My Crohnstipated Life

Probiotics aren’t a surefire cure-all for a troubled gut, but they do deliver a whole lot of helpful bacterial right where you need them.

If you’re otherwise healthy, you can focus on just eating more probiotic-laden foods, like a yogurt with live cultures, says Patricia Raymond, MD, a gastroenterologist in Norfolk, Va., and founder of YourHealthChoice.net.

For many, though, a daily, quality probiotic supplement is a good idea — especially to battle chronic gastric complaints, such as diarrhea, inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome. It’s also a worthy addition if you’re on an antibiotic or have taken antibiotics in the past. (If you’re still on the drug, consider a yeast-based probiotic, since the antibiotic won’t affect it.)

If you need a probiotic pick-me-up, prepare to stock up. A week or two of probiotics can be a quick fix for an acute problem, like traveler’s diarrhea, but those with a chronic illness may need probiotics for an extended duration. That’s because these bacteria don’t stay inside us for long. “You can’t just take one dose, sit back and say ‘that’s great,’” says Gregor Reid, PhD, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Western Ontario and past president of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics. “Health is a continuum, so you have to take probiotics on a regular basis to retain their benefits.”

To boost your flora, take one or two probiotic capsules daily, which amounts to 3 to 5 billion live organisms. Probiotics are living, so they are vulnerable to heat, cold and moisture. Store them in a cool, dry place. (Also take care with probiotics in food. Freezing live-cultured yogurt or boiling miso soup nukes the bugs.) Lastly, Reid recommends buying only products that have been clinically tested. “Too many haven’t,” he says, “and just because the contents of one product sound like those of another doesn’t mean it will work.” ConsumerLab.com, an independent watchdog group, vetted 22 probiotic products and found several that didn’t deliver.