Probiotic Poll

VSL#3 before bed on an empty stomach. The stomach produces less stomach acid on an empty stomach which gives the probiotics more chance of surviving the stomach. The stomach produces more acid on a full stomach to help with digestion.

Go with what the preparation says, if it states something specifically, the product is formulated accordingly.

To ensure I get a full spectrum of probiotics, I rotate the varieties I consume. Currently I use PB-8 once a day and eat home-made Keifer yoghurt 3 times a day with each meal. Every month or so I will generate a new batch of yoghurt with a different strain of probiotics. Home-made yoghurt is the only probiotic I can personally guarantee is good.

My logic of eating yoghurt with every meal is to ensure the bacteria has a better chance of moving through the gut and helping breakdown what I've eaten. I take the PB-8 with my evening meal just to boost the level of probiotics in my system.

A good test to see how well a particular brand of probiotics works is to try and seed it as a yoghurt. I recognise that some probiotic strains work better in lactose than others, but where you have two 'similar' products the results are surprising. There is a good reason why manufacturers claim their product has a certain level only at the point of manufacturing. They can't guarantee how potent things are by the time you use it.

What is the reasoning behind taking VSL #3 on an empty stomach at bedtime vs. the morning?

I have always taken my probiotics on an empty stomach.  I thought the good bacteria would grow better in the colon without food.  I take bio-k plus at bedtime and renew life ultimate flora critical care first thing in the morning with my tea.

The probiotic I used to take suggested taking it with or following a meal so I started out doing that. It gave me incredibly painful gas, so upon suggestion taken from this forum, I started taking it on an empty stomach before bed. That did help cut down on the gas but did not eliminate it so I eventually stopped taking it altogether. It didn't seem to make any difference to me (aside from the gas) anyway so why spend the extra money.