The Probiotic All-Stars: My Favorite Strains for Gut, Immune, Metabolic & Mental Health

Introduction to Probiotics and the Microbiome 0:00

Spores are completely different. A spore forming probiotic is found in our environment and is not native to the human gut, but is often found. In the gut. These are known as bacillus strains and they travel much, much better than do human strains. They really are not fragile at all because they're essentially a seed wrapped in a tough shell that's naturally resistant to acid heat and bile. and it stays dormant through the entire journey, then germinates in the colon, wakes up, and once it reaches that favorable environment in your gut, it comes alive and does its thing.

Welcome to Vitality Radio, the podcast that helps you make sense of natural supplements and thrive without pharma drugs. I'm Jared St. Clair. I grew up in a health food store and spent over 40 years now figuring out what works and what doesn't, so that you can make confident, informed decisions about nutrition, supplements and your health. You have more bacterial genes living in and on you than you have human genes by a factor of more than a thousand. Sit with that for just a second because the version of you that walks around all day is by numbers mostly microbial.

And the quality of that microbial community, how diverse it is, resilient it, which strains are running the show, has its fingers in just about everything. Your digestion, obviously, your immune system for sure, hormones, but also your mood, cognitive function and abilities, metabolism. even how you handle stress and it's believed it can impact your personality as well. So today I want to take you through my favorite probiotic and postbiotic strains, the specific bacteria that I've spent years researching and the ones that i trust enough to put in my own formulas that, I make and take myself.

We'll cover why spore probiotics are in a league of their own, the three I build most of my stuff around in terms of protocols and everything else, and the rest of all my all-stars, including one that isn't even a bacteria at all, but is still considered a probiotic. And I'll tell you exactly which strains went into vital spores, back on track, in the new GLP-1 Metabolic Optimizer and why they're there. Now, I'm going to cite research throughout this and I am going give you the year so that you know how new this research is and when it makes sense to the institution as well.

And remember, none of this is medical advice, and not your doctor, but I get questions about probiotic strains all the time and probiotics formulas all of the times and there's a lot of noise out there. I'm hoping this episode at least gives you a feel for why I am so high on the specific strains that I love and why.

Why Spore Probiotics Stand Out 2:50

I believe in them, how they work at what doses they and all of that going to be a pretty short show because. I don't have a ton of strains to talk about. There really are just a handful that are right at the top of my list, but I do want to give you the key elements that I think make them really just absolute superstars when it comes to probiotics and postbiotics. Let's start with the spores, the big three that hang my hat on for just about everything. I'm going to give you the simplest possible explanation that I know how when it comes to explaining what a spore forming probiotic actually is.

Most probiotics on the shelf are what are known as human strains. Lactobacillus and bifidobacterium. These are, what you could call the yogurt aisle bacteria. good bacteria, but fragile. They live their life cells with no real armor and they have to survive a brutal trip, the acid bath of your stomach, then bile before they ever reach the intestines where they might be able to do their work. But they also have survive heat in the shelf, in your car, on the way home from the health food store, or on UPS truck on their way from manufacturer to your health foods store in a package from my warehouse to your house and all of those types of things as well.

And you'll see that many of these probiotics have 25, 30, 50, even a hundred billion units of the strains. The reason for that to a large degree is because if you pour enough in, you will get some benefit even if many are being liced or killed on the way down. Spores are completely different. A spore-forming probiotic is found in our environment and is not native to the human gut, but is often found. These are known as bacillus strains and they travel much, much better than do human strains. They really are not fragile at all because they're essentially a seed wrapped in a tough shell that's naturally resistant to acid, heat and bile.

and it stays dormant through the entire journey, then germinates in the colon, wakes up, and once it reaches that favorable environment in your gut, it comes alive and does its thing. So here's the punchline though. With spores, you don't need a hundred billion units. In fact, most of the best research on spore has done it like half a billion, One billion, two billion maybe three or four or five billion. Never close to a hundred billion because you're not losing most of them on the way down. They're surviving intact.

In fact, bacillus coagulans, one of my favorites survives 99.9% all the down to the colon. So a few billion well-chosen spore probiotics that actually arrive alive beat a giant number that mostly die on their way down. They are not just shelf stable but even heat stable up to the point where you can store them pretty much anywhere in your house except for the oven because most of them will handle all the way upto like 450 degrees Fahrenheit. They don't require refrigeration for that reason, and they're even able to survive around an antibiotic.

Not just around and antibiotic, but in the same hand that you swallow your antibiotic you can swallow a spore probiotic and the antibiotic as a general rule will not kill it. One spores in particular has excellent research proving that. Now I'm not anti-human strain. In fact, I did an episode of Vitality Radio called The Great Debate Human Strains versus Spore Straints to try and explain that I love human strains of bacteria. In fact, we didn't have them. We'd be in trouble because these are what we require in our gut.

favorite, favorite superstar human strain is and why I think it's earned the place at the top of the list of human stream probiotics. But let's get into the spores first. There's three that I. Think are absolutely the baddest spurs around in all the best ways. Not all spours are equally proven. there are three bacillus spures that are at top. Of the. List. hyper-resilient, all the stuff that we just talked about. Bacillus coagulans is the first one that I personally discovered almost 20 years ago now, and now they're doing something to it that's confusing.

