A truly effective probiotic that you can count on to have beneficial effects can be difficult to find. With so many probiotics claiming to do this and that while using words like “researched” or “proven” the lines between purely marketing and actual scientific proof are blurry. As a simple guide, effective probiotics make claims that other questionable probiotics frankly cannot. Effective probiotics will have proof in the form of human clinical trials and offer researched specific strains in the proper combined balance and dosing while questionable probiotics may use researched species, not strains, that have never been rigorously tested in human clinical trials or have any proof of efficacy for their particular blend of bacteria. Saying all strains in a species have the same effect is similar to saying a German Shepherd and Chihuahua behave in the same way. It’s important that the right strains are brought together to make a difference. ¹