Will probiotics (sp?) make you poop...alot?

[William Yundt]

How do you know when you are consuming enough or too many probiotics? Are there any clear indicators? Also, is there even such a thing as too many probiotics or do you simply stop realizing a benefit and start wasting your money?

[Garrett Smith]

I don't know that one could overdo probiotics, or if it happened, it would be easy to fix. I'd guess that loose bowels would be the first indicator.

More probiotics (especially in supplement form) than one needs would likely be wasted $$, for sure. How to figure that out, I'm not sure. A lack of any GI symptoms and regular, soft bowel movements would be a good start.

Cultured foods, which someone would have consumed & spent $$ on anyway and containing both "food" value and probiotics are a great way to maintain gut health after gut flora is well established.

Or one can do an "intermittent" form of probiotic supplementation, ie. taking a large dose every several months.

[Michael Miller]

That fermented CLO sounds like a good choice, and like Yael said, you could kill two birds with one stone!

I do wonder about the effectiveness of the probiotics comming in that form though. I know i have helped alot of people get rid of stomach aches, diarrhea, gas, bloating etc with doses of New Chapters "All Flora" every half hour until the symptoms were gone (usually30-90 mins). Maybe it's good to keep a separate jar on hand just for those instances.

Heard alot of good things about these but never tried them myself.
http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails....&pid=3620&at=0

On a side note, the company "iherb" is probly one of the best companys i have ever found to buy supplements from...everything that i have purchased in the healthfood stores were usually much much higher. For instance, a 1 month supply of the "All Flora" usually costs me 26-$28...at iherb it's $18!

I typically just take the amount of probiotic recommended on the package. Sometimes when I know I am out of whack, I've been on an antibiotic, or there are some nasty bugs going around, I'll take an extra dose or so for a short period of time. I don't know that taking an excessive amount of probiotics long-term will really do much good though either. I think it's more important to make sure you have a good brand instead, since some don't deliver many live cultures. I like the Kal Acidophilus Probiotic. It has 5 different strains, and is prepared to ensure that the cultures reach your intestines alive.