A beneficial balance of live bacteria in your body helps you maintain normal digestion, supporting your intestines as they break down food and absorb the nutrients you need to fight off illness and build physical and mental energy.
Probiotics live primarily in your gastrointestinal tract, which has a combination of helpful microbes that exist naturally in your body alongside harmful bacteria, constantly fighting for dominance.
One of the best ways to improve gut health is by taking a daily probiotic supplement. But with so many gut health supplements available online and in your local stores, picking the best probiotic supplement can feel overwhelming.
To help you decide, we’ve reviewed the best probiotics on the market. Each dietary supplement below was evaluated on a variety of factors including gut health benefits, CFU count, type of probiotic strains, user reviews, and price.
10 Best Probiotic Supplements for Gut Health
- YourBiology (Best for women)
- Biotics 8 (Best for men)
- 1MD Complete Probiotics Platinum
- VitaPost Probiotic 40-Billion
- BioTRUST Pro-X10
- Lactobacillus rhamnosus
- Bifidobacterium bifidum
- Culturelle Digestive Health Daily Probiotic
- Lactobacillus casei
- Physician’s Choice Probiotics 60-billion CFU
Review of the Top Gut Health Supplements of 2024
#1. YourBiology: Best Probiotic Supplement for Women
YourBiology targets women’s gut health with probiotics that benefit bloating, weight management, and vaginal health. The gut+ supplement has four live strains of probiotics with 40 billion colony-forming units (CFUs), and a month’s supply costs $59.
The health benefits of YourBiology:
- Lowers stress
- Eliminates bloating
- Helps weight loss
- Improves skin health
- Treats digestion issues
- Improves vaginal health
YourBiology addresses the concern that probiotics won’t reach your gut with its patented technology that shields the bacteria from stomach acid until it reaches your small intestine. MAKtrek® Bipass Technology uses brown seaweed to protect the supplement as it travels to your gut, ensuring that you receive the benefits of the probiotics.
The patented probiotic strain in the YourBiology supplement includes Lactobacillus acidophilus, which helps balance vaginal flora and reduces symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. L. paracasei promotes good skin health and strengthens your body’s immunity, and both Bifidobacterium lactis and L. plantarum facilitate healthy bowel movements.
YourBiology also includes a natural prebiotic fiber to fuel the healthy bacteria provided by the supplement. The formula is gluten-free, non-GMO, soy-free, and dairy-free.
With the four strains working together, Probiology offers a range of health-boosting effects. The formula, made by women for women, improves mental health, energy levels, immunity, weight regulation, skin health, and digestion.
You may start to see benefits such as better digestion, mood, and skin from the YourBiology gut+ supplement within two weeks. After a month, you might notice easier concentration, regular bowel movements, and faster metabolism. After taking gut+ for three months, your overall physical and mental health could be significantly better.
Click Here for the Lowest Price on YourBiology
#2. Biotics 8: Best Probiotic for Men
Biotics 8 offers a men’s probiotic formula for overall gut health. The fast-acting ingredients work to provide benefits such as:
- Good digestion.
- No gas and bloating.
- Stronger immune system.
- Higher energy levels.
A month’s supply costs $59, but the popular buy-two, get-one-free deal gives you three months of probiotics for $119. This high-performance supplement has 10 strains of probiotics with 20 billion CFUs, including prebiotics to bolster the supplement, digestive enzymes, healthy amounts of vitamin D, and fiber for good digestive health.
The Biotics 8 formula can support your digestion by helping to break down carbs, fat, protein, and sugars. It also eliminates the dreaded “food coma” after overeating, which can help you from feeling bloated.
Not only will you experience better digestion, but your immune system will get stronger, and you’re less likely to get sick while taking the Biotics 8 supplement. The probiotics in this product promote overall mood and well-being, giving you a burst of energy to get through each day.
The instructions for Biotics 8 recommend starting with one or two capsules daily, letting your gut adjust as it’s flooded with healthy bacteria. After a few days, take three pills a day to get the full benefits of a well-balanced gut.
Click Here for the Lowest Price on Biotics 8
#3. 1MD Complete Probiotics Platinum: Good Supplement for Digestive Health
1MD Complete Probiotics Platinum is a well-rounded supplement that supports digestive and immune function. It contains 51 billion CFUs and has eleven potent strains, encouraging the microbial balance of your digestive tract and reinforcing your immune system.
The Complete Probiotics Platinum supplement helps with:
- Overall digestive and immune health
- Gas, bloating, and indigestion
- Nutrient absorption
- Bowel movements
The delayed-release capsules ensure that the healthy probiotics make it to your intestines instead of melting away in stomach acid. The intestines are the home of the microorganisms that keep your body healthy and balanced, and the 1MD supplement works its way down to that microbiome to bring in more beneficial bacteria.
