What are the safest probiotics to take? It’s an excellent question because some people don’t realize that probiotics can actually be dangerous. If you know enough to be asking what are the safest probiotics to take, you may have heard some scary things about probiotics. Are the stories of probiotic dangers just urban legends, or are there actually some concerns about probiotic safety? The short answer is there are definitely concerns about probiotics so we’ll outline those here. Then we’ll help you understand how you can find the safest probiotics to take.
Understanding Probiotics
Before we talk about what are the safest probiotics to take, we’ll give you a quick overview of probiotics. Probiotics provide bacteria - and that alone may sound unsafe. But while we all know how dangerous bad bacteria can be, there are also good strains of bacteria that are essential to our health. Your body has both good and bad bacteria in it at all times, even from the moment you’re born.
The balance of good vs bad is important because when your body has mostly good bacteria, they act as a defense mechanism. The beneficial bacteria support healthy digestion and promote a strong, balanced immune system. Eating the right foods can help with increasing your good bacteria, but the best way to get exactly the strains of bacteria you want, every day, is by taking the right probiotic.
Although there are hundreds of probiotics for sale, a substantial number of them are below any quality standards we believe in. You can easily spend money on probiotics that are useless, or even dangerous, if you do not know what to look out for. Here are some of the ways probiotics can be unsafe:
Contamination
You’d like to think that most of the probiotics available for sale today are pure. Maybe contamination of a probiotic would be a rare instance you hear about every few years at one or two companies. The truth is FAR from this though. Contamination of probiotics is incredibly common. Studies have shown that many common probiotics contain ingredients that are not on the label. Are these unnamed ingredients safe? Are they dangerous? Do they include elements you’re allergic to, or that could make your kids sick? It’s impossible to know, when you’re dealing with probiotics that are not pure. Natren probiotics, on the other hand, are guaranteed to be microbiologically pure. What does that mean? It means that we tell you exactly what you’re getting, and we guarantee our probiotics are never contaminated.
Soy, gluten, and GMOs
Maybe you’d assume that because probiotics are often sold in a health store, or the ‘health’ aisle of a grocery store, that they are free from soy, gluten, and GMOs. This is absolutely false in many cases. While their labels may not disclose the truth in an easy to see manner, plenty of supplements you’ll find in popular stores, and online, have soy and gluten in them. Others save money where they can by sourcing lower quality ingredients, which may have GMOs. When you’re asking “what are the safest probiotics to take,” you’ll want to find those without soy, gluten, or GMOs.
Soil based probiotics
Soil based probiotics are confusing because some companies enthusiastically market that they sell soil based probiotics - and this may lead you to assume that soil based probiotics are safe.
However, our founder, one of the leading probiotic experts in the world, has significant concerns about soil based probiotics. Soil based probiotics contain bacteria that is not naturally found in the human body. This is a major concern. When you’re looking to boost the diversity and quality of the bacteria in your gut, you want to use bacteria that is found in the human body. Introducing foreign bacteria is reckless and unnecessary. Soil based bacteria have a dubious safety record for human consumption. That alone should tell you that these are not the safest probiotics to take.
Safety assurance during production
You may not think about the sourcing and manufacturing of your probiotics when you’re making a choice about which ones to buy. But did you know that people have died making their own probiotic products at home? Many people love the idea of kombucha, a drink sold in many ‘health’ stores, and one that some try to make at home. But consider this horrifying fact: 20 people died trying to brew their own kombucha tea at home. This is how significant the risks can be with probiotics that are not sourced, produced, or stored adequately.
The safest probiotics to take are the ones from Natren. Every single one of the strains of beneficial bacteria we offer are safe for you and your family. We have a team of experts whose entire jobs are centered around making sure that Natren probiotics are safe. No company is going to tell you that they skimp on quality assurance during production, or that they do not follow the best practices for storing and shipping probiotics. But remember that their silence on critical issues should not be taken lightly. When you’re looking for the safest probiotics to take, trust your research. Find a company with the values that match your standards for the health of you and your family.
Safest probiotics to take
When you’re asking yourself ‘what are the safest probiotics to take,’ there are many considerations. The best way to feel safe with the beneficial bacteria supplements that you’re taking or giving to your family, is to choose precision probiotics.
Precision probiotics from Natren prioritize science over sales, education over flashy marketing, and quality over quantity. As an internationally recognized leader in quality probiotics, Natren guarantees their probiotics are microbiologically pure; free from soy, gluten, and GMOs; never soil based; and produced/stored with the highest of safety measures in place.
In addition, Natren probiotics come with a 100% potency guarantee for every strain of healthy bacteria sold. Probiotics are meant to boost your health, not endanger it. With Natren precision probiotics you can be sure you’re making a smart choice. Every single probiotic supplement we offer follows our same top-level standards for safety and quality. You can learn more about Natren precision probiotics, and shop for the right supplements at natren.com.
