A reader wrote:
Hi Ken – I’m attempting to use MBP. I recall you linked (a long time ago) to a section that showed a list of probiotics useful in colitis, with each probiotic having the studies. How would I arrive to that page?
There is a multiple step/layer approach that I would use. The sequence is below:
#1 Researched Probiotics Available Retail
Go to https://microbiomeprescription.com/library/ProbioticSearch and type in the name of the condition.
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-53.png)
You will see the list of probiotics with the ones with the most studies listed first.
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-54-1024x412.png)
Below it are the links to the studies. You should read at least some of them – some may report “no effect”. The list is generated by a data gathering algorithm on the species and the condition and the condition may be mentioned in passing and not directly referenced or tested.
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-55-1024x210.png)
#2 Use Perplexity AI
Go to https://www.perplexity.ai and just ask “What is the most effective probiotic for…”. I use this AI because it provided links to data sources so I can verify the response
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-56.png)
A typical response is below
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-57.png)
#3 Probiotic Via Published Microbiome Shifts
In this case we are using the MP engine to generate suggestions. It is inferior in reliability to the above methods but is a reasonable fall back. Go to Medical Conditions with Microbiome Shifts from US National Library of Medicine ( https://microbiomeprescription.com/Library/PubMed ) and search for the condition
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-58-1024x122.png)
You can click the PDF download (which report TOP items only) or click Candidates (all items)
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-59.png)
Surprise, surprise! #1 and #2 agree with Perplexity!!! vsl#3 is not listed because we do not have strain information for this mixture of probiotics. Remember – these are computed SOLELY from the microbiome shifts without reference to any studies on ulcerative colitis!
#4 Probiotic via Citizen Science
Goto Symptoms associated with conditions reported for Samples https://microbiomeprescription.com/Library/Symptoms Enter the name — in this case it was not found (not enough samples that people have annotated with ulcerative colitis). In that case, you may want to go over to symptoms you have; for example Diarrhea. This data is conditioned on the lab that the contributor was using and layered by taxa level.
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-61-1024x507.png)
I will be adding a suggestions icon to this page shortly, and you can then review those suggestions. Clicking on the bowl, produces suggestions that can be filtered to probiotics.
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-62.png)
#1 and #2 above are #1 and #3 with the most studied one show in above!
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-63-1024x60.png)
Clicking on the symptom name takes you to the symptom page listing all of the bacteria
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-64.png)
This will then use the expert system to generate suggestions which can be filtered to probiotics
![](https://blog.microbiomeprescription.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-65.png)
This is ranked not by the number of studies published but by the ones with the greatest estimated impact by the expert system. We see Mutaflor, L. rhamnosus – and many familiar ones in the researched strain list.
Bottom Line
We have 4 ways of selecting probiotics. For the specific question asked, all 4 converge to the same items. In terms of clinical use, we see that the suggestions based solely on bacteria shifts going through the expert system appear to be cross-validated. IMHO, this explicit expert system works better than the typical MD would.
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