Dr. David Kahana, a gastroenterologist, endorses 1MD Complete Probiotics Platinum for its potent strains and numerous colony-forming units. He also commends 1MD for including a rich dosage of Nutraflora prebiotic fiber that fuels the cultures so they can work hard to balance your digestive system.
The doctor recommends the supplement to his patients who come to him with intestinal health concerns, considering 1MD Complete Probiotics Platinum to be the most well-rounded probiotic supplement available.
1MD assures that the supplement has no unnecessary fillers or additives. It’s dairy-free, non-GMO, gluten-free, soy-free, and vegetarian-safe. People with common allergies can feel confident taking the supplement, as it contains no peanuts, wheat, or shellfish.
Besides the prebiotic and eleven probiotic strains, the ingredients include:
- Vegetable cellulose capsule.
- Rice flour.
- Silica.
The official site shows that 97% of users prefer Complete Probiotics Platinum over every other probiotic supplement they have tried. One bottle costs $49, but 1MD offers money-saving deals if you bundle multiple bottles or sign up for the company’s subscription service.
#4. VitaPost Probiotic 40-Billion: Reputable Probiotic Brand with Good Reviews
Probiotic 40-Billion gets its name from the 40 billion CFUs per two capsules (the recommended daily dose) of the supplement. It has four strains, carefully chosen for their benefits, such as:
- Supporting immunity.
- Facilitating healthy digestion.
- Balancing your gut with higher levels of good bacteria.
An FDA-registered U.S. facility manufactures Probiotic 40-Billion, and the ingredients are gluten-free and do not contain common allergens. However, the product contains leucine, an ingredient sourced from animals, and is not a vegetarian product.
The four strains included in Probiotic 40-Billion are:
- Lactobacillus acidophilus: helps lactic acid production, combating pathogenic bacteria.
- Bifidobacterium lactis: supports immunity.
- Lactobacillus plantarum: contains antioxidants and strengthens your intestinal walls.
- Lactobacillus paracasei: promotes a healthy balance of gut bacteria.
Probiotic 40-Billion allows you to get a daily dose of healthy bacteria that keeps your digestive tract well-balanced and supports your overall physical health. The formula can help maintain your immune system, improve skin health, replenish good bacteria, and support digestive functions.
The instructions recommend two capsules daily, one in the morning and one in the evening, to get the full benefits of the probiotic supplement. It can be taken with a meal or on an empty stomach.
The supplement has thousands of customer reviews, with many people praising the supplement’s beneficial effects on their health and its affordable price. Probiotic 40-Billion costs $34 for one bottle containing 60 capsules, or 30 doses, which makes it one of the cheapest options on the market. The product’s most popular deal gets you three bottles plus one free for only $97.
#5. BioTrust Pro-X10: Best Prebiotic and Probiotic Combination
BioTrust’s Pro-X10 probiotic supplement contains five probiotic blends with four billion CFUs. It has a unique addition of Bacillus subtilis, a soil-based probiotic resistant to heat and acid, with one billion CFUs. Its formula is synbiotic, meaning it contains prebiotics that provide the supplement’s robust bacteria with nutrients to ensure they thrive on their way to your intestines.
The health benefits of Pro-X10 include:
- Promotes a well-balanced gut
- Supports the digestive tract
- Increases immunity
Research shows that only 10% to 25% of probiotics reach the intestines, and to combat this, Pro-X10 uses microencapsulation technology to protect the bacteria with an acid-resistant coating. The protective technology ensures that the supplement passes through the acid in your stomach to get to your gut, where it starts working to boost your digestive and immune health.
Pro-X10’s six-strain formula and 10 billion CFUs provide broad-spectrum support for a healthy digestive tract and immune system. Its advanced prebiotic, PreforPro, is a fast-acting, non-fiber food source that supports the growth of the supplement’s probiotic bacteria.
The manufacturer recommends taking two capsules daily, one with breakfast and one with dinner. The probiotic supplement should be refrigerated after opening to maintain its potency. The ingredients in Pro-X10 are gluten-free and do not contain allergens, but the facility that manufactures the supplement also processes dairy, eggs, wheat, and soy.
BioTrust’s Pro-X10 supplement costs $49 per bottle, containing 60 capsules or 30 daily doses. Buying three bottles saves you 10% off the regular price, and buying six bottles saves you 20%. If you’re unhappy with the results after taking the supplements, BioTrust offers a 60-day money-back guarantee, even on empty bottles.
