We’ve all heard of probiotics and if you haven’t, then you probably heard about Kombucha… But if you’re in the laggards and late adopters category, you’re in for some eye opening news you’ve been missing out on.

Let’s discuss the basic fundamental of what probiotics are:

Probiotics are live microorganisms existing inside of your gut that help keep your bacteria balanced (good vs bad.) They help us keep our gut healthy which then leads to preventing a whole lot of issues such as indigestion, mood and stress, acne and eczema, chronic fatigue, bloating and swelling, IBS, yeast infections, and the list goes on.

Clinical trials and science proves that they are beneficial for us. After listing the benefits, there is no reason why we should be without them.

Where are probiotics naturally derived from?

Probiotics are derived from multiple sources but can be quite difficult in terms of logistics because when they aren’t in a stable state (freeze dried powder form), they must be kept under temperatures lower than 59 degrees F.

Human breast milk

 

Kefir

Miso and Natto

Fermented dairy products like cheese, milk, and yogurt

Kimchi, sauerkraut, and pickle

Kombucha

Tempeh

From this list, the 4 over-hyped products in the saturated market of probiotic food products are Kombucha, Yogurt, Kefir, and Kimchi.

Unpopular opinion: Kombucha doesn’t work.

It’s not that it doesn’t work,

But if you wanted to have any kind of benefit from it, you’d probably have to drink 50 bottles in one sitting.

 

 

That would give you the same benefits that 1 capsule could give you.

 

1. Pass up these probiotic food sources

Truly, not all probiotics are created equally. Capsules are far more efficient in terms of efficacy, cost friendly, and convenient.

2. You should take probiotic capsules instead

Efficient in terms of efficacy: provides strengths ranging from 50–200 billion CFUs with multiple different kinds of medical strains. Different strains offer different kinds of benefits (for example Lactobaccilius rhamnosus is used for vaginal health)

Cost friendly: Kombucha and Bio-K costs up to $5. If you think about it, you’re paying for 1 billion CFU for $5 when you can get 1 capsule containing 66 billion for 91 cents ($55 / 60 capsules). Come on business people, we need to be savvy in times of inflation!

Convenient: No refrigeration is required. Shelf stable indeed. You can take them anywhere an everywhere, especially friendly when traveling. Btw don’t forget to take them during flights and traveling.

3. You still can take the food sources if you enjoy it

Unpopular opinion: probiotic food sources are tasty.

If you actually do enjoy consuming the natural sources of probiotics, go for it. **Just keep in mind that they’re probably more effectively consumed for the purpose of taste rather than consumed for their benefits.

4. It’s all in the numbers. Let’s do the math:

Ohbiotics probiotics contains high quality 200 billion CFU with 18 strains + prebioitcs

1 bottle contains 60 capsules, cost $54.99

1 serving = 3 capsules

1 capsule = 60 billion CFU

60 capsules / 3 capsules = 20 servings

(60 billion CFU, 18 strains, prebiotics) for 1 capsule = cost only 91 cents!

This popular probiotics contains 30 capsules for $34.39 but only contains 16 strains.

$34.39 / 30 capsules = $1.15 per capsule per 50 billion CFU and 16 strains

Health = Priceless.

Michelle Oh publishes on Medium three times a week; follow her here to get each post in your email 

Michelle is a CEO of Ohbiotics, USC Marshall Alumni, and a strong supporter of the Asian American community. She’s @ohbiotics on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Discord, and Pinterest.