A lot of people, they've given it a new name, Wisemania or Wisemania, I think it's mania, coaguilans. So when you're looking for the coagiolans, is really the key there, but you might see on my formulas and many others, that that name is changing from bacillous to wisemanian. Or why is mania? I guess there's two ends in there. So I think it's mani and not man. Anyway, regardless, if you see that change, same thing, different name. Don't let it confuse you too much. They've reclassified it as all, but it is exactly the same thing as always been.

And what's cool about it, is that it actually forms the protective spore, just like the other bacillus probiotics, But it also produces lactic acid like a lactobacillis probiotic, which would be a human strain probiotix. So you get the spores resilience with the friendliness of making the entire environment in the gut more conducive to the regrowth of your good guys that belong there in first place. Let me run through some of the proven benefits. In 2009, a randomized trial showed a significant improvement in abdominal pain and bloating compared to a placebo.

In 2019 and 2023, placebo-controlled studies both showed meaningful reductions in gas bloated and abdominal distention. And most of these studies are actually fairly short-term studies. This stuff works very, very quickly. It was also studied for supporting healthy protein and nutrient absorption, which is a big deal. Which is why sometimes you'll see it actually protein or paired with protein foods in protein shakes, things like that. It's been studied to support healthy immune response since much of your immune system actually lives in your gut, but you probably already know.

And it has been shown to sport healthy, regular bowel function, helping to balance on both sides of bowel functions, whether you're dealing with constipation or potentially diarrhea. It helps to bring things into balance and is one of the best things I've ever seen for IBS type symptoms. Some of unique features, as I said, 99.9% it survives and gets all the way down into the intestinal tract or I should say into colon where it then helps all of other guys do their thing. And what makes it super unique is that hybrid nature where kind of acts like a human strain but has all resiliency of a spore.

Bacillus Coagulans: The Foundation Spore 9:20

Love this probiotic. It's the first one I ever put in a product way back almost 20 years ago when I developed back on track. it's still my favorite. Bacillus subtilis is next. If Baccillis coagulans or Weissmannia coaguilans is the dependable foundation, subtilius is a busy little factory. Most of the serious research on this strain was done on a strain called HU58, which I use in my formulas. Traces back to Professor Simon Cutting's group at Royal Holloway University in London. In 2017, a human study showed it supported healthy immune function, including effects on inflammatory signaling markers.

It supports a balanced gut environment by helping crowd out less desirable organisms. And that is where I think this one really shines. one that comes in and cleans up the neighborhood gets rid of the pathogenic things that are disruptive to the gut and actually helps the body to rebuild and nourish the got with the good guys. It supports digestion and nutrient absorption through enzymes that it produces. So it actually works almost a little bit like a digestive enzyme as well by helping your body produce those in the.

And supports healthy inflammatory response. in the gut lining, which is why I think it's such a superstar for leaky gut, where inflammatory issues in gut are a major player. But one of the things that makes it super unique is that it really is a metabolic powerhouse. It produces dozens of beneficial compounds in your gut including those digestive enzymes I mentioned, also B vitamins, vitamin K2, you already probably know how much I love that stuff, short chain fatty acids that help to heal the guts, and an enzyme that is absolutely a super star in its own right, natokinase.

which is the one that comes from fermented natto that helps, it's a systemic enzyme, helps to break down excess proteins in the blood. There's even research that it may work on spike proteins specifically and natokinase is actually produced from bacillus subtilis in human gut. So fantastic stuff and it has the same survivability at 99.99%. The third one is bacillus clausii. Now, clausi has a little less research than the other two, but the research is still very strong and it's still more than any other spore out there.

It's maybe the most resilient. And I'm going to say that simply because there are studies specific to and use with antibiotics and shows that it survives antibiotics beautifully. So I get this question all the time. I am on an antibiotic. Should I wait until I'm after off the antibiotic before I start taking my probiotic and I say not if you're on spores, take the spore's at the same time. In fact, start, taking the sports before you get on the antibiotics to actually build up the system, make it more resilient to the.

And then of course, I'll also say, let's see if we can figure out some way that we. What we need to do without antibiotics. But again, not your doctor, this is not medical advice, but I can tell you that antibiotics are usually unnecessary. But let's talk about some of the cool features and proven benefits. In 2018, a meta-analysis that took six different studies on 1,300 children found that it shortened the duration of occasional diarrhea and reduced its severity also worked specifically on colicky babies.

Research going back to 2004 shows it has genuine immune modulating antimicrobial activity in the gut. So again, all three as a trifecta are fantastic for the digestive stuff and for anti-inflammatory stuff, and the immune-modulating stuff. They really work differently, but in tandem for all this stuff It is a absolute superstar. One of the reasons that it's now in back on track because it wasn't originally and is also in, you know, one of original ingredients in the vital spores formula is because is one the best probiotics in clinical studies to help recover from antibiotic use.

