Supplements & functional ingredients
The Whole Gut Health founder says the main issue with probiotics is the lack of transparency.
doesn’t spell it out explicitly. As Shustina puts it: “The main issue with probiotics is the lack of transparency.” It doesn’t help, she adds, that many doctors promote probiotics ‘off label’, meaning for a different purpose than what they were originally intended for. That in itself isn’t unusual or dangerous, she stresses, especially when coming from experienced physicians. But in a sphere like probiotics – where the gap between a genuinely useful product and a waste of time is so vast – off-labelling can be hazardous. Beyond the limitations of probiotics in themselves, meanwhile, Shustina highlights the challenges of getting consumers to see them holistically, as merely one spoke in a wider wheel of health. “The microbiome is a very complex thing,” she emphasises of the system where gut health happens. “That means a probiotic is, in some ways, just a drop in the bucket compared to what the microbiome really is.”
“We want to make sure that we’re taking exactly what we need, and we need to have the right education and experience to do that.”
The solution, of course, is to dovetail probiotics with other measures. Perhaps the most obvious is to consume healthy bacteria through a balanced diet, notably fermented foods like sauerkraut or kimchi. Another approach is to exercise regularly. According to one study, after all, just six weeks of exercise can have an impact on the microbiome. But in a country like the US, where less than a quarter of citizens get enough exercise, all the probiotics in the world risk doing little.
$1.5trn
The estimated value of the wellness industry.
McKinsey and Company 32 Pro-biotics?
It goes without saying that turning a society of couch potatoes into exercise fanatics is beyond the remit of experts like Shustina. But that hardly means she has no advice for probiotic enthusiasts. In particular, she says prospective users should carefully consult with their doctor before popping pills. “Anything you take in a pill can have a positive or negative effect,” she warns.
“I’ve personally seen people who’ve had allergic reactions and adverse effects to supplements, and I think there’s a misconception that more is better. Therefore, we want to make sure that we’re taking exactly what we need, and we need to have the right education and experience to do that.” Fortunately, there are signs that doctors are taking probiotics more seriously. In Britain, for instance, the NHS now recommends probiotics for mental health. Across the North Sea, the Swedish public health agency now advocates probiotics as a weapon in the fight against certain colon infections. And while medical professionals on the far side of the Atlantic have typically been less comfortable prescribing probiotics and other natural products, Shustina says that in the US, too, change is coming. “I’m assuming there’s going to be general growth for the US,” she says, adding that she expects medical professionals in the US to ultimately embrace the probiotics attitudes of their European colleagues. Of course, with greater oversight from physicians comes greater regulation. In a sense, that can only be hailed as a positive, especially considering the somewhat muddled situation that’s existed up to now. But as Shustina says, tougher rules also risk dampening the red-hot global market for probiotics. Certainly, her point is reflected in pronouncements by the FDA, which in 2019 began developing a method to test the purity of probiotic products, and more recently said it was seeking to improve guidance on dietary supplements. “How’s that going to translate?” asks Shustina rhetorically of the regulatory impact on the probiotics market. She argues it’s impossible to know. But even as questions over regulation wobble uneasily in the distance, probiotics themselves continue to soar. From supporting the development of babies to easing Parkinson’s disease in the elderly, studies into their usefulness continue to be published. And from Taiwan to Singapore, new production facilities continue to be built. If only Élie Metchnikoff could come back and see all he’d spawned. ●
Ingredients Insight /
www.ingredients-insight.com
FranciscoMarques/
Shutterstock.com
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