Hi,
Has anyone heard of Digestive Advantage? It's a company that makes dietary supplements for IBS. It's main ingredient is lactobacillus. A friend recommended I try it. Opinions?
Thanks,
Beth
Digestive Advantage?
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Hi Beth,
To be honest, I had never heard of it before. Actually, they also make a version specifically labeled for IBDs, including microscopic, collagenous, and lymphocytic colitis:
http://www.ganedenbiotech.com/prod_crohns_colitis.html
This formulation appears to be a combination of a probiotic, consisting of Lactobacillus Cultures, and Saccharomyces Boulardii, (which is a beneficial yeast, of course), together with a bunch of vitamins, a few inert ingredients, and a couple of dyes. The IBS formulation does not contain the Saccharomyces. (By the way, they spell it Sacchromyces on their web site, but I believe that the correct spelling is Saccharomyces).
Unfortunately, there is a label warning that it may, (read that "very likely does"), contain trace amounts of casein, which may make it questionable for use by many IBD sufferers who are casein intolerant. My hunch is that traces of casein are a primary reason why many of us suffer adverse effects from the ingestion of many types of probiotics. This warning is on the labels of both the IBS formulation, and the IBD formulation.
Based on their ingredient lists, my opinion would be that the use of either product probably wouldn't hurt you, unless you are casein intolerant. The odds of receiving some benefit from either product are probably in the 50-50 range, based on the fact that, according to member experience, (we have done a poll on probiotics, in the past), considering responses only from those who have actually tried a probiotic, only half have been able to attribute any degree of success to the use of probiotics, and a few members have experienced adverse effects from probiotics, (such as explosive D). Based on members who actually tried probiotics, 50% thought that they actually benefited, 31% couldn't tell any effect, and 19% suffered negative effects. To further expand on those figures, 31% felt that they benefited significantly from probiotics, while 13% reported that probiotics made them sick.
Dr. Fine, however, does recommend the use of a good probiotic. The downside is that, (as far as I am aware), he can't find one that works satisfactorily for himself, so he can't recommend a specific brand or type. Someone please correct me here if I am wrong about that.
Generally, if you're going to use a probiotic, you're better off with a refrigerated product, (to maintain viability of the cultures).
That's my 2 cents worth, but be aware that I have never tried a probiotic. I planned to do a series of tests with them a couple of years ago, in order to answer some questions about them, but I decided to test a couple of enzyme supplements first, and the very first one that I tried, made me so sick that I dumped the whole project - a good example of the old joke about it being hard to remember why you came to the swamp, when your're up to your ass in alligators. LOL.
Tex
To be honest, I had never heard of it before. Actually, they also make a version specifically labeled for IBDs, including microscopic, collagenous, and lymphocytic colitis:
http://www.ganedenbiotech.com/prod_crohns_colitis.html
This formulation appears to be a combination of a probiotic, consisting of Lactobacillus Cultures, and Saccharomyces Boulardii, (which is a beneficial yeast, of course), together with a bunch of vitamins, a few inert ingredients, and a couple of dyes. The IBS formulation does not contain the Saccharomyces. (By the way, they spell it Sacchromyces on their web site, but I believe that the correct spelling is Saccharomyces).
Unfortunately, there is a label warning that it may, (read that "very likely does"), contain trace amounts of casein, which may make it questionable for use by many IBD sufferers who are casein intolerant. My hunch is that traces of casein are a primary reason why many of us suffer adverse effects from the ingestion of many types of probiotics. This warning is on the labels of both the IBS formulation, and the IBD formulation.
Based on their ingredient lists, my opinion would be that the use of either product probably wouldn't hurt you, unless you are casein intolerant. The odds of receiving some benefit from either product are probably in the 50-50 range, based on the fact that, according to member experience, (we have done a poll on probiotics, in the past), considering responses only from those who have actually tried a probiotic, only half have been able to attribute any degree of success to the use of probiotics, and a few members have experienced adverse effects from probiotics, (such as explosive D). Based on members who actually tried probiotics, 50% thought that they actually benefited, 31% couldn't tell any effect, and 19% suffered negative effects. To further expand on those figures, 31% felt that they benefited significantly from probiotics, while 13% reported that probiotics made them sick.
Dr. Fine, however, does recommend the use of a good probiotic. The downside is that, (as far as I am aware), he can't find one that works satisfactorily for himself, so he can't recommend a specific brand or type. Someone please correct me here if I am wrong about that.
Generally, if you're going to use a probiotic, you're better off with a refrigerated product, (to maintain viability of the cultures).
That's my 2 cents worth, but be aware that I have never tried a probiotic. I planned to do a series of tests with them a couple of years ago, in order to answer some questions about them, but I decided to test a couple of enzyme supplements first, and the very first one that I tried, made me so sick that I dumped the whole project - a good example of the old joke about it being hard to remember why you came to the swamp, when your're up to your ass in alligators. LOL.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.