What Are Probiotics?
Our body is a living ecosystem supporting trillions of tiny microbes, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Bacteria have a reputation for making you sick, probably because most people grew up with their parents telling them to wash their hands before eating to avoid harmful viruses and bacteria.
While it’s true that some bacteria can cause illness, not all of them are harmful to you. Your body is constantly maintaining a balance between good and bad bacteria. When you get sick, large amounts of bad bacteria enter your body’s ecosystem and throw off that balance.
Probiotics are live microorganisms, a mixture of bacteria or yeasts, that live in parts of the body such as the gut, mouth, urinary tract, skin, vagina, and lungs. Their function is to help restore your body’s balance by reducing bad bacteria, supporting your immune system, and aiding essential processes in your body.
Probiotic strains exist inside of you naturally, and you can maintain healthy levels by eating fiber-rich or fermented foods. You can also boost your levels of beneficial bacteria with food that contains lots of probiotics, such as:
- Yogurt
- Kimchi
- Sauerkraut
- Tempeh
- Kombucha
- Buttermilk
- Pickles
What Are Probiotic Supplements?
Probiotic supplements contain large amounts of one or more probiotic strains, which you can take as a pill, powder, food, or liquid. The most common probiotic strains found in gut health supplements are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, the two primary types of beneficial bacteria found in the gut.
Probiotics and gut health supplements are not all the same. Each probiotic supplement contains either one specific probiotic strain or multiple strains. The different probiotic strains have different benefits, such as improving digestive health, helping with weight loss, or strengthening cardiovascular health.
How Do Probiotic Supplements Work?
When you take raw probiotics as dietary supplements, you introduce large quantities of healthy bacteria into your gut. As the probiotics grow, they steal nutrients from bad bacteria, preventing their adverse effects while increasing the beneficial bacteria in your system. Good bacteria help support immune health, weight regulation, and digestive health.
Manufacturers create supplements with various combinations of probiotic strains to support general or specific health concerns. Some supplements help immune function, while others might focus on overall digestive health.
How We Ranked the Most Effective Probiotic Supplements
Our criteria for the best probiotic supplements include the strain, dosage, price, and customer reviews. Not all probiotics are effective; some lack potency or struggle to survive until they reach your gut. We’ve chosen the best dietary supplements with significant health benefits based on the factors below.
Probiotic Strains
There are numerous strains of probiotics that provide various benefits. Some gut health pills promote immune health, and others focus on a healthy digestive system. The gut supplements that incorporate multiple robust strains in their supplements offer the most well-rounded health benefits.
Dosage
While many of the top probiotic brands include at least one beneficial probiotic strain in their products, the best probiotic supplements have high doses of potent bacteria. The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics recommends a minimum of one billion colony forming units (CFUs).
CFUs are the number of live microorganisms contained in the supplement, and the more there are, the more useful the probiotics are in supporting your digestive system. High CFUs are a good indicator of a supplement’s potency, but they do not guarantee the quality of the product.
Price per Serving
The price of probiotics ranges from cheap to wallet-draining. The highest quality probiotics for gut health are typically the most expensive, but be wary of manufacturers that offer probiotics at a high cost with few useful ingredients to back it up.
However, that doesn’t mean that affordable probiotics are less beneficial. Some brands offer excellent probiotic supplements containing multiple strains and large quantities of CFUs at a price that most people can easily afford.
User Reviews
Reading customer reviews is the best way to determine how effective a probiotic supplement is. For most probiotics, you can find hundreds or thousands of consumer comments detailing their experiences with the product.
It’s a good idea to look for reviews from people who have been taking the probiotic for a few months, as many gut health supplements can take up to three months to start showing significant differences in digestive and immune health.
Benefits of Probiotic Supplements
Most probiotic supplements focus on reducing bad bacteria in your gut to improve digestion and overall intestinal health. The most popular probiotic strains are those you can find in your body naturally, and supplements help you get more of the bacteria that benefit your health.
Eating foods that are naturally abundant in probiotics, like kimchi and yogurt, can give you that needed boost of good bacteria in your gut. However, not everyone has the time or resources to implement a daily serving of probiotics into their diet through food.
Probiotic supplements enable even the busiest people to get healthy bacteria into their bodies, helping them break down the foods they eat and get the nutrients they need to thrive.
Research suggests that probiotic supplements can benefit your body in the following ways:
Improve Symptoms of Digestive Disorders
Many people cope with IBS and IBD, enduring frequent digestive issues and struggling to know what’s safe to eat. Probiotic supplements, especially those with the Lactobacillus acidophilus strain, can help treat symptoms like bloating, abdominal pain, and poor digestion.
