Today, we continue your gut health education by answering this question…

When's the Best Time to Take Probiotics?

So, you’ve got your probiotic supplements. You’re excited to start your journey to a healthier, happier you. And you’re looking at the bottle thinking…well, what now? Do I take them with food? On an empty stomach? What time of day is best? The short answer? First thing in the morning before food, with a full glass of water. Are There Side Effects if I Take Probiotics Late in the Day/Not with Food? Diet is the #1 Factor in Good Gut Health Tips to Maximize the Health Benefits of Probiotics LoveBug Probiotics Has You Covered There’s a reason for that, and it’s linked to our delivery technology. Here’s the scoop with probiotics: they’re food for your microbiome, which is located in your lower GI tract. In order to be effective, they need to bypass the harsh, acidic environment of your stomach. Standard veggie capsules are quickly dissolved by your stomach acid, and the majority of beneficial bacteria is then killed off before it reaches its desired location. It takes a certain amount of each strain, paired with a proper delivery technology to get the probiotics past the stomach acid barrier and have an impact on your gut health. Because of this, we’ve designed our probiotic tablets to have 15x more survivability than standard veggie capsules. By taking your daily probiotic with a full glass of water, you help dilute the stomach acids. Hence, the absolute best time to take probiotics is also shortly before food, because the food offers support for the living organisms while they make their way through your gastrointestinal tract to your intestines.

Are There Side Effects if I Take Probiotics Late in the Day/Not with Food

It happens to us all. Life gets crazy and sometimes our daily routines get thrown out of whack—including forgetting to take our probiotics when we usually do. So you might be wondering at this point if it is better to still take your probiotics later in the day or even at night before bed/after dinner or if you should just skip that day entirely. Here's the answer. You should take your probiotics every day for them to get the greatest benefit from them. The benefits of probiotics are cumulative. If you usually take them in the morning before breakfast and your routine gets thrown off, you can take them before lunch or dinner. Again, the best time to take probiotic supplements is shortly before food. Your food feeds the bugs and also creates a more hospitable environment for them to survive and multiply. That's because your stomach has powerful acids, and according to Dr. Zembroski, during a fasting state (when your stomach is empty), your stomach has a lower pH, making for a highly acidic environment. Introducing food lowers the stomach's pH, creating a buffering system for those beneficial microbes as they pass through your GI tract, allowing higher numbers to reach your large intestine. If your probiotics are not working and you’re not sure why, check out our post, Why Your Probiotic Isn’t Working, for more answers.  

Diet is the #1 Factor in Good Gut Health

Your gut flora is made up of good bacteria and bad bacteria. When your gut is off balance, this can result in a range of digestive issues such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), irregularity, and a variety of other disruptions to your health. Probiotics help get your gut bacteria back in balance and work to clear up these health issues. Keep in mind though, while probiotics are wonderful, they are meant as an extra layer of support. Your first line of defense is your diet. Consume foods that support your digestive system and health as a whole, and avoid those foods which are detrimental to your gut health, such as highly processed and sugar-laden foods. Some great additions to your diet are fermented foods such as kefir, buttermilk, miso, sauerkraut, tempeh, kimchi, and kombucha, as they naturally has probiotic bacteria. Organic foods are also beneficial for your gut because consuming them over their non-organic counterparts, helps you avoid taking in unwanted antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, and other toxins. Among causing damage to your gut, these chemicals and additives can also wreak havoc on your overall health.

Tips to Maximize the Health Benefits of Probiotics

  • Take your probiotics in the morning, 15-30 minutes before food. You want to take them before food so they don’t get stuck in the stomach behind the food as they make their way down to your intestines where they do their best work.
  • Drink a glass of filtered water first. Your stomach will be highly acidic first thing in the morning, so the water helps to dilute the acid and help the good bugs survive.
Filtered water works best because tap water has chlorine added to kill harmful bacteria in water…but you guessed it, it kills off the healthy bacteria as well. One of the best things about LoveBug probiotics is that all of our products are made with patented Bio-tract® technology, which offers controlled release of active ingredients. This gives our probiotics 15x more survivability than capsules. Timing becomes trickier with probiotics that come in capsule form because with those, it’s hard to optimize the good bugs survival rate past your harsh stomach acid to the digestive tract.

Luckily, LoveBug Probiotics Has You Covered

Our probiotics allow beneficial bacteria to be released deep inside your GI tract over an 8-10 hour period. That’s why you feel so good all day long after you take them. In addition to the digestive health benefits, as an added bonus, many studies have suggested a variety of other benefits to daily probiotic supplements, including metabolism support (key for any weight loss/maintenance regimen!), increased energy levels, more even-keeled mood, immune system support, anti-inflammatory effects, fending off UTI and yeast infections, pre/post-natal support, and more.