Whats the Best Time To Take Probiotics and With Food or on

an Empty Stomach

• This is a questions that seems to divide Probiotic manufacturers

• However, it shouldn’t as the scientific research is pretty clear

• Many manufacturers will suggest taking their probiotics in the morning on an empty stomach, however stomach acids are at their highest levels at this time after fasting throughout the night, and reach a pH level of between 0.8 and 2

• The more acidic your stomach the higher the chance of killing the probiotics

• So really we suggest rather than worrying about a specific time of day, take the probiotics at a time when your stomach acids are lowest

• That means taking them with food. With a meal our stomach pH rises to between 4 and 7. Also the digestive enzymes released mean the stomach will empty more quickly, so the probiotics spend less time in the stomach

• A study in 2011 showed that probiotics taken within 30 minutes of a meal survived in significantly higher numbers than probiotics taken more than 30 minutes from a meal

• They also found that meals with some fat in them were more effective at helping probiotics to survive than those without fat

https://www.intelligentlabs.org/product/prebiotics-and-probiotics-with-sunfiber-and-fos/

Enteric Coated and Delayed Release Capsules

• All reputable companies should be using these. They are designed to allow the probiotics to survive stomach acids, however they are not perfect

• What is more important is to look for companies who use patented strains that are specifically selected for their ability to survive stomach acid and bile

• You can do this by checking for a number after the listed strain on a probiotic bottle

• For example at intelligent Labs for the strain Lactobacillus Acidophilus, we use the patented strain La-14.

• Most companies do not use patented strains and instead use cheap generic strains with unknown health and survivability characteristics

• An easy way to understand this difference is by picturing a probiotic strain such as Lactobacillus Acidophilus as a dog. A dog can come in many different shapes and sizes, for example a Yorkshire Terrier is very different to a Great Dane

• So only pick probiotic companies that will tell you the exact sub-strain they are using, otherwise they are trying to hide something

Conclusion

• We recommend taking your probiotics with food to create the best situation possible for the success of your probiotics.

• However, if you are using Intelligent Labs probiotics, and it’s more convenient for you to take them without food, they will still work just fine. This is because we use delayed release capsules and sub-strains specifically selected to survive stomach acid and bile

• For more information please see the original article on our blog, or you can see more details of our Intelligent Labs Probiotic here