Dr. Justin Sonnenburg

So there are places that probiotic companies can send their product to have it independently validated.

So you want to look for that sort of validation on a product.

There also are names that are just very well known.

And, you know,

their reputations are on the line, so they probably invest a little bit more in quality control than maybe some of the other lesser known names.

Because there's such a huge range of products and because each person is their own little caper when it comes to the microbiome, it's really hard to know

whether there are great products for a given indication.

The really good advice that I've heard is try to find a study that supports in a really well-designed study, and this is very hard for people who aren't scientists to evaluate,

So if you're experiencing a medical problem or want to consult a doctor, that might be helpful.

But finding a study where a specific probiotic has successfully done whatever it is you're looking for and then sticking with that probiotic is really the best recipe as a place to start in this space, I think.

The studies that have been done on prebiotics, it's really kind of a mixed bag of results.

There have been studies done with purified fibers where you actually see microbiota diversity plummet over the course of the study because you get a very specific bloom in a small number of bacteria that are good at using that one type of fiber.

And that's at the expense of all the other microbes that are in the gut.

And so...

So it's really hard to replicate with purified fiber what you'd get, for instance, at a salad bar in terms of the array of complex carbohydrates that you would be exposing your microbiota to.

And I think the kind of

broad view of this in the field is that consuming a broad variety of plants and all the diverse fiber that comes with that is probably better in fostering diversity in your microbiota than purified fibers.

Now, there are, again, a lot of people who benefit from purified fibers, either for GI motility

or for other aspects of GI health problems that they've been experiencing.

Again, I think it's the type of thing where you have to try to find the thing that's right for you.