Why You Should Use a Shelf-Stable Probiotic in Your Formula
What are Shelf-Stable Probiotics?
Shelf-stable probiotics are spore-forming bacteria that are naturally stable at room temperature, so they don’t require refrigeration to stay alive like some probiotics. Like all probiotics, these are living organisms that thrive in the digestive tract. Examples of spore-forming bacteria include Bacillus and Clostridium strains.
Advantages of Adding Shelf-Stable Probiotics to Formulas
There are several reasons you should add spore-forming, shelf-stable probiotics to various formulas. These bacteria produce endospores, which are spores with a high survival rate when combined with the harsh conditions of stomach acid. Shelf-stable probiotics also survive conditions during processing and storage of foods and supplements–without affecting the quality of the product.
Shelf-stable probiotics have longer shelf lives than probiotics requiring refrigeration. These organisms may last one to two years at room temperature, while maintaining a high level of potency.
Health and Wellness Benefits of Probiotics
Numerous health and wellness benefits exist for customers who choose products enhanced with shelf-stable, spore-forming bacteria.
Probiotics appear to improve immune function, help prevent infection and improve absorption and digestion of certain nutrients. These organisms also help reduce diarrhea, especially diarrhea related to antibiotics use.
What Are the Advantages of Choosing Probiotic Blends?
Many shelf-stable probiotics products contain blends of more than one spore-forming probiotic bacterium. A 2011 study published in the European Journal of Nutrition found that multi-strain probiotic mixtures appear to be more effective than single-strain probiotics for improving certain health conditions.
This makes sense, as each probiotic strain provides unique health and wellness benefits. Combining strains often provides consumers with a wider range of health perks.
Which Shelf-Stable Probiotics Blend Should I Choose?
Choosing multi-strain, shelf-stable probiotics is often best when it comes to adding probiotics to your formula. ProbioSEB Duo™ is a dual-strain spore-forming probiotic blend containing two Bacilli species (SEBtilis™, Specialty Enzymes & Probiotics’ trademark name for Bacillus subtilis and SEBiotic™, the trademark name for Bacillus coagulans). We offer B. subtilis under the trademark name, SEBtilisTM and B. coagulans under the trademark name SEBioticTM.
A 2017 study published in Frontiers in Microbiology found that Bacillus coagulans helped decrease duration of diarrhea, reduce diarrhea associated with antibiotics use, reduce stool frequency, improve the consistency of stool and improve chronic gastrointestinal symptoms (abdominal pain, vomiting, bloating and discomfort).
Researchers who conducted this study found that when Bacillus coagulans was combined with whey protein, it significantly improved exercise recovery, decreased muscle soreness and reduced muscle damage related to exercising.
The same study found that Bacillus subtilis helped decrease respiratory infections and adverse side effects associated with antibiotics use. Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus coagulans work synergistically in shelf-stable probiotics blend ProbioSEB Duo to maximize health and wellness benefits.
Choosing High-Quality Probiotics
When choosing probiotics, look for manufacturers that provide information for third-party testing for quality and purity. That way you’ll know that claims companies make about products are verified.
Not all probiotics are created equal. Some probiotics, especially species requiring refrigeration, can die off during processing and storage.
In fact, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health says that some probiotics products contain smaller numbers of live bacteria than what’s listed on the label (or bacterial strains are different than what’s stated on products), which is why quality and purity testing is so crucial.
Many top-quality probiotics products contain between 1 billion and 10 billion colony-forming units (CFUs), so keep this in mind when choosing the amount of multi-species, shelf-stable probiotics to add to formulas.
The Future of Shelf-Stable Probiotics
Probiotics have increased in popularity due to numerous research studies finding health benefits of ingesting products regularly. The probiotics industry is booming, as worldwide probiotics sales constitute a $25 billion market–in the U.S., sales of probiotics were more than $1.1 billion in 2014.
Preventive medicine and natural remedies are often preferred over taking more harsh medications, which is why consumer demand for probiotics is so high.
Due to this high demand, adding shelf-stable probiotics to your formula not only improves your product, but also gives your product a competitive edge over other products in the market that do not contain shelf-stable probiotics.
