Supporting the Gut: Leveraging Probiotic Protocols for Total Body Wellness

A healthy gut is the foundation of whole-body wellness, influencing everything from digestion and immune function to metabolism and resilience. Join Tina Anderson, CEO and Co-Founder of Just Thrive, as she explores the science behind spore-based probiotics, what makes them unique, and how targeted probiotic protocols can support a healthier microbiome and lasting well-being.

• Presenter: Tina Anderson, CEO and Co-Founder, Just Thrive.
• Key Themes: Gut health, spore-based probiotics, microbiome support, immune health, and whole-body wellness.

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Supporting the Gut: Leveraging Probiotic Protocols for Total Body Wellness:

Transcript

Dr. Sandi: So, I’m pleased to introduce this audience to you, Tina. Take it away, and I’m going to go off camera.

Tina: Okay. Sounds great. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Sandi, for having me. I love that our roots go way back. It’s pretty exciting, but I’m so excited to be here today. I’m really glad that all of you are here, listening in. In my opinion, health coaches have truly never mattered more than they do right now. There’s so much noise out there in the health and wellness world. And you guys are the ones that are cutting through a lot of that noise, and helping people make real sustainable changes in their overall health. I actually believe in health coaches so much that we have several health coaches on our team at Just Thrive. We’re huge fans of them. They’re working with our customers every day. So, I’m hoping you leave here today with more tools in your toolbox so that you could help the clients that you’re serving and help yourself in the process.

And just let me start out by asking you something. If I asked you or if you asked one of your clients what makes a good probiotic, I’m guessing you’d hear something like, oh, my doctor told me it needed to be refrigerated. Or you need a high CFU count. And if that’s true, hopefully, this presentation will be helpful because I’m going to challenge a lot of those assumptions. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of misinformation out there in the probiotic industry. And I’d love to help…walk you through all of that.

And like Dr. Sandi said, I’m Tina Anderson. I’m the CEO and co-founder of Just Thrive. I’ve spent the last 14 years of my life dedicated to gut health and the gut health industry. And just in that process, changing one life at a time. And it’s been super fun. So, I’m going to go to the next slide, talking about a lot of the myths, the common myths in the probiotic industry.

So, like you said, the one myth, myth number one is it needs to be refrigerated to be a good probiotic. So, really, that myth has largely been debunked. We know now that in order to be a…if a probiotic is in the refrigerator, what it basically means is that it can’t withstand the room temperature of the store shelf. So, if a probiotic can’t withstand the room temperature of the store shelf, then how in the world would it ever survive your body temperature, which is much warmer than that, which is 98.6, and much less the stomach acid.

So, the answer is that it really wouldn’t. Most of these…many of the common lactobacillus bifidobacterium strains that are out there are very sensitive organisms. We know this. By nature, they’re very sensitive organisms. And they have difficulty getting into intestines alive. And it’s not just the body temperature, but like I said, it’s the stomach acid, too. So, I wouldn’t get caught up in trying to find a probiotic that needs to be refrigerated. That’s a myth that needs to really be debunked.

Myth number two is you need a high CFU count. CFU stands for colony forming units. And if a probiotic has 50 billion CFUs, some would argue that that’s better than a 20 billion CFU product. Or if you have a 250 billion product, that’s better than a 50 billion CFU product. But there’s actually no science behind that. And it’s largely become a marketing play of more is better. So, when studied…when you actually…when a research organization would study these probiotics, they would find that a probiotic as little as 3 billion CFUs can outperform a probiotic with as much as 50 billion CFUs. So, don’t get caught up in the high CFU count.

Okay. Myth number three, more strains equals a better probiotic. I think that one has probably not been as debunked. And so, I’d love to talk through this one a little bit more. So, again, there’s virtually no science behind this. We all know that having a diverse microbiome means that we have health. It’s well-established. It’s hard to find any gut health expert that would argue otherwise. We need a diverse microbiome that’s very critical.