Not all probiotics help with these medical conditions, so it’s essential to review the product information to see what probiotics are in the supplement and if they can help with the symptoms of IBS or IBD.
Help With Diarrhea and Constipation
When there are too many harmful bacteria in our gut, they can cause severe digestive issues. Probiotics with a helpful strain like L. rhamnosus can treat diarrhea caused by viruses or antibiotic-associated diarrhea. The B. lactis strain may help clear up constipation.
Benefit Women’s Health
Like the gut, the vagina is a balanced ecosystem full of different bacteria. Probiotics can help maintain a healthy environment and prevent bacterial vaginosis and yeast infections. For women who get frequent urinary tract infections (UTIs), probiotics such as Lactobacillus rhamnosus can help reduce them.
Popular supplements like the Culturelle daily probiotic are for men and women, but you can find probiotics that are made specifically for women.
Treat Certain Mood Disorders
According to Dallasnews.com, people who suffer from digestive disorders such as IBS also develop mood disorders like depression and anxiety. There seems to be a close link between your gut and your brain.
While studies are still underway to find out how meaningful that link is, observations have shown that probiotic supplements can significantly impact your mood. It’s speculated that improving the overall balance of your gut, which produces the majority of serotonin in your body, can treat mood disorders.
Improve Immune Health
Your digestive system plays the leading role in your immune processes. It filters toxins, absorbs nutrients, and defends your body from harmful pathogens. Certain probiotics enhance the function of your gut, boosting your immune system. Also, the more healthy bacteria there are in your body, the less room there is for bad bacteria.
How to Choose a Good Gut Health Supplement
Research on good probiotics can sometimes be indeterminate, and the benefits are hard to pin down for the general population. This is because everyone has a wholly unique micro-ecosystem in their body, determined at birth by their DNA, containing different combinations of bacteria from one person to the next.
While certain probiotics may turn one person’s life around, another person might experience no effect. It’s essential to find the probiotic that works with your body and addresses your specific needs.
To help you determine the best probiotic supplement for you, we’ll discuss several factors to consider when evaluating each product.
Brand
The formula, the shelf life, and the probiotic’s effectiveness depend heavily on the manufacturer. It’s critical to look for trusted brands endorsed by physicians to find trusted, beneficial dietary supplements.
Some brands divulge more scientific research behind their product, making them more trustworthy. Also, many manufacturers offer money-back guarantees if you aren’t getting any benefits from their probiotic.
The brand will also determine how much you’ll pay for the probiotic supplement. Quality brands are expensive, but you may find more affordable alternatives with similar or equal effects.
Probiotic Strain
Probiotics are not all working toward the same purpose. Certain strains help treat specific conditions and symptoms but might not be as helpful for others.
If you’re looking for overall digestive health improvements, search for probiotics with multiple strains from the Lactobacillus category. It’s a type of bacteria that’s good for balancing your gut and improving digestion.
Most trustworthy probiotics list the strains included in the formula, detailing their benefits to help you decide if it’s right for your needs.
CFUs
It’s essential to look for probiotics with at least one million CFUs. Research indicates that this amount is the minimum needed to affect your body’s bacterial balance.
More CFUs mean there’s a higher chance that a large enough amount of probiotics will survive the journey to your gut and have an opportunity to grow. There also needs to be enough good bacteria to outweigh the bad, cutting down on the negative effects your body experiences when it’s out of balance.
Prebiotics also support probiotics on their mission, keeping them alive and nourished as they travel through your body. The best probiotic supplements contain this beneficial fiber.
Storage and Shelf Life
Probiotics are sensitive to heat and can lose their potency when stored incorrectly. Some probiotic supplements require you to keep them in the fridge after opening them, so it’s critical to check the instructions when you start taking a new supplement.
Even if a product doesn’t require refrigeration, you should store your probiotics in a cool, dry place to maximize their shelf life. This is especially important when buying products in bulk, which many brands offer as a money-saving strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions about Probiotic Supplements
If you still have questions, we’ve got answers that might be helpful to you.
Is there a difference between prebiotics and probiotics?
While probiotics are live microorganisms, prebiotics are fuel for the good bacteria in your gut. Prebiotics are complex carbohydrates such as inulin and pectin, often combined with probiotic supplements to feed beneficial bacteria.
When a supplement has probiotics and prebiotics together, it has what’s known as a synbiotic formula. Many brands include prebiotics to ensure that the healthy bacteria in their product have enough nutrients to survive while they work their way through your body.
Are there any side effects with probiotic supplements?
