Where does this leave the probiotic manufacturers and supplement makers who are touting the benefits of probiotics?
There are lots of people making extravagant claims, and there’s a snake-oil component to this. Since the FDA does not approve these supplements, there’s the opportunity to take preliminary research and run with it from the marketing standpoint. What do you tell patients about brands of probiotic supplements that haven’t been well-studied? There are a lot of new probiotic products sold in the vitamin aisles at drugstores. I tell them I don’t know what’s in the products in terms of purity and efficacy and whether the bacteria is live or dead. I don’t necessarily discourage patients from taking probiotics I haven’t heard of, but I recommend them with caution. I say, you can try it. It’s probably safe, but I don’t know if it’s going to work.