So, the thinking became, let’s put more strains in a product to create diversity. But that doesn’t work. Creating a product with 15 to 20 different strains doesn’t create diversity in your gut. It may create diversity in the product, but not in your gut.

So, a good analogy I love to use is if you envision a pool that’s…like an inground pool that has…it’s filled with quarters and the whole entire pool is filled with quarters. And you throw in about 15 to 20 different pennies in there. So, those pennies aren’t going to meaningfully change the diversity of the microbiome. So, it’s not…when you have 40 trillion microorganisms that are found in your gut with over 1,000 different species, adding 15 to 20 different strains alone doesn’t create diversity. You need strains that have actually been shown to help your gut create more diversity on its own.

And I like to refer to these types of formulations as kitchen sink type formulations. And they actually could be somewhat problematic because UC Davis did a study back in 2016, and they took 17 probiotic products off of store shelves in California, most that were marketed to infants and children. And out of those 17 products, only 1 met label claims. In other words, what was listed on the label was not actually in the product. And the reason this happens is because the function of each particular strain in the product can’t be assumed. It has to be tested. And when you take these different strains and mix them into one vat, two strains could come together and one could take over the other strain. So, the product…the strain that was actually listed on the product label is no longer in the product.

What I think is even more scary or dangerous is that two strains actually could come together and combine, and actually make an entirely new strain that’s never been studied for its safety or efficacy. And so, we don’t know what we’re taking. So, we really cannot assume the effects. So, I wouldn’t get caught up in the kitchen sink type of formulas with 10, 15, 20 different strains mixed together unless they’ve been studied and how they work together.

Along those same lines is the same myth of you should switch up your probiotic every few months. Again, there’s really no research to support this. And the idea that it would create diversity is entirely misguided because if you add 10 to 20 different strains in that pool and you see a 40 trillion microorganisms in your gut, it’s really not going to make much of a difference, if at all.

So, now, onto myth number four, which I won’t spend too much time on, but that enteric coating or delayed release capsules are better. Companies use these coatings because they know that lactobacillus and bifidobacterium strains are very sensitive organisms, and have trouble surviving that journey from the mouth through the gastric system to the intestines, alive. And so, the problem is even if the enteric coating works, getting through the stomach acid, what happens when they hit the body salts…I’m sorry, the bile salts or the body temperature of 98.6? Well, the answer is they get killed off. So, I definitely would not get caught up in the delivery system. I would instead go with something that naturally survives the gastric system and makes it to the intestines alive.

Okay. So, now, I’d like to talk about why a lot of the science out there is just not supporting the claims that are out there on probiotics. Largely, it comes down to this lack of finished product studies on these products that are out there. Most of the probiotic research is actually tested on single strains of probiotics, not the finished formula that you actually take. And as I was saying earlier, you can’t assume the function, and you can’t assume that these strains will play nicely together unless they’re tested in combination.

One important thing that I would love to kind of walk through to make sure that we all have an understanding is that you want to understand the genus, the species, and the strain. So, on a probiotic label, a strain’s benefits belong to that specific strain, so, not the whole species. So, for example, in Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, one of the most well-studied strains in the world, but a generic Lacto rhamnosus product without that GG ID designation doesn’t inherit that research that’s behind it.

So, another example is take Bacillus subtilis, one of the strains we work with. The genus is Bacillus, the species is subtilis, and the strain ID is HU58. At a bare minimum, when you’re taking a probiotic or recommending one to a client, you want to see the genus, species, and the strain ID on that label. That strain ID is so critical because that’s what determines what the studies are and the studies that are behind that strain ID.

But on top of having a probiotic that has the strain ID, the gold standard in probiotics is when all the strains on the label have actually been studied together to see how they perform in combination. It’s critical that the product actually lists the strain ID and that those strain IDs have research behind them, both individually and together.

And I’d like to kind of equate that to a dog. So, there’s a difference between a dog, a Labrador, and your specific dog, Max. Even though your neighbor has a pet that’s a dog, that’s a Labrador named Louie, Max and Louie are entirely different pets. They have entirely different traits. So, that’s sort of the same type of analogy for when it comes to strain IDs. They may come from the same family, but the strain ID is very, very specific to the research behind it.

