The world of gut-focused supplements can feel crowded, confusing and oddly vague. Long ingredient lists, blends of half a dozen bacterial names, and big promises with very little clarity. As a customer, it’s hard to know what you’re really taking, or why.
Whether you're looking for guidance on choosing a strain, understanding symptoms, checking suitability, or simply learning how to get the most from your supplement, you'll find clear answers in the FAQs below.
For an adult take 2 capsules of each product per day, for children under 10 years of age we recommend just 1 capsule per day. For those with sensitive digestive systems we recommend you start off on just 1 capsule of each product per day, and then up it to the full 2 capsules of each product per day after two weeks.
We recommend taking them in the morning with breakfast. Avoid taking them with anything very hot and extreme heat can damage the bacteria! Warm food and drink should be absolutely fine. If you don’t eat
breakfast that’s no problem, just take them in the morning anyway. Taking them at the same time every day just helps them and you to settle into the routine!
Sometimes kids don’t like capsules, and that’s understandable! For children who don’t want to swallow a capsule, you can open it up onto their food instead. Mixing the powder into their food, or into a drink that’s gently warm, is a good way of making it easier for them to take! Just be sure not to open the capsule onto any food or drink that’s piping hot as the heat can damage the bacteria.
For adults, yes! Our microbes have been used in clinical research in strengths well over 100BN CFU! In every study they’ve been found to be completely safe. For general gut support 2 capsules of each
product per day should be plenty, but for those hoping to address digestive issues, or those who have been on a course of antibiotics, more than 2 per day could be a good way of rebuilding the microbiome
quickly. Before taking higher doses we recommend you speak to your healthcare practitioner about the best way forward for you.
Yes you can! These bacteria should have no impact on any medication or other supplements you’re taking, so feel free to add them to your routine. If you’re taking antibiotics, try to take your probiotics at a different time of day. This will help to prevent the antibiotics from damaging the probiotics before they get the chance
to reach your gut and get settled in. If you are at all concerned about taking medication alongside any supplement, we recommend you consult your healthcare practitioner about how your medication can interact with various supplements to get the best idea of how to move forward.
Yes! Both of our bacteria have a very robust body of clinical
evidence in how they can support our children’s little guts. For
children under 10 years old just use 1 capsule per day instead of 2.
If the children don’t like swallowing capsules, feel free to open
them up onto food or mix them into a drink. Just make sure the food
or drink isn’t piping hot! Warm is absolutely fine.
Yes! All of our products are free from any animal products or animal
testing. We use only plant based ingredients, and we’re 100% Vegan
friendly.
Yes they are! Every batch of our products are gluten tested to ensure
that they’re completely gluten free. Many probiotics use fillers
such as flour that end up adding gluten, but we make a point of
avoiding them, ensuring that the final product is completely gluten
free.
No, we don’t use any known allergens in our products. However, our
manufacturing facility handles allergens in the manufacture of other
products, and whilst we take every precaution to ensure a completely
clean working environment, we can’t guarantee that our products are
100% allergen free. If you suffer from severe allergies or risk of
anaphylactic shock, we suggest you consult your healthcare
practitioner before taking any supplements.
Yes! We pride ourselves on using only 4 ingredients: the bacteria
itself, two kinds of plant-based prebiotic fibre, and naturally
derived bamboo silica. That’s it! No artificial additives,
preservatives or any other unwanted extras, so you know that the
product you’re getting is clean!
Yes! In fact, these microbes may well help to make your digestive
system a whole lot less sensitive over time. But, we recommend that
if you have a sensitive digestive system, start off on just 1 capsule
of each product per day, and stick with this for a couple of weeks.
After that you can then increase your daily dose to the full 2
capsules. This just gives the bacteria and easier route to smoothly
settling in with the rest of your gut microbiome!
Our gut is filled with trillions of bacteria. In fact, by some
estimates more than 50% of our body is bacteria! These little
creatures exist alongside each other, and they can have an impact on
every aspect of our health. They can affect brain function, organ
function, mental health, digestive health, you name it, they have an
impact. However, some of the bacteria that can take root are
pathogenic, and can cause health problems in humans, especially if
they’re in large populations. So, with probiotics we send in live
bacteria from the beneficial families. This way we can keep the
population of good bacteria strong! They can then help to outcompete
the bad bacteria and keep their numbers low, helping to prevent them
from having an impact on your health.
With probiotics consistency is key! You should start to notice
effects after a couple of weeks, but for the best results you should
take them consistently for at least a few months. This allows the
bacteria to build up a strong population. Once they get to a good
number they start to really have an impact on the population of bad
bacteria, and that’s when you start to get the best results! Once
you have that population built up, sticking with it in the long run
will help to keep their numbers high, your gut consistent, and your
routine solid and predictable.
You should notice some effects after a couple of weeks, but for the
best results we recommend sticking with your probiotic supplement for
at least a couple of months. This allows the bacteria to build up a
really healthy population, keeping those bad bacteria down, and
building a robust and predictable gut.