And its superstar benefit is that it tolerates everything. The stuff is just absolutely rock solid, hardcore, try to kill me. Kill me with an antibiotic, kill with heat, Kill with acid, killed with bile. Good luck. It doesn't happen with bacillus clausii. Just an amazing, amazing spore. Now let's jump into my favorite non spores strains. Spores are my backbone. They're the three probiotics that I rely on the most for almost everything. When people come in and ask me what's the best probiotic for this, it almost never matters what this is.

It's usually going to be those three spores as the main things that i'm recommending. Now there are some exceptions to that rule, but not very many. And it's why they are all three in back on track and they're all 3 in vital spores as the main ingredients, because they simply cover more bases better than any other probiotics that I've ever seen.

Bacillus Subtilis and Bacillus Clausii 14:20

So I absolutely love those three. But when it comes to human strains, there are benefits that human strings have that spore do not have. As I was researching and trying to figure out, what do I want to do with human strain? Because I am very much a spor guy, but I know that we need some benefit from human strains as well. And the problem is most of them aren't hyper resilient. In fact, most are frankly kind of wussy. They don't really get where they need to get. But there is one that I absolutely love and that i think is head and shoulders above any of the others.

Not saying that the other aren´t good. There are great human probiotics out there and you may even see down the road from Vitality Nutrition some additional probiotic formulas for more specific issues where all include new human strain probiotics. Well, not new, but new to my formulas. And you've seen that if you're paying attention with the GLP-1 formula, I'll talk about those strains in just a minute. But let's talk why I love Ruteri so much. Because it is absolutely fantastic stuff. While most human strains are kind of weak, Ruterei is unique in its strength and its resilience and integrity.

It's not the only human strain we're taking, but it is the one that I think just absolutely does more across a wider range of things than anything else. The difference between ruteri and the strains that knock as human strains is that many of those strains are transient strains. Transient meaning that they don't belong there. They're basically tourists. The get into the gut. they can do some good stuff in there, but while they're in their, they do their thing and then they leave. And if you stop taking them, you're not necessarily going to continue to have the benefit.

That was one of the questions that I had that plagued me for a long time until I discovered bacillus coagulans back again, almost 20 years ago. I was trying to figure out, so why is it that have these customers that come in? They buy these probiotics. and they get results, their constipation improves, they're digestion improves. They get less gassiness or bloating. Their IBS symptoms are better than they were, you know, all that type of thing. But then as soon as they go off the probiotic, the symptoms come back.

What's going on with that? And what I figured is that Human strains for the most part are delivering a message. They're basically becoming post-biotics on the way down as they're being lysed, otherwise known as killed. Basically, they can't colonize anymore once they get to the colon because of the stomach acid or the bile or heat or whatever else it is. But they do work in the post biotic realm, but not in a colonizing realm. And so people don't get better while they are on them in most cases. they just feel better, while their on there.

And that's great if you need to feel better right now, but if your looking to rebuild and strengthen, then that is where I come back on the spores. But ruteri is a little bit different. It is truly a native, indigenous bacteria of the human body. In fact, it's supposed to be in you and we know that because it is found in the gut, the urinary tract, skin and in mother's breast milk. So babies get the first dose from their mom. It has been in the human body for as long as anyone can figure. Scientifically, they believe that it's evolved with us over the millennia.

And that changes how it behaves. Its far more acid tolerant than your average fragile human strain. So a meaningful amount survives the trip even without a spore shell. It actually adheres to and colonizes the gut lining, and it can form its own biofilms. Now think about this. We talk about bio films a lot nowadays on podcasts like this, And we always think of biofilm as negative. The stuff that protects fungal infections, the stuff the protects parasites, The stuffs that protect all these pathogenic things in our gut.

But did you know that a bio film, just like a bacteria, can be both positive and negative? And that's one of the things I love about Ruderi is it forms its own biofilms to protect itself. It sets up shop the way a native resident sets-up shop. And here's the kicker, it doesn't rely only on sheer surviving numbers. Ruderi produces its' own active compounds, most notably an antimicrobial called Ruderin. plus organic acids that reshape the gut environment around it, which makes it kind of spore like too, because it's actually creating an environment that's conducive to the regrowth of all your good guys and also conducative to growth of itself.

So even the cells that don't permanently colonize from ruteri are out there doing chemistry that benefits you in the long run. In 2015, a meta-analysis found it significantly reduced crying time in colicky infants, one of the most well-documented effects of any probiotic, and that proves how gentle and safe it is. It works great, even in babies. Studied for supporting healthy intestinal balance, supporting regularity and calming inflammatory signaling in the gut, supports a gut-brain connection and a healthy immune response, in part by encouraging the body's own anti-inflammatory regulatory T-cells.

And then that Routerin that I talked about. It's produced and selectively discourages overgrowth of organisms that are sparring against your beneficial bacteria.