And one example of this is in our Just Calm products. In that product, we use a psychobiotic strain called Bifido longum 1714. And that particular strain has incredible research behind it. It’s been shown to really support brain health. So, we considered adding another probiotic strain to that product. So, we tested it before bringing it to market. What we found is that second strain actually negated all of the beneficial effects of the first 1714 strain. So, obviously, we didn’t use that second strain in it.

So, it’s really important to remember that probiotics, their live microorganisms and their function, simply, they can’t be assumed. So, we just have to keep that in mind when we’re recommending or taking probiotics.

So, I’d love to now kind of talk to you about spore-based probiotics, which are the type of strains that we work with here at Just Thrive. We work with them because of many, many reasons. But probably the single most important factor about a spore-based probiotic is that…is its ability to survive the gastric system. Spore-based probiotics are very hardy organism. And survival is key. Just the very definition of a probiotic is it has to be a live microorganism that, when delivered in adequate amounts, confers a benefit onto the host, which is the body. And the overwhelming majority of probiotics on the market really have difficulty meeting that first part of the definition, which is survivability, that ability to survive the gastric system and arrive alive in the intestine.

So, many of these strains are killed off by stomach acid, but there was a gastric survivability study that showed that the bacillus spore strains that we use actually survived a thousand times more than many of these lactobacillus bifidobacterium strains, oftentimes ones that have a 50 billion CFU count.

So, the reason these spores are so hardy and they’re able to survive the gastric system is that they have this armor-like shell around themselves that allows them to survive the gastric system naturally. And this isn’t because of any enteric coating or special delay delivery system or anything that we’ve engineered. Instead, these are how these strains were actually found in nature. They were found in the environment. They naturally have this endospore shell around themselves to protect itself.

And I’d like to look back at how we evolved as humans and what makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. This is how we as humans evolved. Our ancestors would eat off the land. They would eat roots and tubers that were teeming with this beneficial spore bacteria. And as humans, we evolved consuming these spores on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the soil we live in is over-farmed, depleted completely of nutrients, loaded with pesticides, of course, like glyphosate. And they just no longer contain all these incredible nutrients and beneficial bacteria.

In fact, if you go into areas of the world like in Tanzania, like tribes, like the Hasma tribe, they have extremely diverse microbiomes because they’re living off the land, and they’re getting these very important and critical bacterial strains, the spore-based strains. And just to explain quickly how these strains naturally survive the gastric system, the bacillus spore strains have this armor-like shell around themselves, like I was explaining, and they’re dormant when you find them in the soil. They’re dormant when you swallow them. They’re dormant in the capsule. They’re dormant, meaning that they’re not alive. And they stay dormant through the digestive process.

So, you swallow them, they go through your esophagus, they’re dormant. They hit that acidic environment in the stomach and they remain dormant. And that’s how they’re protected. And it’s not until the strains hit the intestines that they get rid of their spore shell, their protective shell, and that’s when they go into their live vegetative cell state. And then once the spores reach the intestines, they do something called quorum sensing, which is…they’re very intelligent organisms. They have the ability to read the microbial environment.

So, these spores actually do something different in your gut than they would in my gut or one of your clients’ guts. Because they’re just responding to that specific environment. And they actually have the ability to reduce the overgrowth of the pathogenic bacteria, helping your good bacteria and your beneficial bacteria come back to life.

And this is the way that we create this incredible diversity in your microbiome, taking what already belongs to you, so all the good bacteria that belongs to you, that’s maybe not flourishing in your gut, and bringing it back to life. And then the spores also help clear out that overgrowth of the pathogenic bacteria or that bad bacteria that’s in your gut.

