Get to Know Your Probiotics

Flourish (Original & Junior) include 11 diverse strains of probiotics from 5 unique families.

Let’s get to know your probiotics!

Lactobacillus

Name: Lactobacillus acidophilus 

Nickname: L. acidophilus 

Oxygen Use: Facultative anaerobic 

Shape: Rod 

Residence: I live in the GI tract, mouth, and vaginal tract.1 

As one of the first discovered bacteria way back in the early 1900s, my genome was one of the first to be sequenced. I’m very popular amongst the science community. 

Some people think I only hang out in dairy products, but I love being wherever there is plenty of my favorite food. As I grow, I produce lactic acid and am acid tolerant, so making it through your stomach to your lower GI tract is easy for me to do under most conditions.     

  1. Matthew Bull, Sue Plummer, Julian Marchesi, Eshwar Mahenthiralingam, The life history of Lactobacillus acidophilus as a probiotic: a tale of revisionary taxonomy, misidentification and commercial success, FEMS Microbiology Letters, Volume 349, Issue 2, December 2013, Pages 77–87, https://doi.org/10.1111/1574-6968.12293 

 

Name: Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus 

Nickname: L. bulgaricus 

Oxygen Use: Aerotolerant anaerobic3 

Shape: Rod 

Residence: I live in the GI tract.1 

I was one of the very first beneficial bacteria isolated by Russia’s Ilya Mechnikov in 1882. Illya first noticed how rural Balkans lived long lives and connected it to the fermented milk that was frequently drank. From there, he isolated me and named me after the region.2   

I enjoy fermenting sugar into lactic acid products when oxygen is not available.3 As a lactic acid producing bacteria, I ferment primarily the glucose and fructose in the molasses and sorghum provided in Flourish Original and Junior.  

  1. http://bacmap.wishartlab.com/organisms/400 
  2. https://probiotics.org/lactobacillus-bulgaricus/ 
  3. https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/

 

Name: Lactobacillus casei 

Nickname: L. casei 

Oxygen Use: Facultative Anaerobic 1 

Shape: Rod 

Residence: GI and reproductive tracts2 

As a facultative anaerobic organism, I am capable of producing energy not only when oxygen is present, but I’m also able to switch to fermentation when oxygen is not present. My favorite energy sources include glucose, fructose, and sucrose – which make up the majority of molasses and sorghum found in Flourish Original and Flourish Junior.1 I am quite acid stable and produce organic acids, which pathogenic bacteria do not appreciate.3 

  1. https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Lactobacillus_casei
  2. http://bacmap.wishartlab.com/organisms/392 
  3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16040148/ 

 

Name: Lactobacillus fermentum 

Nickname: L. fermentum 

Oxygen Use: Facultative anaerobic 

Shape: Rod 

Residence: Mouth, GI tract, colon, and vaginal tract.  

Because Lactobacillus reuteri and I are closely related, we were first thought to be classified the same. I was first isolated from the milk of healthy women2, and because of this reason, I can occasionally be found in infant formulas. As a lactic acid producing bacteria, I help crowd out bad bacteria for space, helping my host. 

  1. http://bacmap.wishartlab.com/organisms/687
  2. https://environmentalmicrobiome.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-017-0228-4 

 

Name:  Lactobacillus plantarum 

Nickname: L. plantarum 

Oxygen Use: Facultative Anaerobic2 

Shape: Rod 

Residence: GI tract and human saliva1 

I am one the most flexible of all the lactobacilli bacteria as I am able to grow in a variety of environments, temperatures, and pH levels.1 I am hearty and can be found top to bottom of the GI tract. I am transient in nature, meaning I don’t like to stick around in the same place too long.4  I am often found in the fermentation process of foods such as sauerkraut, sour dough bread, kimchi, and other fermented foods from around the world.3  

  1. https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Lactobacillus_plantarum
  2. http://bacmap.wishartlab.com/organisms/144
  3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4705246/
  4. https://probiotics.org/l-plantarum/

bifidobacteriumName: Bifidobacterium bifidum 

Nickname: B. bifidum 

Oxygen Use: Anaerobic 

Shape: Rod  

Residence: GI tract 

I tend to be the most common species in breast-fed babies, followed by my pals B. breve and B. longum. However, my numbers tend to greatly decrease with age. Scientists have been able to identify that healthy individuals tend to have high numbers of me in their guts. That could be in part because of the connection the mucin, or lining of the gut, and I have. We are better together!1   

  1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4140077/  

 

Name: Bifidobacterium longum 

Nickname: B. longum 

Oxygen Use: Anaerobic 

Shape: Branched Rod 

Residence: GI + vaginal tract2 

Like B. bifidum, I am one of the most common species found in breast-fed babies and I also tend to naturally decline as humans age.1 We are both lactic acid producing, which helps keep the gut an unfriendly place for pathogenic bacteria, while keeping the environment favorable to other beneficial bacteria. I am able to use insoluble fiber the body isn’t able to digest for food, as well as glycoproteins produced by humans. Glycoproteins are secreted by cells and play a role in cell to cell interaction.3  

 

  1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4140077/
  2. https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Bifidobacterium_longum
  3.  http://bacmap.wishartlab.com/organisms/124

enterococcus

Names: Enterococcus lactis + Enterococcus thermophilus

Nicknames: E. lactis, E. thermophiles

Oxygen Use: Facultative anaerobic 

Shape: Coccus (sphere/oval shaped) 

Residence: GI tract 

We were first isolated from Italian raw cheese, as we’re known to impart positive taste, smell, and structure to various cheeses as a lactic acid producing bacteria. We are also known to have the ability to survive difficult environments including extreme pH and temperature ranges. We produce energy through aerobic respiration if oxygen is available, but can switch to fermentation if oxygen is not available.  

  1. https://bacdive.dsmz.de/strain/5362 
  2. https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(16)30871-2/pdf 

Saccharomyces

Name: Saccharomyces cerevisiae 

Nickname: Brewer’s yeast 

Oxygen Use: Better with oxygen, but can grow without 

Shape: Typically spherical 

Residence: Respiratory, GI, and urinary tracts1 

I am a single celled, non-spore forming fungus commonly used in beer and baking productions. One of the primary reasons I’m helpful is because I make the environment unfriendly to other, less friendly molds.1 As a fungus, I’m not a bacterium. All bacteria are prokaryotes – their cell and DNA structure looks and works a little differently from eukaryotes like plants, animals, humans, protozoans, and fungi like me.  

  1. Fleet GH: Saccharomyces and related genera, Chapter 11, in: Food Spoilage Microorganisms. Boekhout T, Robert V (eds), Behr’s Verlag Hamburg, German, 2003. P 306-335 

Bacillus

Name: Bacillus subtilis 

Nickname: B. subtilis 

Oxygen Use: Facultative anaerobic – prefers oxygen1 

Shape: Rod 

Residence: GI tract 

I greatly prefer to grow in specific temperatures. So much so that when I’m not in them, I create an endospore where I essentially fold in on myself to form a resistant outer shell. Not only am I helpful to humans, I also regularly help plants as a fungicide as well as promoting root growth. Not to brag, but I also hold the record for surviving in space for the longest duration: 6 years on a NASA satelllite!2 

  1. https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Bacillus_subtilis 
  2. https://wickhamlabs.co.uk/technical-resource-centre/fact-sheet-bacillus-subtilis/ 

 

Thanks for taking the time to get to know the friendly gang of Flourish living probiotics!
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Written by Lorilyn Van Dyke, Entegro Health

 

Posted in Gut Health and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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