Lactobacillus Reuteri and Human Strains 19:40

This stuff is a targeted natural housekeeper rather than a carpet bomb like a typical antibiotic would be. It is doing antibiotic work without doing all of the antibiotic damage, which makes it also very spore like in nature. I love this one, but here is the thing. There was one thing I was trying to determine when I decided to add El Rudorei 2 back on track. And that was the SIBO question, because I get people asking all the time. I just had somebody yesterday asking me about this in our new location in South Ogden.

She's dealing with SIBO. She is dealing H. pylori. she's got celiac, she got a lot of different issues that she deals with in her gut. Clearly a gut with some significant dysbiosis. And the question is, well, can I take this probiotic because it's. Got a human strain in it and human strains oftentimes can aggravate SIBo. Well, ruteri is generally considered one of the best tolerated strains, even in the most sensitive people and even people that are dealing. And the reason is, it's native to the small intestine, so it actually belongs there.

And, the uterine that it makes actually works against the overgrowth of organisms rather than feeding them. So, its working in the smaller intestine where the SIBO is happening. as a positive there. And what's interesting is, if you didn't already know this, and it's critical, If you're dealing with SIBO or suspect that you are dealing SIBo, many of the human strain probiotics will aggravate it, will make you feel significantly worse. Generally speaking, spores will absolutely not do that. Elruderi will also not that, but it does some things that the spore don't do when we're talking about SIbo.

And that is, it actually does work in the small intestine, not just down in large intestine. So I love it. Love it, love for that reason. There's also fascinating line of research out of MIT showing Ruterye supporting healthy testosterone in animal models. Now, these are animal model, but it's very interesting. Healthy testosterone production is something that both men and women in America definitely need more of. And like a lot of native strains, ruteri has quietly declined in the modern human thanks to antibiotics, our sterilized low-microbe lifestyle, and so supplementing it is really restoring something that's supposed to be there and often isn't there anymore, or at least is not in there in any significant dose.

So when I was figuring out back on track as a reformulation, I've reformulated multiple times. It started with just bacillus coagulans. When I discovered bacilli subtilis and how powerful that was, i added it in there. And then when i discovered Bacillis clausii, around the time that i was starting to educate myself on these other spores and looking at developing my own spore formula, the vital spors, Then I decided it was time to actually add that into back on track as well. But then I started digging in and trying to figure out what else can I do to really, really help with all of the things that back-on-track is supposed to help right now.

And Routeri was the obvious choice. Absolutely love El Ruderai. It's the only human strain that I have right up there at the top, along with my spores. Now, another human strained though, that, I'm a big fan of because it has such a unique profile and unlike Ruderi is really not as redundant as it is with the spore. And I want to check what I just said there. Redundancy in probiotics is not a bad thing. You'll find as you research probiotic strains that there's a ton of redundancy. They all do similar things, or at least a lot of them do that similar.

Things that other probiotics bacteria do, but they all have little specialties as well. And bacillus clausii and bacilus coagulans and Bacillis subtilis and Elruteri, while very similar in some of their benefits all, do things that the others don't do. So they're just this amazing package when you put them together, the gasserie. It's its own thing and it's really, really cool because well, we have a problem in this country where many of us are a little or a lot overweight in an unhealthy way, metabolically challenged in that way.

In a 2010 controlled trial, very specific strain of lactobacillus gasseri or gaseride, depending on who you ask, showed a 4.6% reduction in abdominal visceral fat over 12 weeks. 4.6% reduction of the unhealthiest form of fat. A larger trial three years later in 2013 with 210 adults backed that up with visceral fat dropping around 8.5% in the active group versus the placebo group. So actually twice as good as the original study. Not only it back up the study, it proved to be even more effective than the originally study In that same body of research, participants also saw reductions in BMI, waist and hip circumference, not just the deep fat.

Study for supporting healthy fat metabolism, including how the body handles dietary fat, this is where gasserie really shines. It has some of the most interesting human data of any strain when it comes to body composition and abdominal fat the kind most tightly tied to our metabolic health. One honest caveat with it though, is that like most human strains, when people stop taking it, the benefits did start to fade. So this is one that rewards consistency and consistent use. Now, maybe the hottest strain in the entire world right now is Acromansia mucinifila.

Now, acromansia is big because it is the quote-unquote GLP-1 strain, and of course it in my GLp- 1 metabolic optimizer along with the Lactobacillus gasseri. Now it's one of the most exciting organisms in metabolic research right now. because of what they've discovered with how it interacts with GLP-1. In a landmark 2019 study in Belgium, they found that supplementing with acromansia improved insulin sensitivity by nearly 28% and lowered insulin and total cholesterol in overweight insulin resistant adults.

28%. Now pair that with gassery, which over 12 weeks can reduce visceral fat by four and a half to eight and half percent. And you've got an all star team when it comes to blood sugar and weight management. It also has been shown to support the integrity of the gut barrier, the frontline defense against inflammation leaking out into the body. It supports healthy metabolic markers and a healthy inflammatory response, specifically supporting GLP-1.

