Research today suggests the vast benefits of probiotics can be more specifically defined based on the probiotic strain in question. At The Coconut Cult, our Probiotic Coconut Yogurt contains a very special blend of 16 advanced strains of probiotics that our founder, Noah, used to not only to heal himself, but also his friends and family. Over the course of 4 blogs we are going to showcase each strain, and fill you in on what exactly they’re known to help with! For our first post we are going to focus on L. Acidophilus, L. Helveticus, L. Plantarum, and L. Gasseri. All research is from PubMed, WebMD, Probiotics.org or National Institute of Health only — each strain has its own article link and/or PubMed ID (PMID) for simple fact checking.*
- L. Acidophilus
According to probiotics.org*: “Lactobacillus Acidophilus is the most researched and proven probiotic known to scientists. L. Acidophilus bacteria were first isolated in the 1890’s by the Nobel Prize winner Llya Metchnikoff. Since then, thousands of research studies have proven that Lactobacillus acidophilus is vital to human health.” It’s no surprise then that this strain was a must to include in The Coconut Cult’s Probiotic Coconut Yogurt.
The Reported + Researched Benefits of L. Acidophilus include:
- Improve Blood Pressure & Cholesterol
- Fight Viral, Bacterial & Fungal Infections
- Improvement of Infant Conditions
- Nutritional Benefits
- Reduce Allergy Severity
- Help Digestive Conditions
- Improve Blood Pressure & Cholesterol
- Stop recurrence of bacterial vaginosis
- Reduce allergy severity
- Fight chronic conditions like kidney stones and anemia
- Nutritional Benefits: produce B vitamins, enhance calcium absorption, and improve appetite
*Source: https://probiotics.org/l-acidohilus-benefits/
- L. Helveticus
According to probiotics.org*: “Lactobacillus helveticus is a very interesting probiotic that has studies showing it can reduce blood pressure. Widely used in Switzerland, it is one of the choice starter cultures for Swiss cheeses!”
The Reported + Researched Benefits of L. Helveticus include:
- reduces blood pressure in hypertensive patients
- improves sleep quality/duration
- increases perception of one’s health
- increase levels of serum calcium in blood (see here)
- decrease PTH (associated with bone loss)
- normalize microflora colonization composition for infants fed formula
- assist in ACE-inhibitor production
*Source: https://probiotics.org/lactobacillus-helveticus/
- L. Plantarum
According to probiotics.org*: “Lactobacillus plantarum is a helpful guest probiotic that fiercely attacks pathogenic, bad bacteria in our bodies. By killing the bad guys, it helps our own native bacteria grow stronger…and helps us be more resistant to future invasions of pathogens.” Just like many things in life there is ‘good’ and there is ‘bad’. Now more than ever we hear about the bad bacteria in the world, but one of the best ways to eradicate bad bugs is a healthy gut that is robust in good bacteria like L. Plantarum. L.
The Reported + Researched Benefits of L. Plantarum include:
- improve digestion; significantly reduce IBS symptoms
- increase immunity; fight various intestinal pathogens
- decrease flatulence
- fight burn infections (topical); accelerate burn healing
- decrease frequency and length/severity of cold/flu
- lower intestinal permeability
- fight infections (fungal, postoperative, pancreatic sepsis)
- reduce pneumonia risk
- decrease inflammatory response (produce Th2, decrease Th1/Th2 levels)
- reduce symptoms and aid healing of multiple traumas among injured patients
- lower risk of kidney stone
- reduce blood pressure
*Source: https://probiotics.org/l-plantarum/
- L. Gasseri
According to probiotics.org*: “The most unique thing about L gasseri, is that it may directly improve weight loss. L Gasseri also seems to help regulate blood sugar control hormone sensitivity, reduce belly fat and turn on more fat burning genes.”
The Reported + Researched Benefits of L. Gasseri include:
- improve weight loss
- reduce diarrhea
- maintain healthy vaginal flora
- anti-inflammatory effect on colon
*Source: https://probiotics.org/lactobacillus-gasseri/
About our Sources:
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ —PubMed® comprises more than 33 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.
- https://www.webmd.com/ —WebMD offers credible and in-depth medical news, features, reference material, and online community programs.
- https://ods.od.nih.gov/ — National Institute of Health; Office of Dietary Supplements
- 4. https://probiotics.org/ — a collective space with thousands of articles backed by research papers and research review papers.
A good place for consumers to start if they want to deepen their understanding of probiotics — https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Probiotics-Consumer/
A good place for health professionals to start if they want to deepen their understanding of probiotics — https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Probiotics-HealthProfessional/