Probiotic are almost always antibiotics to some other species of bacteria. They can also be antivirals and antifungal. Determining if a strain produces the right antibiotics is beyond the limits of current knowledge, and will likely stay that way for decades. This paper will give you a general overview.
“Bifidobacterium and the Lactobacillus group were increased in active IBD patients and should be used more cautiously as probiotics during the active phase of IBD. Butyrate-producing bacteria might be important to gut homeostasis.”[2014]
What is known is that some specific probiotics have resulted in significant rate remission of IBS, a condition often co-morbid with CFS. There are:
For other probiotics, we really want to try to filter them (based on available knowledge from PubMed) by:
- Ones that do not produce lactic acid (since lactic acidosis appears to be very common with CFS), or at least, produce lower amounts
- Ones that do not kill E.Coli (which is very low in CFS, and generally do not produce lactic acid)
- Ones that do not produce histamines (appears to impact a subset of CFS patients)
The first choice is obvious:
- Mutaflor – E.Coli Nissle 1917 (See this page for US ordering) – there was one compounding pharmacy that stocks it, but no more)
Second choices are:
- AOR Probiotic-3
- Miyarisan tablets (C. butyricum MIYAIRI) – AOR Probiotic-3 contains a different C. butyricum strain.
All of the above, except Mutaflor, is available on Amazon.com.
For other probiotics with known, demonstrated health benefits, See this earlier post.
CFS Remission 