for Clean Eating Magazine and legally licensed through the Matcha publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@getmatcha.com.
We will be continuing this conversation on our podcast with gut health experts. We’ve chatted with Dr. Will Bulsiewicz @theguthealthmd, Dr. Leigh Frame, the Head of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Microbiome Dr. Scott Jackson, and many more. If you want to learn from the experts, then join us on the Vitamin & Me podcast.
If you’re curious about clean probiotics, check out the ones we love. Or reach out. We can help you get to the one that’s right for you. hello@vitaminandme.com
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