Nice. I take probiotics a step before postbiotics with great success⦠a chemist buddy told me to add it to my supplements.
Postbiotics Are the End Goal
So, if prebiotics are the fuel, probiotics are the workers, what does that make postbiotics in our factory? In simplest terms: the goods the factory is producing. āThe hard work of the probiotics result in metabolites ā postbiotics,ā says Gans. Unlike probiotics, which are live bacteria, postbiotics contain the metabolites that they produce ā essentially one of the main reasons bacteria have a ājobā and are so beneficial to your body,ā she says.
Getting postbiotics in your gut is the ultimate goal when eating or supplementing with probiotics. Postbiotics help support your gut microbiome, aiding immune and digestive health, all year round.
We periodically make yogurt from specific strain of l. reuteri with studies to support its benefits (itās only available from Biogaia in a product called gastrus) Not l. reuteri are the same, the strain matters and normally not mentioned on the label which makes most probiotics seem scammy. My instant pot has a yogurt setting, makes it easy-peasy. Use ultra-pasteurized milk and skip the boil step.
Making yogurt gives you a n-fold increase in the bioactives. I save a bit in the freezer for future batches in the instant pot. Iām looking forward to doing this again along with acarbose in hopes that my gut will be a factory of curated good guys. I make the yogurt with another one from Jarrow as well.
TLDR, make sure youāre consuming documented strains with proven benefits and make yogurt from them for cheap propagation with your own tasty yogurt.
The wheat belly doc makes some shaky-ish claims about the benefits of that l. reuteri strain. He does make a valid point though about strain importance: we have beneficial e. coli thriving in our guts, but eating the wrong strain can cause serious food poisoning, so clearly not all e.coli are the same.
The recipe is here. A helpful tip is to initially seed a smaller amount of milk - like a quart or pint (I use half and half), then after it starts to look like yogurt (around 8 hrs), add a half gallon of milk (or whatever sized batch you want) and go another 18-24 hrs. This has never failed me. The only failure Iāve had is when Iāve put the starting culture into a half gallon of milk and it gave the bad guys enough time to outcompete the desired culture.
FWIW
Dr. William Davis MD{the wheat belly doctor] comments, statements on lactobacillus reuteri are based on many published papers.
One overview paper;
Role of Lactobacillus reuteri in Human Health and Diseases
Yes he gives plenty of solid advice, but Iām not so sure it makes me love my spouse more . He does claim it produces oxytocin and leads to lean mass improvements, but Iād think that avoiding wheat would be the reason for that.