A lot of us have experienced constipation when converting to the paleo diet. I did and to help overcome this I took probiotics which helped. But recently when the constipation issue reappeared the probiotics did not seem to help. They were about 6 months old and of a type that claims to need no refrigeration. My daughter sent me this link. _http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/03/is-my-probiotic-supplement-active-at.html
When I performed this simple test, I discovered that my probiotic supplement was dead... and what was worse when I opened the capsule it appeared that there was activated charcoal in it, which will certainly not help a constipation condition. The label did not state activated charcoal, but it did claim microcrystalline cellulose, which I believe might be the same thing.
Upon my daughter's recommendation, I ordered Ther Biotic, which was a part of her women's supplement pack from Dr Mark Hyman. Unfortunately Hyman only sells this product in multi supplement kits for men and women. My daughter claims that it is a wonderful probiotic, so I started looking for a good source. I found this company, which understands the need for maintaining a constant low temperature to keep the product viable. I ordered 120 capsules, but it is also available in 60 cap quantities.
_http://pureformulas.com/therbiotic-complete-120-capsules-by-klaire-labs.html
The above linked company, as well as Dr Hyman's vitamin shop, uses 2 day shipping and cold pack wrapping for the probiotics.
The bottom line; we may be taking probiotics that are not alive and therefore of no benefit to us. The test seems a practical way of determining the effectiveness. One thing though, the test suggests dumping 4 capsules into a 1/2 cup of milk. This seems unnecessarily wasteful. One capsule in a correspondingly smaller volume of dairy milk or soy milk, and a correspondingly smaller container will be just as effectively demonstrative.
When I performed this simple test, I discovered that my probiotic supplement was dead... and what was worse when I opened the capsule it appeared that there was activated charcoal in it, which will certainly not help a constipation condition. The label did not state activated charcoal, but it did claim microcrystalline cellulose, which I believe might be the same thing.
Upon my daughter's recommendation, I ordered Ther Biotic, which was a part of her women's supplement pack from Dr Mark Hyman. Unfortunately Hyman only sells this product in multi supplement kits for men and women. My daughter claims that it is a wonderful probiotic, so I started looking for a good source. I found this company, which understands the need for maintaining a constant low temperature to keep the product viable. I ordered 120 capsules, but it is also available in 60 cap quantities.
_http://pureformulas.com/therbiotic-complete-120-capsules-by-klaire-labs.html
The above linked company, as well as Dr Hyman's vitamin shop, uses 2 day shipping and cold pack wrapping for the probiotics.
The bottom line; we may be taking probiotics that are not alive and therefore of no benefit to us. The test seems a practical way of determining the effectiveness. One thing though, the test suggests dumping 4 capsules into a 1/2 cup of milk. This seems unnecessarily wasteful. One capsule in a correspondingly smaller volume of dairy milk or soy milk, and a correspondingly smaller container will be just as effectively demonstrative.
