• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of, and finding treatments for, complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Success from Probiotics

Rufous McKinney

Senior Member
Messages
13,489
It's probably difficult for a strain that prefers the colon to survive our digestive system to reach that far
that seems logical and I'd agree....but

if we can ONLY obtain a probiotic from another human's colon, lips, or toes......I'm having trouble grasping that.


Meanwhile, figure ducks, scarfing down on all that submerged vegetation and algae, are in fact on a diet of rotifers and other microinvertebrates.
 

Rufous McKinney

Senior Member
Messages
13,489
Googling Says:

"Soil-based probiotics are bacteria naturally found in the earth. One of the most common types of soil-based probiotics (bacillus) has been used to ferment foods for hundreds of years. If you've tried other types of probiotics and they haven't worked for you, soil-based probiotics might be worth a go."

so without spending my day on this topic: these organisms may be able to live in more than one type of environment. Not just our guts.

Definitely the saurkrat critter just blows in. Its the funnest lab in microbiology.
 

Wishful

Senior Member
Messages
5,994
Location
Alberta
Bacteria live anywhere they can survive and reproduce, so we're constantly ingesting bacteria. The issue is which can survive travel (through air, or on a surface or in something) into our mouth opening (or nose), and then survive until it reaches hospitable conditions for it. I'm guessing that a newborn's digestive system is less hostile to bacteria than mature ones, to allow colonic strains to survive the trip.

Some bacteria might enter from the other end. That's not what I'd consider a bacteria-tight seal.
 

MaximilianKohler

Senior Member
Messages
111
An issue that I am curious about is: where do natural probiotics actually come from?
Per the guide I linked earlier, most come from environmental sources like fermented foods. A smaller amount come from humans.

I often just pull one up and wipe (most of) the soil off and just munch.
I wouldn't recommend that

I recently read something about how fruits and vegetables can add new bacterial strains to our microbiome.
It doesn't seem to be a significant amount.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Wishful

Senior Member
Messages
5,994
Location
Alberta
It doesn't seem to be a significant amount.
I didn't say it was significant; just that we can be colonized that way. You can acquire bacteria from fermented foods, but those bacteria are also floating around in the air, landing in your mouth and being swallowed. They probably won't survive to reach the colon, but what if you're chewing some food that protects it on its journey?
 

Wishful

Senior Member
Messages
5,994
Location
Alberta
I was thinking about the possibility of acquiring new strain from the other end of the digestive tract. If you had some philosophical rejection of swallowing poo pills or poo suppositories, what about soaking in a bath enriched with bacteria, or a mud bath where the organic-rich mud had been kept warm and blocked from oxygen?
 
Back