To access the PDF version of the presentation slides, click here.
Please find below Christina’s answers to all of the questions asked during the webinar:
Would you recommend this probiotic to someone who has Crohns and is also on immunosuppressants?
Clients who are severely immunosuppressed do not have the ability to mount an appropriate response to any microbe that they come in contact with. Specialised cells in the intestine (M Cells & Peyers patches) are continually sampling the intestinal lumen for antigens (food or microbes). Microbes, even those that are normally neutral or considered beneficial, can sometimes cross the gut barrier and grow in the blood or in the internal organs where the nutrients are high and the competition for nutrients is low. Growth in these areas can cause septicaemia, fungemia, abscesses, myo-endocarditis, or pancreatitis.
There may be a benefit in taking probiotics for patients with severe immunosuppression, but the risk is also thought to be high in many circumstances. Because there is currently insufficient clinical evidence around this area, we would advise you do not recommend probiotics for individuals who are severely immunocompromised or immunosuppressed.
Is there a link between lactobacillus paracasei, inflammation regulation and CFS or FM? I mean in the improvement of symptoms of CFS and FM.
There are no specific links between lactobacillus paracasei and inflammation regulation with regards these 2 conditions that I can call upon from our research database. However you might be interested in reading the following two relevant blog posts my colleagues have written, which speak about CFS and the impact the general health of our enteric microbial ecosystem might have.
Can you please send links to the 3 studies discussed please?
Please see our research page on ‘For daily immunity’, which contains the links to all three papers I referred to during the webinar: https://www.optibacprobiotics.co.uk/scientific-research/for-daily-immunity-research
When you read the composition on probiotics, usually only the strain is listed. How can one find out which specific on has gone into the probiotic. E.g. it may read L. Acidophilus, but not which particular strain…Thank you for your great info!!
I would recommend contacting the company directly and asking them which strains of probiotic bacteria their products contains. As a customer investing in their products, you have the right to know what you are taking so that you can make an informed decision about whether it’s the appropriate probiotic for you. Your welcome!
Are probiotics recommended during chemotherapy?
If one is undergoing breast cancer treatments (medications and starting radiation) and suffering with chronic colds, can they take probiotic casei 431?
Regarding the use of probiotics in all forms of cancer and cancer treatment; it’s a very difficult condition to make generalised recommendations for, one reason being that there isn’t a huge amount of research in this area, but primarily because the health of individuals affected by cancer can vary so dramatically. I would therefore always advise that you check with their consultant before recommending any supplements, particularly if they are being treated with very strong medication such as chemotherapy.
I can’t predict how any oncologist will view probiotic supplements, as this will depend on their personal viewpoint and approach to treatment and also the type of medication that is being prescribed. Some consultants may prefer that their patients should totally avoid all food supplements; some may not believe in the efficacy of the product but are happy that the supplement will not do any harm if taken, and others may have conducted their own research into the subject and believe that the supplement may be of some benefit to their patients.
As a company, we are aware that some customers take our probiotics in between sessions of chemo to help improve their digestion before the next episode, though this course of action is not based on advice that we have given. I will say that, when taken in this way, the probiotics would just be aimed for helping to reduce the side effects of the chemo, and not for helping the body get rid of the cancer. If given at the same time as the drugs, probiotics may well help to reduce some side effects associated with chemotherapy, but there may be some risk of associated bacterial or fungal infection. Where strong immune-suppressants like chemotherapy drugs are being used, then probiotics may be contraindicated as they interact with the immune system, and the individual’s ability to mount an appropriate immune response, even to beneficial bacteria, may be compromised. See our FAQ: I’m severely immune-suppressed: why can’t I take probiotics?
All individual cases may vary, so we would have to recommend that the patient’s oncologist is consulted before supplementing with probiotics at any time during or in between treatment.
Studies regarding the use of probiotics in cancer cases/during chemo:
- This systematic review demonstrates that there is currently insufficient evidence to claim that probiotics are effective and safe in people with cancer, and that when administered to cancer patients, probiotics were found in blood cultures – ‘Probiotics may be a rare cause of sepsis. Further evidence needs to be collated to determine whether probiotics provide a significant overall benefit for people with cancer’: G. Redman, E. J. Ward & R. S. Phillips (2014), The efficacy and safety of probiotics in people with cancer: a systematic review, Annals of Oncology 25: 1919–1929, 2014
- One trial where probiotics were administered alongside chemotherapy, safety was not an issue: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2360429/ Lactobacillussupplementation for diarrhoea related to chemotherapy of colorectal cancer: a randomised study
- This is a nice review on the safety of probiotics generally in individuals with complex health conditions: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3023597/ Safety assessment of probiotics for human use
- Much of the research into probiotics and cancer has been investigating the role of the gut microbiota in reducing the risk of colon cancer e.g. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2773329/ Role of probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics in chemoprevention for colorectal cancer
How long should one give client’s probiotics?
