Probiotic Support Formula — Special Nutrients
Foundational Support – Overview
An animal’s healthy bowel terrain is of paramount importance in keeping their gastrointestinal tract functioning optimally. A
healthy gastrointestinal tract is the foundation of immune system competence, in addition to playing a pivotal role in balancing the
neurotransmitters that support good mental health. Unfortunately, many of the things our companion animals are exposed to on a daily basis can have negative impacts on the healthy microbes that reside in their intestine. Dysbiosis a disruption of the balance of these beneficial organisms can be caused by processed pet foods, prescription meds, vaccines, pesticides, herbicides, and even
electromagnetic field (EMF) pollution. These toxic influences can have both short-term and long-term detrimental effects on the balance
of the trillions of healthy microbes or probiotics that reside in the animal’s intestinal tract.
Either replenishing or maintaining the probiotic population in the intestinal tract supports the healthy balance of these beneficial
organisms, while simultaneously preventing the overgrowth of undesirable and even harmful organisms.
Providing probiotic organisms in stable and viable forms is crucial for two reasons. First, it ensures that the probiotic organisms being
introduced will survive their pre-administration storage process while the bugs are in the bottle! Second, it ensures that, once
ingested, the probiotic strains will make it past the harsh environment of the animal’s stomach acid so they can arrive at the lower
intestine, begin to flourish, and exert their beneficial activity there.
In addition, providing a food source a prebiotic for the probiotic organisms stimulates, supports, and maintains the vitality of this
population. Inulin, a polysaccharide-based fiber, is an excellent food source for beneficial probiotic organisms. Finally, providing an
amino acid like L-glutamine helps maintain a healthy bowel terrain that allows for the continuing optimal functioning of a healthy
microbiome.
Bacillus coagulans and Bacillus subtilis
The bacterial species Bacillus coagulans and Bacillus subtilis are probably the most widely studied spore-forming probiotics. The several
bacterial species in the Bacillus family are found prevalently in nature (in the soil – hence the common term – soil born organisms or
SBOs), and they have found their way beneficially into our food supply and into our bodies. Importantly, sporulated probiotics, such as
these two beneficial organisms, are resistant to gastric acid so they can pass through the stomach intact before entering the intestine
in the same concentrations as when they were ingested.1
After they reach the gut, the Bacillus spores will germinate predominantly in the jejunum and the ileum where they can begin to
proliferate, grow, and resporulate.2 B. subtilis and B. coagulans, when acting as probiotics, cause a beneficial increase in the total
aerobic, lactic acid, and bacteria and spore counts, as well as an accompanying positive decrease in anaerobe and coliform count.3 In the
intestine, the presence of these valuable Bacillus species can reduce an out-of-balance inflammatory response by increasing the level of
the very helpful short-chain fatty acid, butyric acid, as well as other useful short-chain fatty acids and enzymes.4
The two Bacillus strains in Probiotic Support Formula also help reduce intestinal permeability a condition known as “leaky gut.” The
gut is meant to be semi-permeable ? the mucous lining of the intestines is designed to allow the water and nutrients absorbed from food
to pass into the bloodstream. But animals and people can have too much intestinal permeability, which means their gut is letting
more than just water and nutrients through they “leak”. Studies have shown that animals who have gastrointestinal problems ? both
acute problems and chronic problems can have a leaky gut that lets larger molecules through including toxic and harmful ones. Part
of the job of the intestinal lining is to act as a barrier to keep these undesirable toxic agents inside the gut, which makes the gut lining
an important part of the animal’s immune system.
It is now well known that a combination of multiple strains of sporulated probiotic organisms can enhance the treatment efficacy for
leaky gut compared to only a single strain. A recent study reported that when participants in a clinical trial with dietary endotoxemia
took a probiotic supplement for 30 days that contained five spore-forming species of Bacillus. Bacillus indicus HU36, B. subtilis HU58,
B. coagulans, Bacillus licheniformis, and Bacillus clausii ? the participants experienced a significant reduction in intestinal permeability as
evidenced by significant reductions in their levels of endotoxins, triglycerides, and proinflammatory cytokines.5,6
Supplementation with Bacillus species has been found to increase the immune system’s antibacterial, antiviral, and antioxidant activity
by down-regulating pro-inflammatory cytokines, potentiating beneficial phagocytosis, and suppressing undesirable reactive oxygen
species.7 Bacillus species also enhance nutrient digestibility, an advantageous effect probably being influenced by maintaining both a
healthy inflammatory response and optimal intestinal permeability ? both of which result in a healthy bowel environment and a more
optimally functioning digestive tract.8
Saccharomyces boulardii
Saccharomyces boulardii (S. boulardii) is a strain of yeast that also acts as a probiotic, and it has been found to be safe to use in dogs
and cats. S. boulardii is an ideal probiotic because it can also withstand the stresses of gastrointestinal transit from stomach acid, and it is resistant to all known antibacterial antibiotics, therefore making it effective when given concurrently with an antibiotic treatment.9
Randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded studies have been reproduced to claim support from meta-analysis reviews that S.
boulardii is an effective biotherapeutic agent for the treatment of antibiotic-associated diarrhea, C. difficile-associated illness, and other
causes of acute diarrhea in laboratory, human, and veterinary settings.10 S. boulardii has been found to reduce the effects of clostridium
endotoxins in the intestine, alter cytokines away from a pro-inflammatory state, and to beneficially modulate the immune response.11-13
Supplementing with S. boulardii also boosts short-chain fatty acid production (like butyrate), which has a trophic effect (meaning it
creates another food source for them) on the other microbes in the intestine that support a healthy probiotic population.14
