Should you take supplements for IBS? In particular probiotics, prebiotics or digestive aids. There are certainly plenty advertised online, or promoted by social media influencers. But who can you trust? And are they worth the money? 

In this episode I’ll share my thoughts on gut health supplements so you don’t have to spend any longer searching online for the next best gut health hack.

I’m sharing things I use with my Gut Reset clients, things that I know work, and I’ll explain how you should take them, and how you will know if they’re working. 

I cover

• Probiotics
• Digestive enzymes
• Saccharomyces Boullardii
• Digestive bitters
• PHGG

Strains for Constipation

Lowering methane

• Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938

Increase bowel movement frequency

• Bifidobacterium lactis BB-12
• Lactobacillus rhamnosus (best with FOS)

Improving transit time -

• Bifidobacterium lactis HN019
• Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis DN-173 010

Strains for bloating

• Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM®
• Bifidobacterium lactis HN019
• Bifidobacterium lactis Bi-07®
• Lactobacillus plantarum Lp299v
• Bifidobacterium infantis 35624
• Bacillus Coagulans
• Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM I-38561
• Lactobacillus acidophilus Rosell-52

Website - www.goodnessme-nutrition.com

Should you take supplements for IBS?

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In particular, probiotics,

prebiotics, or digestive aids

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like digestive enzymes or bitters?

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There are certainly plenty advertised

online or promoted by social media

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influencers, but who can you trust

and are they worth the money?

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In this episode of the Inside Knowledge

podcast, I'll share my thoughts on gut

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health supplements so you don't have

to spend any longer searching online

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for the next best gut health hack.

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I'm sharing things I use with my gut

reset clients all people who have

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IBS or SIBO, things that I know work,

and I'll explain how to take them and

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how you'll know if they're working.

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So let's get into it.

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Welcome

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to episode 22 of the Inside

Knowledge with me, Anna Mapson.

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Today, I'm going to talk a

bit about supplements for IBS.

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Generally, most people I work

with come to me and are on

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quite a few supplements already.

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Not everybody, but a lot of people

have tried to take things and try

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to implement changes to their gut

health through using supplements.

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The most supplements I ever had of a

client was 19 different products that

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were taken each day, and that was a

lot, so I think that's probably the most.

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I've also had somebody who was taking

psyllium husk, which is a supplement

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for 25 years every single day.

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So sometimes we can latch onto a

supplement and think it's going to

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solve everything, think it's going to

be the thing that makes things better.

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But what I want to start off by saying is

that there are lots of options, but they

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should all be supplemental to your diet.

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They should be fulfilling a need

that food cannot rather than be the

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thing that changes your digestion.

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So supplements are particularly

useful during restrictive diets.

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Like if you're going through the low

FODMAP diet, for example, or other

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elimination diets where you're cutting

out a lot of things from your normal

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food intake, it may be helpful to add in

particular supplements to plug those gaps.

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For example, if you're on a vegan diet,

like that is really important to take B12,

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and you may need other things like omega

3, and potentially being aware of other

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key nutrients as well for a vegan diet.

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But, today, talking about IBS and what you

can take for various gut health symptoms

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.

There are so many supplements I could be talking about, um, I'm just going

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to focus on probiotics, digestive

enzymes, partially hydrolyzed guar gum,

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digestive bitters, and a beneficial

yeast called Saccharomyces boulardii.

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So these are the ones you're going

to hear about in this episode.

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I may do another deep dive into

probiotics for IBS at a later date.

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But just to start off with probiotics, I'm

going to give a bit of an overview and...

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Like a little bit of insight.

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Probiotics have a particular action or

benefit associated with each strain.

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Some are researched for constipation,

others are more for bloating, and taking

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one probiotic won't necessarily give

you the same results as taking another.

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Some of them have much

better marketing than others.

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I'm not going to go into any particular

products right now, but there is a brand

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that has very good marketing and is

everywhere, and everyone talks about it,

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and you have to get it on a subscription.

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So you have to sign up

for months at a time.

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I have a bit of an issue with this

because I don't think you should take

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the same probiotic for a long time.

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I generally suggest rotating them

every couple of months, and that

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is because we want a wide variety

and diversity in our gut health.

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There is a definition of probiotics that

is from the World Health Organization.

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That is, they're live microorganisms that

when administered in adequate amounts,

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confer a health benefit to the host.