Now this really depends on your client’s condition, and the clinical research behind the strains of probiotic bacteria you are thinking of recommending. If you are looking to aid the symptoms of IBS for example, we recommend For every day EXTRA strength as it contains Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM® that has demonstrated marked results in alleviating the symptoms of IBS within a given 3 month period. Therefore, we recommend that these be taken for at least 3 months. That said, it can be that the recommendation of a long term maintenance dose is most appropriate; as a prophylaxis for relapse, or in the case of ‘For daily immunity’, to maintain the integrity of our immune response during the winter months.
Any specific strain or species recommendation for autoimmune conditions such as hashimoto’s?
One thing to consider with autoimmune conditions such as Hashimoto’s is intestinal hyper-permeability, or ‘leaky gut’. If you believe that this might be a factor in your client’s case, then I think you should consider Saccharomyces boulardii. This is a unique probiotic in that it is the only probiotic which is a yeast – the rest are all bacteria.
We’d recommend S. boulardii for leaky gut for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it’s thought that S. boulardii can help to clear an overgrowth of Candida albicans from the digestive tract. It’s believed that a Candida overgrowth is one of the reasons in which the gut lining can become permeable, or ‘leaky’, because the finger-like projections of the Candida penetrate through and loosen the tight junctions adjoining epithelial cells. As a friendly yeast, S. boulardii is well placed to compete with and displace Candida from its binding sites along the gut wall.
It has also been shown to modulate inflammation and promote healing in the intestinal wall in the following ways:
- By increasing levels of secretory IgA
- By helping to encourage the indigenous friendly bacteria populations to flourish
- By improving the integrity of the tight junctions on the epithelial lining
We’d recommend taking S. boulardii alongside a daily probiotic such as For every day EXTRA Strength or For every day MAX, because they work to repopulate the spaces left behind by pathogens, to support the work of S. boulardii and promote the return of a healthy microbiome.
Are optibac probiotics tested for professional sports athletes? Do they need to be tested?
Our probiotics are tested in either healthy subgroups of the general population, and in those who have a compromise, be it digestive, an induced immune response (as I discussed with the vaccine study model), an intimate health condition in women, and so on. There are no trials using our products on professional sports athletes. That said, what we know about the body of a professional sports athlete is that it must endure a lot of cellular stress, creating an immunocompromised status in the individual, especially in the period following high intensity exercise. Therefore a probiotic like, ‘For daily immunity’ might be indicated to support the immune system.
Please can you discuss the effect of a chronic viral infection like EBV on the GALT. A lot of vaccine studies are being manipulated by the research companies – as described in bad pharma and recently uncovered in the CDC scandal and cover up of harmful effects of vaccines. How can we be sure these studies are not also based on corrupted data? Have they been independently replicated?
A very good question, but a subject beyond the scope of this Q&A. Perhaps a future webinar on this might be interesting! There are some papers I can point you to however, to give you some further insights, but they do get quite technical!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5343343/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409007831
With regards to your second question. Firstly I would like to stress here that these independent studies, are not vaccine studies. Rather, they are probiotic studies which use the ‘vaccine model’ to test immune responses. That is, the quality and efficacy of the vaccine itself was not the subject of the investigation, the probiotic was.
The vaccine model, is an approach to investigating the immune system. The vaccine is used in place of a live virus (which would not be ethical to administer) in order to induce an immune response to infection in participants. This allows us to see how the probiotic intervention affects the body’s response to infection, compared to placebo.
The studies I mentioned during my presentation are collaborative works between microbiology and academic institutes. Microbiology institutes, who specialise in bacterial strains and fermentation practices will sponsor a study conducted by an academic institute, like a university. Microbiology institutes will provide the probiotics for testing. See link for papers from aforementioned clinical trials: https://www.optibacprobiotics.co.uk/scientific-research/for-daily-immunity-research; if you look to the acknowledgment sections, you will find all the institutes involved in these studies.
There would be no reason to manipulate this data. There are examples of some probiotic studies resulting in insignificant findings, such results are still reported accurately and are not manipulated to show otherwise. I hope this helps to reassure you of the quality of research presented on L. paracasei CASEI 431®
I noticed For Immunity isn’t gluten free, is this correct?
‘For daily immunity’ is gluten free, please refer to the table here for more allergy information on ‘For daily immunity’ and our whole range: https://0c83a012451f685d11e5-abbac3ca2ecec271a197a4cd05b43329.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/allergy-free-from-image-for-website-december-2017-high-res.png
Does the database recommend which Optibac products to advise on depending on condition?
Yes! If you search the database by condition, and click through to the particular strain(s) indicated for the condition that you have searched (these will be highlighted in orange), scroll down towards the bottom of the page, and just above the reference list, OptiBac Probiotics will indicate which of the products contain that particular strain. Please note however that not all of the strains on the database are in our range.