Metabolic Strains: Gasseri, Akkermansia, and Butyricum 26:40

it lives right in the mucus layer of your gut wall, feeding on mucin where it helps maintain that barrier itself. A strong gut barrier is foundational for controlling inflammation and metabolic signaling, of course, and we all know leaky gut is wreaking havoc on so many of us in America, maybe all of this, at least to some degree. In the research I mentioned above, what they found is that pasteurized, heat-killed, non-living, postbiotic version of acromansia is the best because of the way that it signals that dead organism is actually stronger than the live organism, which is really interesting.

So when I went to use acromancia in the GLP-1 formula, I had to decide between the living and the dead. for lack of a better term. And we actually went with the dead. The heat killed version is simply better in terms of how your body responds to it. Very, very interesting. Now, here's something that most people don't know. A lot of Americans have very little, if any, acromansia left. It thrives on fiber and polyphenols and gets depleted by exactly what defines the modern American diet. Low fiber, heavily processed foods, plus repeated rounds of antibiotics and the simple fact that it simply declines with age.

And you can't eat your way to it directly because it's not found in any food, even fermented foods. You either feed what you have with fiber or poly phenols or you supplement it. And that's the reason why I chose to put it in. And one more critical point, which I addressed in my GLP-1 episode, and you can check out those GLPs episodes if you want to understand these specific strains better, but the study dose is 10 billion units. That's what they used in human trials. that is the amount that we know absolutely works.

And what drives me crazy is that the bulk of Acromansia formulas on the market are not at 10 billion. In fact, the most popular one on market made by a company called Pendulum, at least I think it's the more popular, is at half a billion, they're using 20 times less than what should be used. It's an absolute joke. So when you're buying Acromancia, even if you are buying it from Vitality Nutrition, please make sure you get the heat killed version, the postbiotic version and that you're getting 10 billion units per dose.

Now, another one that is something that I've talked about a little bit on this show, but I think really needs more attention is Clostridium Butyricum. And Clastridum, that name doesn't sound good if you know. if you know that there are some negative things out there associated with that. But Clostridium butyricum is awesome, awesome stuff. It's been safely used for decades as a probiotic and postbiotic. The most studied strains have been used in Japan for over 50 years, in fact, supporting gut barrier integrity and healthy bowel regularity.

it supports a balanced microbiome by encouraging the growth of other beneficial bacteria like the bifido and the lactobacillus. That makes it very interesting because again, now that puts it kind of in the spore category or the ruteri category. It's one of the things that I really like about it. And again like pretty much all of my favorites, it helps to support a healthy inflammatory response in a gut. it's of nature's best producers of something called butyrate. Buty rate is the short chain fatty acid that basically is fuel for the cells lining your colon.

buterate strengthens the gut barrier, calms inflammation and is a key trigger in the gut for natural GLP-1 release. Like Acrimansia, I actually use the postbiotic-style strain. There's another one I had to decide on, and to me, it made the most sense to use it this way. Now, one strain that is a favorite of mine, that you're going to hear me talk about more and more, but has not made its way into any of the Vitality products yet, is an oral health strain, And it's easy to tell it is oral-health strain because it called Lactobacillus salivarius, just like saliva.

In oral health trials going back to 2009 and 2010, salivarius was associated with reduced bad breath, improved gum and periodontal measures, included less bleeding at the gum level. Studied for supporting a healthy balance of bacteria in the mouth by discouraging the organisms behind plaque and cavities like streptococcus mutans. It's also been studied for supporting a healthy immune response, including in skin and allergy contexts. It actually produces potent natural antibacterial compounds called bacteriocins that can crowd out the bacteria behind bad breath, plaque, and gum trouble.

What makes it special is its range. it colonizes the mouth and the full GI tract. So it actually bridges oral health and gut health in a way that frankly most strains cannot. Like I say, I don't have it in any of my formulas, but it's On my radar and here very soon, you're going to hear an episode where I talk about a formula by bioseidon that does have this as a chewable, dissolvable tablet. And I'm in love with it if you are concerned about oral health. So you'll definitely want to check that out.

Now, the last thing I want talk is not a probiotic bacteria, but it is considered a pro biotic. It's a beneficial yeast and you've heard of it. Probably it's called Saccharomyces bouillardii. The single thing that I love about this is that it is not a bacteria at all. It's also not spore, but it does things that are unique to it. And also like the others, it has some redundancy along with the spores, the ruteri and so on. it's one of the most studied organisms for supporting digestive regularity during and after antibiotic use.

There's a well-known meta-analysis that found that it actually cut the rate of antibiotic-associated digestive upset by roughly half. So people taking it with antibiotics had half as much digestive offset, and it can be taken safely with the antibiotics without the antibiotic killing it because, well, antibiotics kill bacteria, not yeast. It supports the gut's own immune defense by helping raise levels of IgA, the antibody that patrols and protects your gut lining. It supports a healthy balance against opportunistic overgrowth, including helping hold the line against microorganisms like H.

pylori and supporting the growth of your beneficial flora. It supports gut barrier integrity in part by helping neutralize certain bacterial toxins and supporting the gut lining. It's studied for supporting digestive comfort during travel and against everyday digestive disruption and it's generally extremely well tolerated even if there's a yeast concern like Candida. In fact, I like it for Candita even though it is a Yeast. Because it's a yeast, like I said, antibiotics don't touch it at all. I love Saccharomyces boulardii.

