Probiotic drinks and vitamin supplements - any advice

[Harrogatemum]

I have just been reading an article about probiotic drinks and vitamin supplements, having never taken/drunk either, I just wondered if you do drink probiotics:

what brand do you drink
what do they taste like?
do you feel they are beneficial?

and vit supplements - which ones do you take? why? and again do you think they make a difference.

As an exhausted mother of 3 with one 7 week old baby, anything that might give me more energy would be great!!

TIA.

Hi Harrogatemum. I would recommend visiting a naturopath or kinesiologist first. A visit is expensive but so are vitamins. I have been a few times at different stages and have always found them helpful. They will help you identify which vitamins and/or minerals you are lacking and then can point you in the direction of good brands.

I have just started on fish oil (as recommended by kinesiologist) and have subsequently read up that it is good for breastfeeding mothers as may reduce propensity for pnd - which I'm pretty sure I was susceptible for coz feeling very shakey all pregnancy. I'm feeling a lot better - maybe it's placebo but I don't think that matters much if its working!!

both ds (5) and i both drink an aptimel yoghurt drink have a fish oil capsule and a multi vit pill. Now, whether this is beneficial to our health or not I don't know. It's just something we do. We eat quite healthy although we don't have oily fish.

On telly last week they did an experiment for pro-biotics and for the people on the yoghurt drinks it made no difference to their body whatsoever. The people who ate fresh fruit and veg came out on top.

My GP told me that those pro-biotic drinks are actually harmful. Basically, each type of pro-biotic drink contains one type of helpful bcteria. So by drinking it regularly you end up upsetting your body's natural balance - too much of one friendly bacteria which now outweighs all the others in your gut. Eventually you will end up with an in-effective gut and unable to process foods etc effectively. The opposite of what you want really...

She said that if you insist on drinking them, keep mixing the brands as each brand will contain a different friendly bacteria.
But she said she herself would never take them...

all very interesting........hmmm its too confusing! as usual there is never a right or a wrong answer!

I understand that the live bacteria in the drinks is mostly killed off by stomach acid anyway. It only makes it through the stomach if taken in the form of a coated tablet.

My GP also said that taking them is a waste of time because of your stomach acid. She's a young Dr and I thought would be in favour so was quite taken aback at her answer!

zinc is excellent for healing & iron for restoring blood loss.

Ask your dr for 2 x boxes of SPATONE & take 2 x sachets a day with a glass of orange juice.

Zinc is very cheap.

Agree with probiotics/prebiotics not being any good. However, if you've been on antiobiotics, might be worth looking into.

Have you seen that programme on BB2 called "All you need to know about food"?

They looked at probiotic drinks and carried out an experiment, here .

Basically, probiotics did not increase the concentration of good bacteria in the colon but it is likely that they can deliver some marginal improvements over a long time. On the other hand, prebiotics like banana, garlic, onions and leeks, make the pre-existing good bacteria in the gut healthier and increase the amount therein.

So, imho, probiotic drinks are a waste of money if you are looking to improve the performance of your colon. You are better of eating natural food which is cheaper and healthier.

Have been recommended to take multibionta which are a mixture of vitamins and probiotics in a capsule. Haven't got them yet so don't know if they work but dr thinks its worth a go...

I am quite interested in this topic so I have spent a lot of time reading about it: academic research rather than news articles. I have listed my conclusions below, however I am not an expert, so please make your own decisions.

1. Eating fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, seeds and pulses as the major part of your diet is the best thing you can do. Add some meat and (not too much) dairy and make sure you get your favourite foods from time to time. You know chips, pies, doughnuts, etc are bad for you so eat them as an occasional treat.

1. Antioxidants are looking good for increasing longevity and preventing disease. Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, sprouts, tomatoes, red grapes, garlic, spinach, green tea, carrots and wholegrains all contain antioxidants.

1. I'm putting my money where my mouth is with cod liver oil: 1000g of Seven Seas High Strength Cod Liver Oil per day. The research is inconclusive but my father has diabetes and both parents have arthritis and I believe cod liver oil every day from an early age (I was 28 when I started taking it) will postpone the onset of arthritis and, hopefully, mitigate it when I do get it.

1. I also take a multivitamin daily as I want to be sure I'm topped up on zinc, iron, etc. When I was pregnant I got special preganancy vitamins and cod liver oil from Boots because you have to be careful with vitamin A and you need different levels of some nutrients. I think a multivitamin is an optional extra. If you're diet and lifestyle are poor then vitamins won't help you.