It all comes down to the bacteria we use! Did you know that a lot of
cheap probiotics on the market today use bacteria that have never
been proven to have benefits in humans? Or even tested in humans? We
decided there was a better way. The two microbes we work with, LGG
and BB12, are the two most clinically proven bacteria in the world,
each with hundreds of human clinical trials to demonstrate what they
can do. So, with Better Guts you know you’re getting bacteria
backed by real clinical science, not just hype and marketing!
Everyday blends are sometimes good, and there are some on the market
that use very good bacteria, BUT, to make the product affordable a
lot of the time those bacteria have to be in a weaker concentration.
If it says 25BN CFU on the label, but there are 5 different bacteria,
there’s not that much of each one in there! The problem with this
is that while the bacteria will work to some extent, they’re not in
a strong enough concentration to have a really solid impact, and can
get ‘lost in the noise’ of your gut microbiome. Using single
strains in each product allows us to put these microbes in a high
concentration of 12BN CFU per serving, making sure you get enough of
each clinically proven microbe to really get the effects you want,
and to build up a solid population of the beneficial bacteria!
When it comes to everyday probiotic gut support, this is a team it’s
hard to beat! They’re both very good for people who experience
digestive issues such as bloating, cramping or diarrhoea, as well as
both being solid choices to take alongside antibiotics to help
rebuild the microbiome. They also work really well together to help
keep the bad bacteria supressed, maintaining a strong population of
the good guys to keep your gut resilient! And of course, as just a
solid every day probiotic, they work as an unbeatable team with real
clinical evidence to keep you consistent and your gut happy!
LGG (Lacticasei Bacillus Rhamnosus GG) is the most clinically
researched probiotic bacteria in the world! It’s shown itself to be
supportive of a healthy immune system, to suppress bad bacteria, to
help rebuild after antibiotics and to help control the symptoms of
digestive disorders such as bloating or diarrhoea. It’s also been
associated with mental health benefits, especially mitigating ADHD
and helping with early memory and learning problems in elderly
people! With so much clinical evidence behind it, it’s the best
Lactobacillus you can get!
BB12 (Bifidobacterium Animalis Subsp. Lactis BB12) is the most
clinically researched bifidobacterium in the world. All good
probiotics use a bifidobacteria, and BB12 is the best there is! It’s
been associated with a wide variety of health benefits, from use
alongside antibiotics and rebuilding the microbiome, fighting bad
bacteria, and supressing H.Pylori infection, through to it’s
ability to help modulate the immune system. It’s for this reason
that it’s our flagship immune microbe! It’s been shown in studies
to help keep the immune system calm and responsive, helping it react
when it needs to, and in a more measured and calm way. We recommend
it for those with weak immune systems, those who get colds or flu’s
a lot, and those with allergies.
Prebiotic fibres are naturally occurring plant-based fibres. Like
most plant fibre, you can’t digest them, but your microbiome loves
them! In fact, these fibres are their favourite food. They’ve been
clinically proven to help boost microbiome diversity, and can be so
effective that there are prebiotic supplements in their own right on
the market today. We put them in every capsule to ensure that we feed
not only the bacteria that we’re sending in, but the existing good
guys in your gut already, ensuring that we create the perfect
environment for a strong gut microbiome.
Stomach acid is tough, it kills bacteria, and it can kill the good
ones you take in your probiotic! A lot of cheaper brands use regular
cellulose capsules that break up after 5-10 minutes, releasing your
bacteria into the stomach, where a lot of them die. We knew we had to
keep our bacteria protected! So, we use delayed release capsules.
These are a variety of cellulose mixed often with guar gum from
trees, and they dissolve very slowly, normally taking 40-45 mins to
fully open. This means that we can ensure the bacteria are protected
through your stomach, and the capsule opens in the intestine,
releasing the bacteria where they’re needed most, straight to your
gut!
There are thousands of different bacteria in the world, and these
fall into different ‘families’ or species. These families are
ones such as Lactobacilli, or Bifidobacteria. Of these families,
there are individual varieties of microbe, these are ‘strains’.
Each strain is completely unique, think of it as a specific animal,
and so each strain does different things. For example, Lions and Cats
are both from the same genetic family, but they’re very different!
The concept here is the same. If you see Lactobacillus on the label
of a probiotic, that’s very vague on its own, as there are so many
different kinds of Lactobacilli you don’t know what you’re
getting! So, when we say we use a specific strain, what we mean is
that we use a very specific bacteria, as that’s the only way we can
be sure we’re getting the ones with the most clinical research, and
the best benefits!
Yes! The walls of our gut are lined with a layer of mucous, and it’s
this layer that is home to most of our gut microbiome. Both LGG and
BB12 have been shown to be very good at adhering to the mucous layer,
especially compared to many other bacteria from the same families,
and so they stay in your gut for a long time! Som bacteria have
largely passed out of the digestive system after a few days, but both
of the microbes we work with have been shown to still be present a
good 4 weeks after supplementation.