It's an absolute superstar and the more I sell it and talk to people that use it, either on its own or in combination with the vital spores, the sold I become on this. So why did it make it into my vital spores formula. Well, that's because I think it pairs beautifully with the spore. I put it together with a sporse because they come from two completely different kingdoms of life, bacteria and yeast. But they still work on the gut just from very different angles. The spors do bacterial work. They colonize, produce short chain fatty acids, crowd out unwanted bacteria, while the yeast does yeast work, it boosts IgA, neutralizes toxins, holds the barrier.

They aren't fighting over the same real estate or the job, so they don't crowd each other out. They actually cover different ground entirely. So there's this amazing synergy between them. And here's the elegant part. The single biggest threat to your bacterial probiotics is antibiotics, but antibiotics don t touch yeast. and they don't touch the spores. So at the exact moment that your spore is under the most pressure, or I should say that you're regular human strains are under most the pressure.

The spors and the ballardy are absolutely kicking butt and taking names. Now, why I went in this direction specifically with the yeast versus other spores, because I didn't mention this at the beginning, but there are other four spors, two really well-known ones. One's called Bacillus indicus, another one's Baccillis lichenformus. There are many others as well. But I took a different route because even though I love products like Just Thrive or the Microbiome Labs Megaspore Biotic made by great companies, by a great microbiologist who I absolutely adore, I wanted to go a little bit different.

And the reason for it is actually pretty simple. Now I went a very specific direction when I was developing the formula that is now Vital Spores. And it was based on conversations and study and research from some of the best minds in probiotics that I can find or that i'm aware of.

Oral Health and Saccharomyces Boulardii 35:40

It was a bit of a leap of faith because at that point my number one selling probiotic was called Just Thrive. I love JustThrive, I have nothing negative to say about Justthrive it is a fantastic product we sold it for What 13 years now, I think, and for eight years, it was my absolute go-to. It's got the three spores in it. And then it's one other spore and it called bacillus indicus. There's also another one actually developed by the same guy, but under a different brand, Megaspore Biotic. Many people listening to this show have used these products.

I'm sure. Excellent companies, excellent formulas, great results. Nothing bad to say about them. But when I was developing my formula. I had to decide, you know, what can I actually fit in here? Keep the price at a price point that is user friendly, we'll say as probiotics go. And I'll just throw it out there. We sell 30 capsules of Vitalspores for $39.99. So, a little over a buck a day. And if you get it all the way up to the 90 capsule bottle, it gets down to around a Buck a Day. As probiotics go, really great probiotic, that's actually pretty economical.

Just Thrive microbiome labs are a good 15, 20, 30% more expensive than that. So I wanted the price to be at a price point that you could afford, that can still, you know, stack other supplements with it and all that kind of stuff. But I did not want to sacrifice potency or effectiveness at all, for sure. So trying to figure that out, I was like, well, how do I do it? Because if I put too many other spores in it, the prices going to keep ratcheting up. And interestingly enough, Sacrum Isis Boulardii is relatively inexpensive.

and yet packs this incredible powerhouse punch. And so as I was looking at it, I decided I wanted to look at where the research was and all of the best research, like so much of best of research is tied up into those very specific three spores. Do the others have research? Yes. Did they have proven efficacy? Have I seen results with them? But not at the level that these other three sports do. My take on it was simple. If I can charge less money, give all the benefits of those three spores and get you the benefit of this amazing yeast, Saccharomyces boulardii, and put 40% more potency in the bottle than these other brands, then we have a win-win- win all way across.

And that's what I chose to do. I have not regretted it for one minute because our feedback on it has been absolutely fantastic. So I've got three formulas that I developed that incorporate all of these strains, except for the one that i mentioned that hasn't found its way into one of my formulas yet. And that's the salivarius strain. The vital spores is the universal foundation formula. Part of the reason I decided to do this episode of this show is because I had a lot of people ask me, well, do I take the GLP-1 formula?

That's got great stuff in it. Do I think the vital sports? Do i take it back on track? How do i know? I'm aiming to try and answer that today. I'm not going to be able to answer it perfectly because it's going depend a lot on you. And unfortunately, there's still probably some trial and error in terms of figuring out which one or combination might be best for you, but this has vital spores has the three main. Proven spore and spularity real simple. It is the one that is part of my vital five. That's deliberate because I think it was the most universal foundational probiotic, frankly, that I've ever seen.

I love this formula for most people and you can't go wrong utilizing it. Also for kids, because I get this all the time, what's the best kids probiotic? There's lots of good kids' probiotics. There are, but there's also a lot of kids pro biotics that I think are either real weak or to rely too heavily on human strains and not enough on the spores or they're in a gummy and you get the extra sugar and all that kind of stuff. And they cost more money than they probably should for the potency, especially if they are in the gummy or something like that.