Side effects of probiotic supplements include bloating, excess bacterial growth, and infection. Individuals with a weakened immune system due to severe illness or recent surgery are the most likely to experience side effects. It’s best to consult with your primary care physician before introducing probiotics to your diet.
Some people might experience gas, bloating, or digestive problems when they start taking probiotics for the first time. As your gut floods with new, healthy bacteria, the balance in your body is changing, and it needs time to adapt to the presence of the probiotics. Symptoms usually last a short time until you start seeing the supplement’s benefits.
How much do good probiotic brands cost?
The price of probiotics varies from brand to brand, potentially ranging from $34 to $79 a bottle. Higher cost does not necessarily mean the probiotics are more effective. It’s essential to consider factors like probiotic strains and colony-forming units to determine the quality of a probiotic supplement.
Which probiotic strain is the best for gut health?
The most common types of probiotics are Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus. Each subtype of these genera has different effects on the body, and choosing which one is most effective for you depends on your health concerns. For example, Bifidobacteria animalis aids digestion and combats bad bacteria from foods.
Researching a product’s strain and its effects before buying it ensures that you choose a probiotic that works for you.
When is the best time to take gut health supplements?
For the best results, you should take one dose of probiotics daily, and it should be at the same time every day. While most manufacturers of probiotic supplements instruct you to take one pill a day, some brands require two to three capsules to reach the daily dose.
Some brands recommend taking their supplement on an empty stomach, while others suggest taking it with a meal. Research is unclear on which method is the most effective.
The effects of probiotics can take months to reach full swing, so it’s important to keep taking the supplements daily. There can be an adjustment period in the beginning as your gut adapts to the new bacteria, but symptoms tend to disappear after a few days.
How do I know if I can benefit from probiotic pills?
Probiotics can improve vitamin production, mood, digestion, and immune health. The following examples are signs that you could benefit from probiotics:
- You are having issues with digestion
- You are getting sick often
- You are struggling with a mood disorder
- You have food poisoning
- You have antibiotic-associated diarrhea
- You have skin problems like acne or eczema
- You have a condition such as IBS or ulcerative colitis
Many people take formulated probiotics for specific medical conditions, often recommended by their doctor as a part of an integrative health program. Probiotics can help you maintain good digestion and improve gut health while strengthening your immune system and keeping you from getting sick.
Who should NOT take probiotic supplements?
People with compromised immune systems should not take probiotics as they are at higher risk of infection. These people include children and adults with severe illnesses and those who have recently undergone surgery.
If you have allergies, always check the ingredients of a product before consuming it. Even if the product does not contain allergens, the manufacturer may have used a facility that processes things like dairy, wheat, or eggs.
How long does it take for probiotics to work?
It depends on the person and the conditions that the probiotics are treating. For frequent diarrhea or antibiotic-associated diarrhea, probiotic supplements can make a difference within two days. For chronic ailments such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), it may take eight weeks or more for the benefits to become noticeable.
After three months, most probiotic supplements claim noticeable improvements in immunity and gut health.
Can probiotic supplements help with weight loss?
Studies show that specific probiotics might affect weight loss and regulation by doing the following:
- Reducing the calories that your body absorbs from food
- Increasing appetite-reducing hormone levels
- Increasing levels of fat-regulating proteins
Some studies have found that certain strains in the Lactobacillus family can reduce body fat. Not all strains affect weight loss, so it’s vital to research the effects before taking a probiotic supplement.
Final Thoughts on Digestive Health Supplements
Probiotics are becoming increasingly popular for their many health benefits, but choosing the right one among all the emerging products can be challenging. You have to consider the differences in formulated probiotics, including the bacterial strains, the CFUs, and additional ingredients that affect the supplement’s performance.
Each brand has a unique recipe for addressing digestion, immune function, energy levels, etc. You can find the best probiotics for you by determining which products focus on your specific needs.
Researchers are still conducting studies on all the beneficial effects of probiotics. Still, doctors often recommend these bacteria to treat many different medical conditions, especially for patients with poor digestive health and immunity.
We created this list of the best probiotics, including essential information on probiotics, to give you a head start in choosing a product that makes you feel happy and healthy.
Summary of the Top Recommended Probiotics for a Healthy Gut
- YourBiology (Best for women)
- Biotics 8 (Best for men)
- 1MD Complete Probiotics Platinum
- VitaPost Probiotic 40-Billion
- BioTRUST Pro-X10
- Lactobacillus rhamnosus
- Bifidobacterium bifidum
- Culturelle Digestive Health Daily Probiotic
- Lactobacillus casei
- Physician’s Choice Probiotics 60-billion CFU
