Consumers who are concerned about the antibiotic residues in milk, meat and eggs and who are more concerned about antibiotic-resistant bacteria prefer probiotics instead of antibiotics for maintaining general health and wellbeing. Probiotics are safe to use and support digestive health and promote immune functions.

The increased promotional efforts by large corporations, especially yogurt manufacturers, have not only resulted in increased sales for these companies, but has helped smaller companies get the message out, and be understood, that not all bacteria are harmful and that probiotics can provide certain health benefits for consumers,”

Probiotics have been widely used in Asia and other parts of the World for many years, but it has been a “best kept secret” in the United States; but that may be changing. In January 2010, in a poll of 1,083 adults, 18 and older responded to the question “Do you eat any of the following food/drink types specifically for fiber/digestive health/regularity benefits?,” with thirty-one percent (31%) of males and 49 percent (49%) of female saying they eat yogurt with probiotics. It has also been reported in “Gastrointestinal Remedies: Digestive and Immunity Health – U.S. – April 2010,” that respondents showed a preference for more natural solutions to gastrointestinal (GI) problems. In fact, roughly half of the respondents who experienced a digestive issue in the last year said they would prefer to manage their digestive health through diet alone.

To further drive home the rate of growth in the understanding and use of probiotics is the Natural Marketing Institute’s (NMI) Health and Wellness Trends Survey (2008 HWTD), awareness of the term "probiotics" has grown from a mere 9% in 2002 to 60% of American adults in 2009—a 567%t increase in awareness in eight years.

As a result of advances in technology probiotics’ are being trasnformed from their often unstable nature and delivery systems to new stable usages, which are opening up a world of new applications. Including pet care, organic gardening, composting, water quality as well as human health applications.

While many more Americans recognize the benefits of probiotics the, use of probiotic foods is much lower, with only 17% indicating they have used probiotic-enriched foods in the past 30 days. For probiotics to be truly effective regular consistent application is necessary, especially given the relatively poor dietary habits of most Americans.

There seems to be a corollary aspect to our understanding of probiotics today, to where the vitamin industry was decades ago according to Steve French, managing partner, NMI. “There may be several opportunities to increase the aforementioned probiotic usage rates. Most importantly, many consumers simply lack clear understanding of the benefits. Consumers may understand probiotics are healthy, but they are not aware of strain specificity and the variety of benefits of a strain. Everyone has known for decades that vitamins are good for your health but now we also understand that they are all different and have very distinct effects: for example, consumers easily recognize that vitamin D is different from vitamin C. The same understanding is needed for probiotics; each strain is different and can have very different, or even antagonistic effects, and we need to educate consumers.

Just as important as strain specificity is delivery systems. Unstable delivery systems in the now rapidly growing supplement industry can lead to consumer dissatisfaction and skepticism. One of newest and rapidly growing supplement delivery system is in tablet form. Dubious manufacturers and marketers have flooded the market with promises of all the benefits with their probiotics. Although taking a quick tablet or pill once a day to gain all of the wonderful benefits from probiotics sounds appealing, the truth is consumers are sacrificing a lot in the name of convenience. The manufacturing steps during processing into tablets and then packaging can reduce the numbers of viable cells in the finished product , especially the heat and pressure required to produce tablets. Without proper quality control measures in place and a thorough understanding of probiotics and their interactions with the human intestinal system, many manufacturers are delivery to what amounts to ‘fools gold.’

The human body can’t process solids! It must liquefy everything that goes into your system before it can use it. This is true with probiotics and their delivery systems. Tablets must survive the stomach and then be broken down into a liquid in the correct place in your intestinal tract for the bacteria to have any hope of helping you. This digestive burden can cause undue stress on your system, especially on the elderly who’s system may not secret stomach acids sufficiently to dissolve the gums, and glues that are binding the tablet together. Industry experts agree that liquid delivery systems are the most efficient. However they concede the reason consumer chose other supplement delivery systems, such as tablets is the marketing strength of non-scientists, and the penchant of American consumers for convenience over substantive health benefits.

Isabelle Champié, deputy manager and global marketing director for Institut Rosell-Lallemand strongly recommends to manufactures that they put ‘Store in a cool, dry place. For best results, refrigerate after opening.’ on their labels. In addition, we recommend manufacturers over-formulate sufficiently to maintain their label claim of potency, and that they do not put unrealistic shelf life or expiration dates on their labels.” Consumers should also look for Certificate of Analysis for the products being offered; and be skeptical of any manufacturer who won’t publish a Certificate of Analysis for their products. Additionally customers and the general public need to educate themselves about how to handle probiotics appropriately in order to ensure their stability.

Make sure the manufacturer complies with the current Food Grade Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Guidelines enforced in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration. GMP guidelines provide a system of processes, procedures and documentaion to assure the product produced has the identity, strength, composition, quality and purity that it is represented to possess. In addtion be sure to look for the following in any probiotics supplement:

 

• Easy for your body to assimilate.
• Available for immediate absorption... do not have to be dissolved.
• The delivery system is a scientifically sound way to deliver beneficial nutrients.
• Avoids the digestive burden on your stomach - Especially true if you are older... as we age digestion is just not as efficient and stomach hydrochloric acid may not be secreted in sufficient quantities to efficiently dissolve tablets and pills.
• The delivery system offers an excellent opportunity to accurately adjust the ratios of Probiotics needed... closely matching their natural presence in your digestive tract. This allows beneficial bacteria combinations to work synergistically together.