Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Probiotics and Prebiotics

Probiotics are "good" intestinal bacteria. If your intestinal bacteria has been killed off for some reason a probiotic may help. My GI guy suggested Flora-Q. I tried it with no success - if fact I think it made things worse - which I interpreted as meaning my intestinal bacteria were fine just as they were. Therefore, I've never tried any others but a lot of people find them very helpful.

Prebiotics provide food that probiotics like so prebiotics sort of put out a "Welcome" mat for probiotics. I know that Heather's Acacia is both an SFS and a prebiotic and other SFS may be as well - I simply don't know about that. I do take Acacia but only for its SFS properties not its prebiotic properties.

You can do a Search on the Diet Board for:

probiotic

to see which ones people are taking although you're likely to get about a zillion hits. You can also do the same Search on the Research Board to get more test-based information.

Here's an old thread which references a Consumer Reports article on probiotics (you should be able to find it at your library) and in which some people talk about which probiotics they're using.

HTH.

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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]

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