Probiotics?
Posted Monday, October 10, 2011 at 1:56 PM

One of my family members, now eating a plant-based diet, has been told by her doctor to take probiotics.

There seem to be vegan probiotics sources out there, but I don't know which of them are good. When I try to get info via search engines, much of it seems very sales-related.

So I thought I'd turn to these very helpful boards (apologies if this discussion has happened already and I missed it) to see where to go to find out about vegan probiotics? Websites? Specific products?

Also, this is the info sent to me by family member for verification:

Probiotics occur in cultured (of which "fermented" is one kind) foods.

As these are _LIVE_ cultures, they cannot be cooked -- it kills the probiotics.

I believe "no cooking" includes "pasteurization," though I _think_ pasteurized yogurt gets re-innoculated with probiotic strains. I presume the same could be (and is) done with other products, but my preliminary researches haven't yet found those products.

Given that these are live/cultured foods, shoppers usually get them out of the refrigerated section.

There are also supplements (pills, and liquids that are supposedly better than the pills (which I don't doubt -- I wonder that shelf-stable probiotic pills are even
POSSIBLE!) ) that can be taken, just like vitamins and other supplements. I presume that getting probiotics from foods (rather than supplements) is a superior way to get their value, as it is with most nutritients.

In addition to various dairy products (the classic is yogurt & similar), you can probiotics from:
- Most soy/almond/etc yogurts
- Many soy/almond/etc cheeses
- Sauerkraut, kimchee, etc.
- Apple cider (raw/unpasteurized) *
- Miso *
- Some juices and salad-dressings are probiotic; these tend to be expensive
specialty products.

* Vinegar and Miso are "ingredients" but you cannot "cook" with them: as noted
above, it kills the probiotic cultures. These must be added AFTER removing from heat.

This all fits with what I think I know, but I wanted to check because we have some nutritional experts up here.

(And Susan, if you can and would weigh in, I'd be very grateful!)

thanks!

Sarah

Animals-Planet-Health