Probiotics and prebiotics - recommendations please

I have recently read 'Probiotics for Crohn's and Colitis' by Peter Cartwright. I am now eager to get started with taking probiotics and prebiotics, however, i'm still struggling with which products i should go for.

I had strongly considered VSL#3, but two things have put me of this probiotic treatment: 1) its stupidly expensive 2) having looked at the www.vsl3.com website, there is no mention of it helping with crohn's disease, only UC, IBS and those with an ileal pouch.

Does anyone have any knowledge or experience of 'Butyric acid'. I am intreagued by this article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100119213037.htm

Can anyone advise me which probiotics and prebiotics are considered to be the most effective for people with crohn's disease. I will appreciate all feedback.

I would also be very interested to read about personal experiences of taking probiotics and prebiotics, good or bad.

Thanks and regards
Ali

I thought many people on here would have a big interest in probiotic/prebiotic treatment. From most of the information i have been reading, it appears that more and more evidence is comming to light that UC and Crohn's is most likely being caused by changes in the gut microflora rather than anything else, and that getting the guts microflora balanced properly goes a long way towards keeping IBD under control.

Therefore, i would have thought a thread on probiotic/prebiotic treatment would be getting plenty of attention. Is probiotic/prebiotic treatment popular among UC and Crohn's sufferers, or not? And if not, can anyone tell me why not?

Thanks

Regards
Ali

I was taking a natural food store brand probiotic for many years, and am now in the process of switching to Garden of Life Primal Defense Ultra Probiotic, since it has 13 strains vs the 4 strains in the other, and it includes minerals and iron (which I didn't know until it arrived), and 15 billion vs 5 billion probiotic cells daily.

http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Life-D...ef=sr_1_2?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1302373890&sr=1-2 I did the subscribe and save option, which made these very reasonably priced for their quality - they're the same price as the store brand I was taking but much better.

Not sure if it helps, but it can't hurt. I have been adjusting my diet and supplements a bit lately so that's one reason I'm having difficulty knowing if it helps or not. (Eating much better, having smoothies for breakfast, and adding hemp oil to my daily routine.) I feel like it's definitely a good idea to take probiotics to help with the good vs bad bacterial balance in your intestines. I've never heard anything bad about taking them.

I'll let you know if I notice any significant changes when I finish working my way up to a full dose.

I take probiotics. I make a lot of probiotic foods like yogurt, and sauerkraut. I dont know how much it helps, but I havent needed antibiotics for any crohns related abcesses since adding them to my diet.

Prebiotics like inulin make me super bloated and gassy.

Probiotics have never put me in remission. I do think they prevent infection by crowding out pathogenic bacteria.

I think like many supplements there is just so much to choose from and I myself find it overwhelming..on another board s boulardii was highly recommended, so do a google search on that..I have ordered it but has not arrived yet so I can not speak from experience yet..

I started taking the S. Boulardii from Jarrow Formulations. You can find it here. It is cheaper than that Florastor stuff. I think it has helped me. It definitely helped with the crazy c diff that I had.

My sons natural m.d. recommended IntraKids for him, IntraMax is for adults .. it is by drucker labs, is liquid and has probiotics, prebiotics, enzymes, antifungals, immune system help etc, etc.

Butyric Acid (butyrate) is produced by the gut flora after fermentation of carbs (fibres if you will). It's more so in the colon that this happens than in the small intestine, because the bacterial load increases from the stomach down to the colon. (the species differ too, colon and ileum have bacteroidetes / firmicutes and clostridia, higher up you have all the lactobacilli and streptococci) (there's a good study that details all of them but can't find link now)

So while the studies focus on UC so much for probiotics, might have something to do with the bacterial load being so high there, it's still high in the ileum, but the more you go up to the stomach the less bacteria there are.

It also doesn't mean that butyric acid has no effect in places where there are less bacteria, since the fermentation into BA has benefits for the whole body, not just one specific place, although it's easier to measure that effect there I assume, which is why so many studies are related to UC, cause the bacterial load is so high in the colon, it doesn't mean it's not effective for crohn at all.

Not to mention that crohn causes dysbiosis, the diversity of gut flora decreases, and supplementing with probiotics is probably not so bad.

Why VSL#3 is so expensive I don't know, but it's used in studies a lot, here they use other brands often, it depends on country too.

Prebiotics, most prebiotics are a form of carb, most common one is called inulin, because it is easily fermented, it passes low PH and gets to the small intestine and colon.

If you want to take it, I don't know, on the one hand it increases BA, cause it's fermentable, and they see benefit, on the other hand it's a carb, and bacteria love carbs, pathogenic ones too, and fungi. Fungi love carb, and since there is a connection with yeast in crohn (saccharomyces Ig test, ASCA) I dunno....

Taste of inulin is just like sugar, although it's like 100 times stickier, it is really nasty how much it sticks, it's like super glue once you add water.

mreyn said:

My sons natural m.d. recommended IntraKids for him, IntraMax is for adults .. it is by drucker labs, is liquid and has probiotics, prebiotics, enzymes, antifungals, immune system help etc, etc.

Click to expand...

wow http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/media//label_intramax.jpeg does it turn you into a ninja turtle?

He has crohns in his ileum.. and I'm just so overwhelmed. Everything contradicts each other. some say its food... stay away from wheat, dairy,etc.. some say its autoimmune, some say its a constant bacteria causing problems.. geez, I just wish there was a specific test ... with an exact answer of what to do .

Since the person from the study is Belgian, and I am too and studied at the same place of him, I asked ppl to ask him about it.

F. prausnitzii is a pure anaerobic bacteria, it does not tolerate oxygen very well. So producing the bacteria is not that easy, since all the current probiotics, are exposed to oxygen, because of packaging, way they are put into capsules, etc.

But they can make the bacteria in their lab, in small quantities, but before they are allowed to make it commercially available, they need work on it some more and they are doing just that.

try coconut water kefir its dairy free gluten free vegan and tastes pretty good with fruit juice, can have as many as or more than 100 billion cfu's per tablespoon and has helped me TREMENDOUSLY. I use inner-eco coconut water kefir and its amazing... and VSL#3 works pretty well for me also I take 1-3 a day. I've found that very very high doses of probiotics combined with very high doses of medical marijuana and LDN seem to be keeping me on the brink of remission right now.

I am a new user and can't post links, but apparently in two different studies probiotics may help with IBD. Both are published in EmaxHealth.com in 2011. Go there and search these two titles.

1. Select Probiotic Strains Help Inflammatory Bowel Disease
(This is based on a study of French researchers from the Institut Pasteur de Lille in France)

2. New Probiotic May Treat Inflammatory Bowel Disease
(this is a separate study by the university of Bristol).

Both stories are covered by the same author Deborah Mitchell who has specialized in the topic. I hope this is helpful.