The Taste of LiveBrew

LiveBrew is not a soft drink. LiveBrew contains no sweetener, flavours, or other additives.

LiveBrew contains billions of live, active probiotic lactobacilli and the beneficial metabolites (organic acids mostly) produced by those microbes. These metabolites are very good for your gut but they do have tastes and odours that some people find a bit challenging.

Taste and smell preferences vary widely and can be affected by genetic factors. Many users find the taste of LiveBrew to be pleasant or at least tolerable. Some people, however, are especially sensitive to butyrate (butyric acid) one of the most beneficial microbial metabolites in LiveBrew. For these people, a straight shot of LiveBrew is too much to handle.

Fortunately, it is quite easy to deal with any taste concerns. LiveBrew may be diluted in water or added to juice, smoothies, or any other cool liquid. Do not add to hot beverages as this will kill the good microbes. We have had a number of parents of kids with ASD report that using a smoothie worked very well, even in kids with significant taste/eating issues. 

LiveBrew is designed to be the very best probiotic product that we can make for you. To maintain high viability and efficacy, we must manufacture LiveBrew in a way that keeps the microbes happy in the bottle. This means that LiveBrew will always be something more of a tonic than a soft drink. 

Latest research on Gut Microbiome/Host Interactions Mediated by Metabolites

“The gut microbiota contributes to host physiology through the production of a myriad of metabolites. These metabolites exert their effects within the host as signalling molecules and substrates for metabolic reactions. Although the study of host–microbiota interactions remains challenging due to the high degree of crosstalk both within and between kingdoms, metabolite-focused research has identified multiple actionable microbial targets that are relevant for host health.

Metabolites, as the functional output of combined host and microorganism interactions, provide a snapshot in time of an extraordinarily complex multi-organism system. Although substantial work remains towards understanding host–microbiota interactions and the underlying mechanisms, we review the current state of knowledge for each of the major classes of microbial metabolites with emphasis on clinical and translational research implications.” (Krautkramer et. al., 2021)

What does that even mean?

It means several things;

• Our ability to describe what is in the gut is improving
• Our understanding of what is happening, ecologically, in the gut is improving
• Our understanding of the myriad interactions between organisms in the gut (including the host) is very incomplete
• We still have a long way to go before we can predict the effects of adding microbes or metabolites to the gut.

What we do know is that many people report improvements in gut comfort and function when they take LiveBrew, NZ’s only fresh, live and active probiotic.

Krautkramer, K.A., Fan, J. & Bäckhed, F. Gut microbial metabolites as multi-kingdom intermediates. Nat Rev Microbiol 19, 77–94 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-020-0438-4