So all I tell people and eventually I'll come out with a powder for kids. It's on a list of many other products that I'm working on right now. But I don't have it right know. You've already got a kid's probiotic in vital spore. You just open up the two piece capsule, you dump out about a third of the capsule for every 50 pounds of body weight. Real simple. You can add it to anything as virtually no flavor to it. It can mix into a drink. it can be put into hot food, cold food. Doesn't matter because again, it's very, very resilient.

And if you've got a 25 pound kid. a sixth of the capsule, roughly, you're not going to overdo it and cause harm. So you don't have to specifically precisely measure, but think about this. You're getting 30 servings for an adult in a 30 capsule bottle, But you might get 90 serving, 120 serving. Maybe 180 serving if you've got a 25 pound kid, or maybe you got three kids at home and you want to divide that capsule between three. It's going save you money over buying a kid's probiotic and your almost always going get more potency.

and less dollars out of the pocketbook. So the most universal formula, vital spores. My favorite formula probably back on track. This is the more comprehensive digestive support formula that I have. It is my baby. I've had it for about 20 years. And it probably is my favorite formula that I've ever made. It started as, like I said earlier in the show, just bacillus coagulants with digestive enzymes and herbs to help to soothe and calm what I call a hot digestive system. But then I added the other two probiotics to it more recently, and then, I add the lactobacillis rooteri to And so it's got fennel and ginger and peppermint, and it also has the four, what I consider to be biggest all-stars of the bacterial world.

Now at some point, maybe I'll consider even, I will adjust my formulas all the time. This is what i do every time I think I can make it better. And that was the hardest decision was, can I also put Saccharomyces boulardii into it? Space was an issue for sure, and I wanted to keep the cost down. So I've got it as is with the Routeri, along with The Spores. And this is the product that I absolutely love for people that are very sensitive dealing with SIBO, things like that.

Vitality Formulas and Product Strategy 42:00

But they have really what, again, what I call a hot digestive system. It needs to calm down, And so any type of IBS type symptoms, this is where this product shines and as I've said before it is the product that was more effective than a wedding ring for getting my sweetheart to fall in love with me. The first supplement that I ever gave her and the first time that she used that, she said it was the 1st meal that in years that did not hurt. Back on track works right now And it works incredibly well for just about any type of digestive upset.

But because it has all three spores in it, because I has Routeri in, it does tons of the good stuff that bottle spore does as well. Frankly, to take both is redundant unless you want to kind of get a kickstart for a month or two because your system's been hammered. you've recently been on an antibiotic or something like that then sure for a month or two you can use them together but generally speaking one or the other and it's not a bad idea to test them out and just see how your body responds the cool thing about back on track is that it covers two of my vital five digestive enzymes and probiotics and is less expensive than using an enzyme on its own and a probiotic on itself so that's that one and the most recent probioti formula that i've developed of course is not technically Exclusively a probiotic formula, I guess back on track is neither or digestive health formula.

It's a metabolic health, formula the GLP one metabolic optimizer. It's got the gasserie in there. It has the clostridium butyricum in it. And it also has five other ingredients that work specifically to help with GLP-1 signaling and the reception of GLp- 1 and insulin signaling helping with insulin sensitivity. So can you use the GLP-1 together with other probiotics or should you? I've had that question a lot in the last few months since this product's been on the market. And I'll tell you the answer.

Well, first off, my wife and I still take back on track with our meals and we take GLp-one with meals now. There's no downside to having all of those probiotics in there. You are doubling up on Routeri, but you're never going to get too much Routeri, at least not reasonably. I don't think it can happen. We have both had excellent success with the GLP-1 formula. It's helped my sweetheart lose 11, 12 pounds of the 15 that she gained during menopause, which she'd really been struggling with. In the first two months alone, I lost almost 11 pounds.

It's just been awesome. We love it. Sugar cravings, appetite, people that are wearing continuous glucose monitors are telling us wonderful things. People that have been sensitive to The shots, the actual GLP-1 agonists like ozempic or retichrutide, semaglutide that type of thing have found that this does not create the sensitivity. They don't have the side effects with it. We have loved this formula. Do you need it with other probiotics? I don' know. It doesn't. Have the spores. The spores, as I have stated over and over again, are my absolute go-to rock stars.

It does have ruteri, which has spore-like benefits. The GLP-1 formula is already more expensive than either one of the other probiotics. Its so loaded with, unfortunately, very expensive ingredients. I just couldn't see putting the spors in there and driving the cost up another $20 or whatever it would have been. So, I didn't do that, but what you may want to do is simply experiment. If you're already on one of my other probiotics or somebody else's, try the GLP-1 on its own if you'd like to that.

See how you do. What's your gut doing? What your immune system doing. How's you gut-brain axis, mood, things like that? If, you miss the other probiotics from the vital spores or the back on track, You may want to stick with them. The other option is add the GLP-1 along with the probiotic. This is typically what I'm recommending. Do that for the first two or three months. Let the glp-one kind of do its thing. Cause most of the studies on the g l p one ingredients were done over 12 to 16 weeks. And then consider reducing the dose or eliminating the back on track or the precision probiotics.