Again, it’s so important to remember that these bacillus spores are very intelligent bacteria. They have the ability to survive. They have the ability to read the microbial environment. And then they actually stay in the gut for about 21 to 28 days, where most probiotics that you take out there actually just pass through, like food, the same day, where these strains actually stay in the gut for about 21 to 28 days, working to clean up your gut microbiome during that time. And it’s really an effective approach to gut health.

And so, if you kind of…I love using this analogy. So, if you just envision a garden, and this garden has been stepped on and trampled on, and there’s weeds growing everywhere around that garden, and now, you compare that to your gut, where the good bacteria, they’re not really flourishing, and the bad bacteria are starting to kind of take over in the gut. The spores go in like a gardener of the gut. They clear out the weeds, and they help those trampled plants or your good bacteria come back to life. It’s a very, very effective approach to cleaning up what’s going on in your gut. And this is how you create diversity in your microbiome. And we all know a diverse microbiome equates to health.

The other lactobacillus and bifidobacterium strains are…they’re very sensitive strains. And if they go into that garden, by some chance, they get there alive. Let’s say they got there alive. They would just go into that garden and maybe plant a new plant here and there. But they’re not doing anything with the weeds, and they’re not doing anything with those plants that are already there, that are part of the garden already. So, it’s really important that we create diversity by going in there and cleaning up that garden.

And one of the exciting things about spores is that they just don’t give people symptomatic relief. Some people may get some symptomatic relief from other types of probiotics out there. But these spores are actually making a true change in the microbiome itself. There was actually a SHIME model study that was conducted on these bacillus strains that we work with. And it showed the significant beneficial shift in the microbiome after just two and a half weeks. And this was only using 4 strains and 3 billion CFUs. This shift created a hundredfold increase in diversity in the microbiome. I mean, that’s a huge shift from a relatively small dose.

So, again, don’t get caught up in the number of CFUs or the number of strains. Focus on what change a formulation makes in the microbiome.

Okay. Another great thing about the spores is the way they support leaky gut, people who have issues with leaky gut. I’m sure the majority of you are very familiar with leaky gut, but just for those of you who are not, it’s basically when toxins like LPS, which stands for lipopolysaccharides. So, LPS in food particles seep into the bloodstream. And then what happens is our immune system recognizes these toxins as an invader, and creates an inflammatory response. And this is what leads to chronic low-grade inflammation.

The one example I love to use is if you think of leaky gut as a coffee filter with holes in it, that allows coffee grinds to get into your coffee. You don’t want those holes in your gut lining to allow those toxins into your bloodstream, and therefore have this constant inflammatory response. When you have a strong gut lining, it allows the nutrients your body needs into the bloodstream, but it keeps the stuff out that you don’t want, like the food particles or the body or the LPS toxins.

And we have to remember that that chronic low-grade inflammation that’s caused by leaky gut is linked to the majority of chronic conditions out there. I mean, it’s hard to find any disease that’s not tied to chronic inflammation and this metabolic endotoxemia, like digestive issues, allergies, autoimmune issues, skin rashes, even neurological issues like anxiety and depression.

And so, what’s exciting is that University of North Texas did a study. It was a groundbreaking study, a double-blind human clinical trial on leaky gut or metabolic endotoxemia with the spore strains that were used in Just Thrive. What they did is they took 100 “healthy” college students. They tested them for metabolic endotoxemia, otherwise known as leaky gut, and found that, of these healthy college students, 55% of them had a leaky gut and didn’t know it.

So, they took those 55% of the college students, divided them in half, half the participants received the placebo, basically a sugar pill, and the other half received the spore strains. They sent those two strains back, those two groups back to their regular lives, their regular college lives, which is not healthy. They had no dietary or lifestyle modifications. We all know what college students do to their guts.

So, they took the products for 30 days, or they took the strains for 30 days. They tested their LPS toxins after 30 days in their blood. And what they found is that the treated group, so the group that was receiving the spores, saw a 42% reduction in LPS toxins in their bloodstream. And this was just after 30 days and no dietary or lifestyle modifications whatsoever.

