Do You Need To Store Probiotics In The Refrigerator?
“Oh now, I didn’t refrigerate my probiotics!”…
I receive a similar email once per day from a customer wondering if they wasted their money.
The short answer is NO you did not but let’s actually look at what a probiotic is and if it has to be refrigerated.
Probiotics, otherwise known as “good bacteria” ,provide the lower intestinal tract, the gut, with friendly bacteria to help restore proper gut function. As a matter of fact it’s important to note that the gut contains about 10 trillion microorganisms and newer research links gut dysfunction to impaired hormone production, blood sugar dysregulation, decreased testosterone and even cognitive impairments.
What wrecks our gut health? Stress, high sugar diets, artificial sweeteners and even poor sleep.
Shouldn’t I Just Eat Foods That Are Naturally High In Probiotics?
Sure, you should but in addition to taking a probiotic rich supplement. Let me explain why.
I will always advocate for a good whole food based diet, always!
There are a lot of good foods such as kimchi, sauerkraut and kombucha which contain a variety of probiotic strains that may be beneficial for your gut health. Even greek yogurt is beneficial and may be a good option if you tolerate diary. The problem that I often see is there an availability issue of these foods, certain areas just don’t stock the foods, and a quality issue. The majority of commercially available sauerkraut, for example, contains high amounts of sugar or dextrose.
Kimchi tastes terrible unless you add sugar to it. See what I mean?
That’s a prime example of one step forward and two steps back. So yes, if you can find probiotics rich foods in their natural and unaltered form, go for it but don’t ignore supplementing with a good probiotic as well. It's not that you want to overload your system with probiotics but you do want to ensure that you're actually improving your gut health.
Are Shelf Stable Probiotics Effective?
The measurement standard of probiotics is colony forming units (CFUs). Typically probiotics are freeze dried to ensure their stability during transport. With the new Physique Formula probiotic, Ultra Probiotc-10, I not only chose to freeze dry them to maintain stability during transportation but also added a freshness packet to each bottle to absorb and reduce moisture which is another step to maintain stability.
There are production standards, which The Physique Formula uses, to increase shelf stability by enteric coating the probiotic so that the beneficial bacteria passes through stomach acid so it can hit the gut with full force.
Do I need to refrigerate my probiotics?
I always advise that as soon as you open your probiotics you store them in your refrigerator. Do you have to? No, but it is Ideal. Refrigeration will make your probiotic stronger for longer.
The more CFUs the better.
Understanding the inevitable decline in the probiotic count, The Physique Formula adds more than the advertised amount of probiotic bacteria to ensure that when you receive the bottle of Ultra Probiotic 10 that you have near the maximum amount of advertised probiotic as possible.
Summary
- Store your probiotic in the refrigerator after opening.
- Shelf stable probiotics are stable but you should refrigerate them.
- Including probiotic rich foods in your diet in addition to taking a quality supplement.