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And this is really important.

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Firstly, that they have to be live.

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So these live microorganisms, they

have to be alive when you take them,

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not just when they were put into the

capsule and into the bottle, good brands

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will guarantee that the microorganisms,

mostly bacteria, will actually be alive

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until the date it says best before.

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It's no good if they're bottled

and they're live then, but by

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the time they get to you and

get to your body, they're dead.

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That's not a definition

of a good probiotic.

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Then the other key thing with this

definition is that they have to be

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administered in adequate amounts.

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We have to take enough of

them in order to get a result.

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Sometimes, the research studies are

using very high quantities of probiotics

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that are not mirrored in products on

your shelf, in your local health store.

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So, you have to have quite a high dose.

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Um, not always, but...

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Often they're using very, very high doses.

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Probiotics are counted in

colony forming units, CFU.

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And that's what you'll

probably see on the bottle.

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So they're in the billions,

obviously it's, it's big, big

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numbers, adequate amounts.

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You know, it will be different

again for different strains, some

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probiotic strains, you don't need as

much of, and some you need more of.

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Um, and then the final part of that

definition was that they confer

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a health benefit to the host.

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There has to be a linked or known.

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benefit to taking certain

strains of probiotics.

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You know, when you think about dogs, they

have the category of animal, then they

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have, like, a species of a mammal, and

then within that you have dog, and then

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within dog you have, like, breakdowns, you

have the difference between a Pomeranian

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and a big Labrador or a Doberman.

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These are very, very different

animals and yet they all fall under

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dog, they all fall under mammal,

and they all fall under animal.

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With probiotics, we're talking

about different bacteria and

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they each have like a family.

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And then within that they have a

species and then you have a strain.

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So this is getting more and more specific

and you think about the dogs, we're going

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down into more specific categorization of

the species and the strain and the strain

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level is generally where we see research.

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So for example, the large families are

often lactobacillus, bifidobacterium,

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and then there's a bacillus one as well.

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And these are the most common

strains that you'd see on the

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products in your health store.

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Now, what is key is thinking about

the particular strains, and normally

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good brands will tell you the actual

strain that is used, which will help

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if you needed to go and see whether

there's research for the condition

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that you want to take it for.

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So, for example, under bifidobacterium,

there are a couple of Main groupings,

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which are commonly used in probiotics.

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So we have Bifidobacterium

infantis, Bifidobacterium lactis,

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and Bifidobacterium brevi.

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And these all have then

substrains as well.

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And these are the ones that are

tested for different conditions and

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different symptoms to see what happens.

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Now often, with probiotics, the challenge

is you're putting them into a gut and we

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don't necessarily know what other bacteria

or microbes or parasites are there.

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And that can change the way that your

body receives these additional bacteria.

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When you take probiotics as well,

they don't stay in your gut forever.

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They are transient, which means as

things are coming through every day,

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you know, we're passing the stool a

lot of food waste, and a lot of the

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food waste is actually dead bacteria.

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A huge proportion of it, I

think, is something like a

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third of it is dead bacteria.

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So a lot of transit, a lot of movement.

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So taking additional bacteria doesn't

mean that they stay in you forever.

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Probiotics can do though, is they may

influence the colonies of microbes

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that are already there, either

by adding missing populations or

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slightly changing the environment.

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Generally, when we've got good

amounts of beneficial bacteria, it

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decreases the pH level in the colon.

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This makes it more acidic.

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And this is a good thing.

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It helps you absorb nutrients like

iron and other minerals, and it can

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also help to stimulate the smooth

muscle that actually contracts,

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you know, to create a good poo.

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So it helps us with that movement,

and sort of regulating it.

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And also it can reduce sensitivity.

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So some probiotics have been shown to

reduce bowel sensitivity and many of

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these probiotics, these good helpful

bacteria, produce short chain fatty

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acids which are the byproducts.

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of the bacteria metabolizing

fiber from our diet.

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And this helps to stimulate

motility and reduce inflammation.

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And these short chain fatty acids

are fuel for the colon cells.

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They help to create a healthy colon

and they've been actually shown to

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travel around the body as well and

reduce inflammation more systemically.

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So they're definitely good things

that we want more of, and by adding

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in probiotics to create more of these

short chain fatty acids, sometimes that

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in itself can change the environment.