Bloating typically happens when bacteria in your digestive system are
extra active! This is why a lot of people find that certain foods set
them off, it’s because they feed the bad bacteria. When we take new
bacteria it takes them a little while to settle in, normally a couple
of weeks, and during this time a tiny bit of bloating is very normal.
If it feels like too much, cut back to 1 capsule per day for a couple
of weeks before upping the dose back to 2 per day again.
The best option for dealing with regular bloating or mild digestive
problems is to take both LGG and BB12 together! They have been shown
in studies to work very well as a team, and have both been associated
with reductions in digestive issues such as cramping, bloating, and
diarrhoea. Our Gut Health Bundle is the best option here!
The best option here is to take both together. Both LGG and BB12 have
been extensively studied for how they can support the immune system,
and both have been associated with a wide variety of immune benefits!
If you really just want to take one, then BB12 has the edge on the
immunity front, but the best option is to use both!
Allergies are an immune response, a situation where the immune system
identifies things as a threat that probably aren’t and overreacts.
Both of our microbes have been well studied for how they can keep the
immune system calm and regulated, and the best option for allergies
is to take both together, as they can both support the immune system
but in different ways! If you want to take only one to try it, we
recommend the BB12, but the best effects will be felt when you have
both as a team.
Yes! Specifically LGG. This amazing microbe has been studied for how
it can impact mental health and the Gut-Brain Axis, and has been
shown to help improve quality of life in people with ADHD, as well as
improving learning and memory scores in elderly people. For mental
and cognitive support, we recommend LGG as the best option.
In any weight loss regimen the most important thing is diet. There is
no silver bullet for weight loss, and so if a person’s diet is not
good then no supplement in the world will help! However, if taken
alongside a healthy diet, both of our products can help to build a
healthy gut microbiome. In doing this they can help to support a more
well-rounded digestive environment.
Antibiotics can kill a wide variety of healthy bacteria as well as
pathogenic ones, often leading to a variety of unwanted side effects
that can take a long time to go away! Both of the bacteria we work
with, LGG and BB12, have been extensively studied in how they can
help to rebuild the microbiome after a course of antibiotics, and
both have been shown to help reduce side effects and really rebuild!
We recommend that for people currently on, or just finishing a course
of antibiotics, using both products together will produce the best
result and rebuild a healthy gut microbiome!
If you are
currently taking antibiotics, try to take your probiotics at a
different time of day. This will help to reduce the chances of the
antibiotics affecting the probiotics too much!
Yes! SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth) is a condition
where the upper small intestine gets overrun with bad bacteria. The
thing is, it’s very hard for doctors to know exactly which bacteria
without using very invasive measuring techniques, and so they often
have to guess at the best option. Both LGG and BB12 have been shown
in both clinical and in-vitro studies to be very good at fighting a
wide variety of bad bacteria! Including bacteria from the families
E.Coli, Salmonella, Pseudomonas, Clostridium, Enterococcus, and many
others. For people struggling with SIBO, we recommend taking both
products together to ensure the best chance of building up a healthy
population of friendly bacteria that can help to push the bad ones
down and restore normality to your gut.
Yes they can! IBS and IBD are very broad diagnoses, and can cover a
variety of different conditions. Probiotics can be a great option for
helping mitigate the symptoms. From symptoms such as inflammation,
cramping, diarrhoea, constipation and other, both of our bacteria
have been extensively studied in how they can help! We recommend
taking both LGG and BB12 together for the best results. For people
with very sensitive digestive systems, we recommend taking just one
capsule of each per day to start with, increasing this to two
capsules per day after two weeks. If two capsules proves too much,
reduce back to one per day for another week.
Probiotics in general are rarely used for treatment of parasites and
the parasites themselves tend to be much larger than bacteria, and so
aren’t normally affected by them too much. What we do know however
is that bacteria such as LGG and BB12 have both been shown in studies
to help support reduce immune inflammation and support the immune
system, as well as fighting symptoms such as diarrhoea. So, while
they won’t necessarily fight the parasites directly, they could be
used to support the digestive system during treatment with an
anti-parasitic. For people struggling with parasites we would
recommend both LGG and BB12 together for the best results in helping
to mitigate side effects.
Yes! Both LGG and BB12 have been heavily studied for how they can
help to support a healthy immune environment. Our recommendation
would be to take both of them together. However, if you just want to
take one, BB12 has a lot of research into upper respiratory tract
infections, and would be the best choice for keeping those colds at
bay!
Maria Cooper - Level 6 Nutritional Therapist
"After trying BetterGuts probiotics consistently, I noticed a real improvement in bloating and overall digestive comfort. I love that the formulas are simple, easy to incorporate into daily life, and focused on supporting gut health in a practical way".
LGG Balance
Supports daily digestion, immunity, and the Gut-Brain axis with 12 Billion Live Cultures.
BB-12 Defence
Supports digestion, immunity, and a calm gut with 12 Billion Live Cultures.
Complete Gut Duo
Combines strains and prebiotics for total gut health.
