A reader posted on facebook
” Hi Ken, have you heard anything about L. Salivarius being bad for CFS patients? I’m trying Custom Probiotics d-lactate-free formula at the moment. There’s a patient on the PhoenixRising forum who believes L. Salavirus permanently worsened their condition, and also claimed it can destroy beneficial bacteria a la antibiotics. Have you ever read anything along these lines?”
First thing is simple: L. Salivarius does kill other bacteria – the questions is whether it kills the good ones or the bad ones (or kills randomly!). The “antibiotic” that it produces is called a bacteriocin. “bacteriocins are being tested to assess their application as narrow-spectrum antibiotics.[1]“
This may depend on the strain — unfortunately, the strain is often not put on to many commercial probiotics.
- “an up-to-date overview of all L. salivarius strains, isolated from different origins, known as bacteriocin producing and/or potential probiotic.” [2013], from the complete article:
- … are producers of unmodified bacteriocin of subclasses IIa,IIb and IId…
- inhibits … Bacillus, Listeria, Enterococcus and Staphylococcus
- .. against Lactobacillys delbrueckii subsp bulgaricus (used in many yogurts)
- .. against Enterococcus faecalis, E. faecium and Neisseria gonorrhoeae
- .. against S. mutans, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, micrococcus flavus and Salmonella enteritidis
- … against Campylobacter jejuni
- .. active against more phylogenetically divergent Gram-positive bacteria and occasionally against Gram-negative bacteria.
- … against L.monocytogenes…
- Antibiotic susceptibility profiles showed that the strains of L. salivarius were sensitive to the majority of antibiotics tested..
- … induces Interleukin (IL)-10… IL-6
Studies on CFS/IBS/FM?
- On CFS – Zero
- On fibromyalgia – Zero
- On Irritable Bowel Disease
- Effects of Lactobacillus salivarius 433118 on intestinal inflammation, immunity status and in vitro colon function in two mouse models of inflammatory bowel disease[2008]. “the data therefore suggest that this Lactobacillus subsp. has limited potential as a prophylactic or therapeutic treatment for inflammatory bowel disease”
Bottom Line
There is no evidence that Lactobacillus salivarius is of any benefit to CFS/FM/IBS/IBD. Within the family is a wide spectrum of bacteriocins – and the lack of positive effects suggests that it does not invoke a shift that is desirable for these conditions. There is reasonable evidence that the report forwarded by a reader may be accurate/true.
I would rank lactobacillus salivarius as a “to be avoided” probiotic.