When I asked my doctor about which kinds of probiotics are most effective she specifically mentioned refrigerated vs non-refrigerated is not a way to identify quality or effectiveness unless you know the specific strain(s) needed cannot be made shelf-stable. This lined up with asking my endodontist after they prescribed some antibiotics for a tooth infection. They did warn that the use by dates are a bit bull, not to stock up on them as they do deteriorate in quality with time, and not to try to keep even the shelf-stable ones above room temperature.
Maybe I misunderstood what my doctor said, maybe my doctor was just wrong, maybe it's actually extremely nuanced, maybe it's something I hadn't even considered. I guess all I'm saying is it's probably better to talk to your doctor(s) about it than follow self-sourced (in both the above and this comment) medical advice from HN.
>self-sourced
It's not "self-sourced" whatever that means (like that's a bad thing per se?). I saw the sausage being made and I spoke to the sausage makers. The source is the sausage makers, not me. Sorry I don't have a link. These facts may or may not be trade secrets.
> maybe my doctor was just wrong
Yes, doctors are similar to mechanics or any other trade, in that some simply suck.
Some got Ds.
“ and not to try to keep even the shelf-stable ones above room temperature.” - hate to ask, but night brain kicked in - could I trouble you to give me an alternative way of phrasing this? I keep parsing it as “don’t even bother trying to keep probiotics warm”
Also frankly, doctor =/= expert on probiotics.
None of their training really addresses that and while they might be more qualified to read research than random layman I would not in general ascribe authority to what a random practitioner has to say about probiotics. Frankly, the research on probiotics is still very much in its infancy and a LOT remains to be figured out.