Do the bacteria for probiotic drinks come from stool samples?
Most probiotics are derived from Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, neither of which are from stool. What is surprising though, is that German professor Alfred Nissle, in 1917 isolated a strain of Escherichia coli from the feces of a First World War soldier who did not develop enterocolitis during a severe outbreak of shigellosis. In those days, antibiotics were not yet discovered, and Nissle used the strain with considerable success in acute cases of infectious intestinal diseases (salmonellosis and shigellosis). Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 is still in use and is one of the few examples of a non-LAB probiotic. This should never be confused with the regular E.Coli in stool that causes food contamination and death.