Any questions on this post are quite welcome, I'm looking forward to the debate that will surely come!

I don't think you should need to take a Probiotic drink every day unless you have some underlying stomach condition that warrants it, e.g. it would be worth trying with IBS.

I am taking Actimel (strawberry) at the moment because I'm on a course of antibiotics and we all know what they do your insides.

Aside...
They are nice though, DS1 likes them as a change from his morning yoghurt, and I gave a couple to DS2 when trying to get him to take a bottle. Now there's a good tip for mums trying to get a breastfed baby to take a bottle. I gave DS2, who is six months old, banana milk shake or strawberry yoghurt in his bottle a couple of times and suddenly he's happy to take formula milk which had always been refused point blank before!

I take vitamin B6, Oil of Evening Primrose and fish oil capsules. I think they do work as I haven't been ill since taking them or feeling tired either.

My children have been taking the soft and chewy vits for 2 years now and my daughter has not been ill in 3 years and she is almost 7.

So I am definitely in favour of vitamin supplements.

I eat a healthy diet with copious amounts of fresh fruit and veg and I do not take any supplements. I'm rarely ill. I prefer to get all my nutrients from natural sources. OTOH, DH imbibes copious amounts of supplements, despite eating a healthy diet and he suffers more colds than I do!

The main thing I'm concerned about now is that my 2yo DTS are getting enough Omega-3 and Omega-6. I'm resistant to using supplements so I am experimenting with ways of getting oily fish inside them. One way I have found is to make mini pizza out of muffins as the base with cheese melted over the fish on top. I've also tried fish pie but one will not eat it all so I'll keep trying to find ways of disguising the fish taste.

yes that is the problem with children, getting them to eat foods which are good for them and eating enough of that food. Some times my DS will eat a mouthful and thats it, other times he can clear his plate no problem.

I encourage them to eat fruit and veg but I believe the supplements help to keep them healthy should they not get all the vitamins they need in food alone. Its really back up more than anything as I would rather my kids are not ill and suffering.

Stuntnun, interested in this You know chips, pies, doughnuts, etc are bad for you so eat them as an occasional treat.

I just don't get this 'treat' business. I eat very good food & when I have eaten any 'treats' ou have described, I feel ill, so in my eyes they aren't a treat at all. Of course I do eat chocolate puddings/cakes etc, but only homemade ones (wish there was a sign for a halo!)

I agree that if you have good health, support it by eating good, clean, preferably organic food (because reduction in pesticides etc).

Are you still breastfeeding ?

I take supplements everyday (mulit-vits/minerals, fish or flax oils and calcium) and give them to my boys (multis, oils). We eat a very healthy diet (fish, lean meat, huge amounts of fresh fruit and veggies - the rainbow diet). DH also takes multis and glucosamide for his joints. I am convinced they are doing us good and IMO we have nothing to lose. It's like extra insurance.

There is a big difference between supplements on the market though. I have a book outlining the difference between hundreds of them and some really are not worth buying. If you believe the evidence though that they do have health benefits the top 3 are worth paying extra for.

glucosamine obviously should check before I click go!

As someone who is not a great fruit eater I usually try to take a supplement - don't always remember though!

I give my DS (5) Eskimo oils for kids and Vivioptal every day - he is not a great eater so figure it as extra insurance and to be fair he is very rarely sick.

Interesting theory on the probiotic drinks - am taking at the moment as am on anti-bs. I too have read that the best way to take probiotics is as a tablet and saw Multibionta recommended.

just remembered - those giving kids vitamins. Sanatagen=Aspartame in the childrens one

A LOT of kids vitamins have aspartame in. I try to avoid it where poss. Don't think it's in the Eskimo Kids fish oils OR the Vivioptal. DS hated the Eskimo one at first - gagged, had to be bribed etc but now likes it.

There's a lot of crap in those probiotic drinks-read the labels.
Also, 'Which' recently did a thing on them and found most were worse than useless.
Furthermore,all that packaging is positively sinful.

You'd be much better of buying a big tub of live plain yoghurt and having some every morning.

If ever I have thrush, which I used to get every so often I take acidopholus tablets from the healthfood shop(the ones you have to keep in the fridge). They always work really well and fast and don't have sugar in them that probiotic drinks have which are useless for thrush as the sugar in the drinks feed the thrush iyswim.

IMO Usana and Solgar are the best on the market. Potent but not full off additives/rubbish.