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That could lower down the pH,

making it more acidic, which then

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means more probiotics want to

grow and hang out in your gut.

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The thing is, though, you

have to eat fibre in order for

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them to want to hang around.

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If you're not eating, Fiber that

can be fermented by the bacteria.

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They aren't going to stay.

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They can't reproduce and multiply

and make your gut their home.

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So it's important to add fiber.

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And add some prebiotics if

you aren't eating any fiber.

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Ideally, you'll get this

through your diet though.

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A good time to take probiotics is during

or after you're taking antibiotics.

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Because if you're taking some

systemic antibiotics that knock

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out your good bacteria, it's

a good idea to replenish them.

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And you can take them alongside

antibiotics, but don't take

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them at the same time, normally

a couple of hours apart.

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After doing the low FODMAP diet or any

other strict elimination diet because

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you may have reduced some fermentable

fibers And if you've taken some SIBO

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antimicrobial treatments such as oregano

oil or berberine something like that

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It can also be good to replenish the

good bacteria because they are also

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antimicrobial So these are some situations

where you might want to consider it,

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but probiotics aren't for everyone.

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They shouldn't ever be taken by anybody

who's immunocompromised, so if you're

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taking any chemotherapy drugs or immune

suppressing medication, for example,

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for arthritis or something like that.

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There are some particular strains for

constipation which are helpful, so

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it's been shown that some Lactobacillus

reuteri DSM 17938 is good at lowering

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methane and some bacteria can also help

to increase bowel frequency or like

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regulate your digestion so Bifidobacterium

lactis particularly the strains BB

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12 and also Lactobacillus rhamnosus.

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That works best when it's got

some prebiotic fibers, the

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fructooligosaccharides, alongside it.

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And then other things that help

to increase transit time, so the,

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the duration of food being in

your body, Bifidobacterium lactis

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HNO19 and also Bifidobacterium

animalis subspecies lactis.

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has also been shown to

improve transit time.

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Now I'll put all of

that in the show notes.

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Let's move on because I've got a

lot to get through and I've only

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just started on the probiotics.

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So I want to move on to digestive enzymes.

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These help us to break down

fats, carbs and proteins.

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You have your own production of digestive

enzymes every time you eat something.

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in the small intestine.

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These are created to help us

break down nutrients in our food

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so we can better absorb them.

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Some people don't make them as well.

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If you've heard the dairy episode, you

might have heard me talk about lactase,

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which is to break down the lactose sugar.

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That is one enzyme that you can

have more or less production of.

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It's the same with some

other enzymes as well.

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So, for example, you might have

slightly lowered production of lipase

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that breaks down fats, and that could

affect the way you digest fatty meals.

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Some people will feel better taking

a digestive enzyme with their

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food, to help aid their digestion.

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One thing I would say though is if you've

got gastritis or a very raw stomach, like

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a high up in your abdomen and it feels

very raw all the time, even if you haven't

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ever been told you've got gastritis, then

do take care with taking any enzymes with

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protease in them that breaks down the

proteins because this can start to get

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to work on the lining of your stomach and

it can actually cause more irritation.

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Some digestive enzymes are specifically

targeted at breaking down high FODMAP

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meals and these don't necessarily contain

lipase, for example, to break down

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fat, but will be specifically targeting

lactase to break down milk products, and

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alpha galactosidase to break down the

starches in beans, for example, raffinose.

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These have been targeted to help

you digest high FODMAP meals and

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may be helpful to take sometimes.

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I don't recommend people should

take digestive enzymes alongside the

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FODMAP reintroduction process, and

that is because you won't get a good

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sense of your own body's digestion

if you're taking enzymes which

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also help you break down the foods.

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Something else I want to come on to is

partially hydrolyzed guar gum or PHGG.

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This is a prebiotic which helps to feed

the good bacteria, and it's sometimes

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used like as a thickener in foods.

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Guar gum.

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You might see it as a food additive

to make things more gloopy or...

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It's well studied for IBS and it can

help with a sense of that incomplete

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evacuation by sort of regulating

your bowel movements and it...

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It has sometimes been shown to reduce

the need for laxatives, but it's also

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good for people who have IBSD, so it's

not just a constipation type supplement.

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I really like it because it's a prebiotic,

which means it's just a fibre, so it

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can be used in hot foods, you can add

it to warm water, you can even bake

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with it and put it in your foods.

