A top gut expert has revealed the ‘red flag’ supplements that you should never invest in — as they’re likely to be completely useless.
NHS bowel surgeon Dr Karan Rajan analysed labels on the back of a host of different vitamin pills that claim to boost digestive health, and voiced concern about the ingredients listed.
Many products do not specify sufficient detail of the ingredients, meaning you don’t know what you’re taking, while others could quickly go out of date, rendering them useless.
In a clip posted to TikTok, Dr Rajan told his 5.3million followers to beware of certain probiotic supplements — popular pills containing live ‘healthy’ bacteria that are said to improve gut health.
First, Dr Rajan warned against buying probiotics that claim to contain the bacterial type ‘lactobacillus’ or ‘bifidobacterium’ only.
These terms are too broad, he said, and do not describe the specific strains that are helpful for specific health problems.
For instance, while a type of Bifidobacterium called ‘lactis BB-12 + S. thermophilus’ is good for preventing antibiotic-caused diarrhoea, the subspecies ‘lactis W52 + B. bifidum W23’ helps to reduce eczema risk.
As a result, an unnamed strain of bacteria is about as useful ‘as labelling a zoo animal «mammal» ― you need the genus, species, and strain’ Dr Rajan said.
‘The strain matters because not all bacteria in the same species do the same thing,’ he said.
‘One strain might improve digestion and another strain just might vibe in your gut doing nothing.’
Another warning sign is a supplement that claims to contain huge numbers of what’s known as colony-forming units (CFU), which refers to the number of live bacteria in a product.
Dr Rajan stressed that more live bacteria is not necessarily better.
‘5 billion or 50 billion — it doesn’t matter if they don’t survive the stomach acid and colonise your gut,’ he said.
‘For example, there is evidence that just 1 billion CFUs of a certain form of Bifidobacterium is as good at getting rid of IBS symptoms as 10 billion CFUs of the same strain,’ he said, citing a 2015 Cambridge University study.
Next on the list is checking the supplements are still in date.
‘Live bacteria degrade over time especially if it’s been sitting on a shelf for ages,’ Dr Rajan said.
He advised selecting products with packets listing the phrase ‘viable through end of shelf life’ — as this means the bacteria is likely to be useful for longer.
CFUs stands for colony-forming units, it refers to the number of live bacteria in a product. But Dr Rajan stresses that more live bacteria is not necessarily better
Meanwhile, the phrase ‘at the time of manufacturing’ — when used to caveat how much bacteria is in a product — a possible a warning sign the bacteria will not be available to your gut by the time you take it.
Dr Rajan also suggests looking for supplements with ‘function specific strains’ not just a ‘random gut party’ when you are buying a specific product.
‘If you want help with bloating specifically, look for strains that could that like Bifidobacterium Infantis 35624,’ he said.
He added that the strain Saccharomyces boulaardi may help with diarrhoea.
Finally, Dr Rajan said beware of products with multiple, complex-sounding bacterial strains.
‘A 15-strain probiotic sounds impressive, but if they’re all fighting for survival in your gut, it’s just a bacterial Hunger Games,’ he said.
‘Some strains compete or even cancel each other out.’
