Common Probiotic Myths #5

Myth #5:

Having some live microbes in a product makes it a probiotic.

The World Health Organization defines a probiotic as: “live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host.” This definition has. been amended to say that the microbes must be of strains shown to have probiotic characteristics.

Thus it is not enough to say that a product has some live microbes and is therefore a probiotic, it must be shown that there are sufficient numbers of microbes with proven probiotic characteristics before a product can be accurately described as a probiotic.