Probiotics Question

Do probiotic supplements need to be in an enteric-coated capsule in order to survive the journey to one's intestines? I have read that this is the case, but plenty of probiotic powders are sold, and obviously people manage to enhance their gut microbiomes with fermented foods that are not protected by capsules.

Some background, just for fun: I cannot ingest fermented foods for probiotics because fermented things are by far my biggest MCAS trigger, sadly. (RIP my beloved kombucha.) The last time I took my (low-histamine strains) probiotic supplement, I happened to have an intestinal episode afterward; it might have been a gallstone or something totally irrelevant to the probiotics, but I was spooked and didn't take them for a few months because of this as well as because I just ran out. I don't tolerate many probiotics especially comfortably, and most formulations contain at least one high-histamine strain and therefore are not right for me. I currently have a container of the brand I usually like in powder form, as my source sold out of the capsules. I would love to ease back into taking probiotics by using a tiny bit of the powder each day and building up the dose gradually. So I want to know if I can just ingest the powder, or if I need to place it into an enteric-coated capsule to protect it from stomach acid.

Thanks, folks!

i think some strains can survive through the stomach to some degree Sara - but i think the research says it varies by strain

with fermented foods they tend to get some protection from the food itself - but also the sheer numbers in fermented foods can dwarf those in probiotic pills/ capsules so even if 90% or more are killed off you often get enough make it through to be helpful

some research shows even dead ones have some immunoregulatory effects in the gut

one thing you could do is buy empty enteric capsules, i think they are a thing as i hear people in the disulfiram group are using them - and fill them with your powder.

the enema is not a terrible idea - i hear people do faecal transplants this way also with reportedly some success - its the small intestine where most immune interaction with the microbes occurs though - and enemas should not really get that far up - as there is a valve between the large intestine and the small intestine - so not sure how effective it would be - but unlikely to do harm.

with fermented foods i used to react a lot to them - but i just started with very small amounts - like a couple of strands of home made sauerkraut 1x a day - and gradually worked my way up to 1 tablespoon and that seems fine now

the research is expensive Girlie and probiotics are a kind of fad product - sold on presumed benefit

the market is fragmented with hundreds of players - each co. only taking a small slice - so hard for them to fund real science

plus - they are already invested in the product as a kind of accepted "good thing" - so there is perhaps little incentive for them to test it and find out what actually happens -ie - what do they do if they find that actually 90% die in the stomach acid

however, a new entry ( company name Seed) in the market did exactly this recently and from memory that's pretty much what they found - they created their own product that was kind of double encapsulated - but then - they have a vested interest also ...