But what is probably even more concerning and more terrifying is that the finding that the placebo group, they actually…their LPS toxins actually increased. They saw a 32% increase in LPS toxins, meaning that, over time, that leakiness of the gut gets worse. So, having a leaky gut is like this drippy faucet. It drips and it drips and it drips. And then one day, that faucet overflows. And that’s how disease happens. People have this chronic low-grade inflammation caused by leakiness of the gut, which then leads to disease. And one day, you don’t have an allergy, and then one day, you do. And this didn’t happen overnight, despite what you might think. It’s been thousands of toxins that have seeped into your bloodstream over the years. And then one day, an allergy occurs or an autoimmune disease appears, and that sink starts to overflow.

This truly was a groundbreaking study. And as far as I know, it’s the only study of its kind on leaky gut in the probiotic space or, for that matter, in the pharmaceutical space. And now, the spores can provide you with just another tool in your toolbox to help yourself and your clients feel better and support their overall gut health.

So, it’s the survivability of the spores and the support of the gut lining are two of the biggest reasons that we chose to work with spores, just because of the profound effects that they have on the gut, and even more importantly, the profound effects they have with people. It works. And people start to notice a difference with a host of issues that they’re facing. You could look at all the studies in the world, but a product has to work. And we found that these spores have been the most effective tool out there in supporting gut health and the most researched as far as the finished product.

So, people generally start to see the impacts of spores relatively quickly, but the true magic starts to happen when they’ve been on the product for about three to four months. First, people come to the product for digestive issues, typical issues like gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation. And then after a few months, they start to see improvements in their mood, having more energy, even better weight management. Coming from the pharmaceutical world years ago, we’d always laugh about…not really laugh, but be disgusted by the side effects of pharmaceuticals. They include suicidal thoughts, blood in their stools, where we say the side effects with spores are that you have more energy, better weight management, a happier mood. One of my friends actually told me it saved her marriage because she was just in a better mood and had more energy.

So, obviously, this is logical because when your microbiome is supported and you’re going to the bathroom regularly, getting rid of those toxins, just getting rid of all that, everything else starts to fall into place. This is how you help your clients by starting off using a high-quality probiotic. You want to think of these spores as a functional food or a foundational nutrition because spores truly are foundational in our health and wellness itinerary and the world we’re living in.

When you’re looking for a probiotic, you just want to find strains that have that specific strain ID. That’s really important because that strain ID should represent the research that’s behind that strain ID. And then the gold standard is having the research behind that finished formulation and evidence that those strains actually work together. And then finally, you want the strains that you’re recommending to actually survive that journey from the gastric system into the intestines naturally.

So, this is why spore-based probiotics are so effective because they just are nature’s true probiotic. That’s kind of all I have for you guys. I’m happy to answer any questions. And of course, if you’re interested in trying the spores that are used in Just Thrive, you can hop on that link and get 15% off discount for…I think it’s for the rest of the month. So, if you have any other questions, I’m happy to answer any of them.

Dr. Sandi: Thank you, Tina. That was a wonderful, wonderful presentation. I know we’ve all learned a lot about probiotics, specifically spore probiotics. And this has really been so informative. And there are so many myths out there, as you talked about. And so, it is great…it’s a great product. And I was around when you first introduced it. And you gave me a sample. And so, it is wonderful to have followed your journey and how far you have grown. And this is definitely something that is research-based. And our health coaches are out there looking, how do you educate people about probiotics? Because it is an area of so, so much confusion. So, thank you.

Thank you so much for being with us. We are going to take a very brief break, 10 minutes. And then we will reconvene in 10 minutes with our next presenter, who I know you’re going to enjoy. She’s going to talk about the history of the supplement industry and the significant work she is doing with medical practices.

So, Tina, thank you so much. I know that you had offered to answer some questions. We’re going to go through the Q&As. And if there are those that might be appropriate for you to answer, we’ll direct them your way for you and your team.

Tina: Okay. Sounds great. Thanks so much for having me.

Dr. Sandi: Thank you. Bye, Tina.