Raw Real Food Nutrients Organic Probiotics

The right question here is never 'should I take a probiotic' but 'which strain, at what dose, and why that one' - so this page is built to get you to the right strain, not to sell the category.

A good fit if

• You have a specific strain in mind, from a practitioner or your own reading, and want to match it exactly
• You are comparing products and want to judge them on declared strains and expiry counts, not headline billions
• You need a format that fits your life - shelf-stable for travel, a powder for a child, a lozenge for the mouth
• You are generally well and adding a probiotic as part of a broader dietary approach
• You want an Australian listed product, so strain-level labelling and warning requirements have been applied

Check with us first if

• Pregnant or breastfeeding - some ingredients carry the mandatory statement 'Not recommended for use by pregnant and lactating women'. It is ingredient-specific, so the label has to be read.
• Taking immunosuppressants or immunomodulators - several Australian probiotic ingredients carry a mandatory warning to consult a health professional first.
• Taking antibiotics - one permitted ingredient must be labelled for dosing 2 to 3 hours apart, and another to consult a health professional first.
• Giving a probiotic to a baby or young child - some ingredients are not permitted under 2 years, one warns against use under 3, and some say 'Not suitable for children'.
• You have a short bowel, an ileostomy or colostomy, inflammatory bowel disease, or a heart valve condition.
• You have small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or symptoms that worsen on fermentable foods.
• Severe dairy allergy or a yeast allergy - the carrier and the organism both matter.
• Buying from an overseas website - not TGA-regulated for quality or strain identity, so the strain may not be as labelled.

• Refrigerated multi-strain capsule. Best known for: The practitioner-style format, usually carrying the highest declared counts. Absorption: Cold storage protects viability; counts fall faster at room temperature. Typical use: Daily, kept in the fridge; ask whether it was refrigerated in transit.
• Shelf-stable multi-strain capsule. Best known for: Travel, work and anywhere a fridge is not realistic. Absorption: Formulated to hold its count at room temperature; look for a count guaranteed at expiry. Typical use: Daily; the practical choice when a fridge product would sit hours in a bag.
• Spore-forming Bacillus. Best known for: Heat and acid tolerance, because the organism travels dormant and germinates later. Absorption: Survives storage and stomach acid better than most vegetative bacteria. Typical use: Australian medicines may use only specific named Bacillus strains, declared on the label.
• Saccharomyces boulardii. Best known for: Being a yeast rather than a bacterium, and the only one in common use. Absorption: Unaffected by antibacterial antibiotics, which target bacteria rather than yeasts. Typical use: Sold as its own single-organism product rather than blended into a multi-strain formula.
• Powders and sachets. Best known for: Infants, small children and anyone who cannot swallow a capsule. Absorption: Mixed into cool food or liquid; heat kills the organisms, so hot drinks defeat the purpose. Typical use: Dosed by scoop or sachet, with the count stated per serve.
• Oral lozenges. Best known for: The mouth and throat rather than the bowel. Absorption: Made to dissolve in the mouth, so swallowing one whole misses the site it targets. Typical use: Only two Streptococcus salivarius strains are permitted here, both named on the label.
• Fermented foods, gummies and drinks. Best known for: Live cultures as ordinary eating, or a format children will accept. Absorption: Counts are usually undeclared; pasteurisation, sugar and ambient shelf life work against viability. Typical use: Good habits, but not a substitute for a named strain at a studied dose.

Reference values. None. Probiotics are live microorganisms rather than nutrients, so the NHMRC Nutrient Reference Values do not cover them. There is no RDI, EAR or Adequate Intake for any strain, and no such thing as a probiotic deficiency.

Typical supplemental range. Most Australian labels supply 1 to 10 billion CFU per dose, and some provide 50 billion or more. Published studies have used one million to ten billion CFU per day. The number worth matching is the dose used in research on the strain in front of you, not the biggest figure on the shelf.

Upper level. No NHMRC Upper Level of Intake exists. Australia instead caps the species it controls at strain level: 6 billion CFU per day for Bacillus coagulans MTCC 5260 and 2 billion for MTCC 5856; 5 billion for adults and 1 billion for ages 2 to 17 for the permitted Bacillus subtilis strain; 0.5 billion for Pediococcus pentosaceus. These are conditions on listed medicines, not safety ceilings.

Worth knowing. CFU counts colony-forming units - organisms alive and able to multiply. It measures quantity only. It does not tell you which strains are present, whether they have been studied, or whether the count will still be there at expiry. International scientific guidance is that a label should state the minimum viable number of each strain at end of shelf life rather than at manufacture, and give storage conditions. Your needs depend on your age, diet and health circumstances - talk to one of our naturopaths.

Food first, where the diet allows it.

• Yoghurt with live cultures: usually Streptococcus thermophilus with a Lactobacillus species; look for 'live' or 'active'
• Kefir: A fermented milk drink carrying a broader mix of bacteria and yeasts than most yoghurts
• Unpasteurised sauerkraut and kimchi: live only if refrigerated; shelf-stable jars have usually been heat-treated
• Miso and tempeh: fermented soy foods; miso is added off the heat, since boiling kills the cultures
• Aged and traditionally made cheeses: some carry live cultures, though the count is neither declared nor consistent
• Fermented foods generally: none declare a strain or a count, so none is interchangeable with a defined strain at a studied dose

This list is the part of the page we will not shorten. If any of it applies to you, talk to one of our naturopaths or your doctor before starting.

• Severely ill, critically ill or significantly immunocompromised - reported bacteraemia and fungaemia; avoid.
• Central venous catheter or intensive care - avoid.
• Preterm and hospitalised newborns - hospital decision only; an infant death and over two dozen adverse events reported to the US FDA in 2023.
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding - some ingredients carry the mandatory warning 'Not recommended for use by pregnant and lactating women'; read the label.
• Immunosuppressants and immunomodulators - mandatory Australian warning on several probiotic ingredients.
• Antibiotics - one ingredient must be labelled for dosing 2 to 3 hours apart; another to consult a health professional first.
• Children - some ingredients not permitted under 2 years, one warns against use under 3, some carry 'Not suitable for children'.
• Short bowel, ileostomy or colostomy, inflammatory bowel disease, heart valve conditions.
• Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or symptoms worsened by fermentable foods.
• Dairy and yeast allergies - carrier and organism both matter.
• Fever, chills or feeling systemically unwell - stop and seek medical advice promptly.
• Overseas websites - not TGA-regulated for quality or strain identity.
• If you take prescription medicines, check with your doctor, pharmacist or our naturopaths before starting.