There's no downside in using them together other than just frankly, the economics of it. You're paying for two products that have probiotics in them. The other thing you could consider doing, and I think this is not a bad idea for a lot of you. If you're already taking a digestive enzyme, you are not taking back on tractors your digestive enzymes. Perhaps you using assimilate or some other brands, uh, digestive. So you getting that part of the vital five covered there. You may take vital spores at just a couple of capsules a week, along with the GLP one every single day, just to keep the spore is on board, but not necessarily at a full dose.

That's a maintenance thing. A lot of people do anyway. I think it can make a lot sense doing that. And then you can always take vital spores if there's a significant upset in the gut or if you have to resort to an antibiotic, and the same could be said about the back on track. But ultimately, it's going to be a trial and error thing. You've got to decide what works best for you. No harm in taking them both, but you wouldn't need to take back-on-track with vital sports. It's either or with that. and you may want to take the GLP-1 metabolic optimizer along with back on track or vital spores.

You'll just have to give it a shot and see how your body responds. So, as I said, all of these products are products that I'm looking at on a regular basis. All of my products, are the products I am looking out on on regular bases. I have some really excellent news on the tail of some crappy news that i want share with you really quick before I wrap up this show. The crappy new is my contract manufacturer that used for Well, over 15 years now, no over 20 years. Now it has frankly started failing me.

And you may have noticed, I haven't been able to get the ultimate vitality multi. I've been out of it longer than I'd ever been. Out of. It. Haven't. Been. Able. To. Get. Several. Of. My. Formulas. my. D. Three. K. Two. High. Potency. Was. Hard. to. get. i'm. Struggling. Getting. Enough. Back. On. Tract. In. Stock. There's. a. Lot. of things. and. it. All. Has. t. Do. With. Problems. with. What's happening with my contract manufacturer. They're not quality issues. The quality of the products has always been excellent from this company, but what's happened is the reliability has gone down.

Manufacturing Updates and Closing Remarks 48:40

They've had major change over. And frankly, I think what happening is we're actually having some financial issues, they won't tell me that, But I'm telling you that. I spend a lot of time going to trade shows and visiting with, um, companies that make products and at the size of business that I have, uh, many contract manufacturers frankly won't work with me. They want the minimums that they need. I can't match now, hopefully as this show grows, vitality, nutrition expands, all that kind of stuff that will be put behind us.

But when I was in Anaheim. in March, and this is me just being really, really transparent with you now. When I was in Anaheim in march, I found a new company. They're not here in Utah, like my current one is, but they are in the United States, thankfully, And they promised all the right things when I talked to them. And, they're willing to do the things that I need them to, do at the size of company that, have with the, size runs that i can do. And I've already started ordering from them and everything is looking incredible.

Prices will not be going up, which is fantastic. Delivery should be quicker and more efficient than what I had before. And they have all the right certifications. In fact, they additional certications that my current contract manufacturer does not have. Now there's no guarantees because I'm not, I have yet to receive my first batch from him. My first patch of products will be back on track here in a little bit. Actually, probably by the time this show airs back on track from them, we'll have arrived or it'll be very close to that.

But I've already sent other orders into them. Everything is looking excellent. And I think it's going to smooth out the issues that we've had. So I want to apologize to you for being unreliable of late on a few of our formulas. I'm going to say this and it's, I don't know, hopefully it doesn't sound disingenuous. I dunno how else to put it. It's not our fault. Sometimes it has been our faults. sometimes I've ordered too late. uh, sometimes i've made a change to a formula too, late in the game, and then it gets held up for a few weeks and we're out of a product that happens.

This time, that's not the case. We have been doing our best. There are literally 14 purchase orders outstanding with my current contract manufacturer as I'm recording this show that have not been filled. Every single one of them is behind. And so It is business, it is what it, is it a little on the stressful side, and I'll tell you, I've never taken more anxiety release in my entire life. And that is an absolute truth. Although I'm laughing as I telling you that it has been driving me More than a little crazy.

But by the time this episode airs, when you're actually listening to this, I think everything is going to have smoothed out. I ask you for your patience and I thank you, for the patience that you've already shown. And I will continue to do everything that I can with my team to deliver the best content to you through this podcast and the Best Formulas to You through our formula development. and our manufacturing team. Thank you so much for listening to me. thank you for sharing this podcast.Thank you.

For supporting our family business in bountiful and South Ogden and online if you have questions call us 801-292-6662 visit us in Bountful or South ogden or online at vitalitynutrition.com and if You haven't checked it out on YouTube yet this show is over there now too. It's an easy show to share there especially for people that are a little not into podcasts. For whatever reason, YouTube shows sometimes do a bit better. We're over there now and I'd love to have you there liking, sharing, commenting, all that kind of stuff.

Thank you so much. My name is Jared St. Clair and this has been Vitality Radio. Thanks for listening to the Vitaly Radio podcast. If this episode helped you, follow the show, share it with someone and explore trusted education and resources at vitalitynutrition.com. See you next time. Hello, everyone. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode of Vitality Radio. Just a reminder that this podcast is for educational purposes only. This podcast has not been evaluated by the FDA. Thank you.