The Efficacy of Probiotic Supplements and Their Claimed Counts

Probiotic supplements and fermented dairy products are a form of controlled microorganism ingestion aimed at helping in a wide variety of ways pertaining to gut health and immunity. With the rising awareness of personal health, more of these products have seen an increase in popularity and use. Such supplements however are still loosely regulated by The Food and Drug Administration. Meaning purity and quantity are at a higher risk of inaccuracy compared to more regulated items such as food. A recent probiotic survey revealed that up to 87% of probiotic supplements did not adhere to their claimed quantity. Our research aimed at evaluating the number of probiotic bacteria in 5 supplements and 2 fermented food samples using serial dilution and plate count method. Bacteria were grown on Lactobacillus MRS agar in an anaerobic jar. The results were represented as number of colony forming units (CFU) per gram. The dietary products were purchased in local supermarkets and selected from a range of different prices and forms of ingestion.  

We analyzed the differences between claimed colony forming units to experimental for all studied food products and supplements. With the exception of a homemade yogurt, in which no claimed count could be made. Except for showing which of those had the highest numbers of probiotics, we also compared their price per billion CFU. Overall, we found a staggering disparity of CFU counts, having not one of the probiotic supplements or foods adhere to their claimed counts. Surprisingly, the fermented foods resulted in the highest CFU per gram. Such findings make it evident that current FDA’s lack of enforcement has impacted actual quantitative values of beneficial products.