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Some people do find it gives them a little

bit of gurgling and bloating at first and

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I always suggest starting with a really

low amount, like quarter of a teaspoon

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per day just for a couple of days.

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Settle yourself into it.

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If it's okay, then you

can increase the dose.

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Otherwise, just stay really low

or back off it until you are at a

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better place with your gut health.

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The reason I like it is because it

feeds the good beneficial bacteria

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which can help you to get a more

regular bowel movement and just to

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reduce some bloating and sensitivity.

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The only other thing to say is that

you must take it away from medication

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because it is such a high fiber food.

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Sometimes it can reduce the absorption

of key supplements or medication.

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So make sure it's like an hour

or two away from important

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medication that you're taking.

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I sometimes suggest using digestive

bitters for people who may not

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be producing enough stomach acid.

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How would you know if you don't

create enough stomach acid?

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Well, you might feel like food sits

particularly heavy in your stomach and

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doesn't get well digested, particularly

protein, so if you eat a heavy meal

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full of meat, you may find it just

sits heavy in your stomach for ages.

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This would be a case where it might be

worth trying bitters to help stimulate

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your own digestive juices before a meal.

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Ideally, you want to do this 10 to 20

minutes before you eat by taking the

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very bitter liquid, so it's either in a

tincture that you put into some water,

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or you drop it directly on your tongue,

or there are some products where you

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actually spray it into your mouth.

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This stimulates your own digestive juices

and helps you to get ready for digestion.

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You find in some places on the continent,

for example, they'll have an aperitif

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or produce like a bitter salad with

endive or rocket or something like that.

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If you don't want to have a digestive

bitters supplement, you can just try that.

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Try taking a little bit of, sometimes

people use apple cider vinegar, or

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you may just have like a small salad

of very bitter green vegetables.

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This can do some things very similar.

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The reason it's good is it just

stimulates your own digestive juices,

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gets you better ready for, the meal.

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Some old advice was to take hydrochloric

acid supplements to try and boost

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your stomach acid and I don't

normally suggest that for most people.

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I would rather try and stimulate your own

production of stomach acid at the right

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time rather than adding in supplemental

hydrochloric acid, in a tablet form.

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And some of the advice used to be

to take it until you feel a burn and

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again, I don't think it's necessary

and I'm not sure that that would be

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safe, so I don't recommend doing that.

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Now, the last supplement I want to touch

on today is Saccharomyces boulardii.

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This is a beneficial yeast.

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So in the same way, we take beneficial

bacteria as a probiotic this is very

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similar, but it's just actually a yeast.

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It's not a yeast like Baker's yeast

which makes your bread rise and it's also

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not a yeast such as candida Which you

may have heard of in terms of you know,

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negative consequences of gut health.

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It's often used for antibiotic caused

diarrhea And it's great for helping to

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crowd out pathogens So what I mean by that

is When you take this, again, it's still

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transient, it doesn't stay in your gut

forever, but when you take it, it goes

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into your gut and it takes up space, so

it kind of tries to crowd out bad bugs.

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And this is why it's sometimes called,

the traveler's probiotic, because

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people can take it as a preventative

Protection when going somewhere where

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you may come into contact with unclean

water and you might want to take this

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in the run up to a trip abroad, um,

in order to stop yourself getting

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It's generally very well tolerated and

it's great for people who have frequent

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stools and very loose stools, and I

tend to use this quite a bit with people

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who have diarrhoea to regulate the

amount of times that people will go.

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This is one of the reasons

it's not always recommended for

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people who have constipation.

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But it's not to say it

would be bad for you to take.

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It's just that we don't have the same

level of evidence supporting its use.

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I hope that you found some of

this interesting and helpful.

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I may do another podcast episode

on more general supplements that I

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would often consider for my clients.

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But I just wanted to focus really

on gut health supplements today.

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And these are some of the

main ones that I will use.

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However...

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Not all of these will be suitable

for you, so please make sure you

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check with a registered nutritional

therapist or registered nutritionist.

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because not all of these supplements

will be suitable for everybody.

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Okay, I'm going to leave

it there for today.

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So, thank you for listening and if

you like my podcast, please don't

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forget to subscribe so that you get

each episode in your feed each week.

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See you then, bye!