Should Probiotics be Regulated by the FDA
January 15, 2010 by Deb
Filed under Probiotics
Probiotics are considered a natural supplement and, as such, are not regulated by the FDA. This means that despite the claims we should be using them to balance the healthy and bad bacterias in our guts, neither the FDA nor the AMA approve their use.
So what, right?
The only problem, as noted in an article by Karen Edelblum on the Colitis Blog at Everyday Health, is that those who are taking probiotics aren’t always exposed to the right information about when and how to use them. We think that picking a bottle up off the shelf at the local pharmacy or health food store is good enough but very few of us check to see whether or not the probiotic bacteria in the pill is active and alive. Dead bacteria won’t help you fight bad bacteria or candida albicans and the longer a pill is in a bottle the less effective it will become.
Be honest - do you check the expiration date on the supplement bottles you purchase?
Finally, no one really knows how much to take. The truth is that you should take the amount listed on the bottle to help protect yourself between outbreaks but if you are trying to counter a disease like candida you may need to take more than the manufacturer’s recommended dosage. In these cases you should contact a doctor, holistic practitioner, or nutritionist for guidance as to how many probiotic supplement pills you should really be taking.
It’s your health. Take control of it. The FDA certainly isn’t going to help.
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