Did you know that Health Canada (the Canadian version of the FDA that also monitors natural foods supplements in Canada) will not allow “probiotic” products containing Enterrococus faecium and Enterrococus faecalis into the country because “certain [so-called] probiotic bacteria have been associated with human illness and have a high-risk of developing antibiotic resistance and are not suited for use as probiotics, and the products containing these two species are rejected without further consideration.” This effectively means that Health Canada has deemed any probiotic product that has these species (E. faecalis and E. faceium) in its blend to be unsafe for human consumption. They go so far as to prohibit the sales of these products throughout Canada.
Furthermore, the US Food and Drug Administration has a bad “bug” book, where E. faecalis and E. faecium are listed as organisms that are detrimental to human health (listed as Streptococcus Group D, which is an old taxonomic ID of Enterococcus). Yet, the US government allows so-called “probiotic” marketers, who import their blends or products from Japan, to sell these dangerous bacteria, without considering the safety of consumers.
I have checked with all of my colleagues who represent American probiotic manufacturing concerns, and they have repeatedly stated that they do not sell probiotic products containing any of the above species for human consumption. Some marketers in the US who import their products from Japan proclaim that they are selling non-toxic strains of E. faecalis or E. faecium; however, they have never provided any independent validation of their claims. It is frightening to me how these products are imported into the country without more vigilant government scrutiny. Is it perhaps due to the enormous amount of imports coming in from China and other pacific-rim regions that overwhelms our inadequate system and thereby allows 95% of the imported goods not to be inspected? I guess this is the ultimate lesson in the age-old adage of “Buyer Beware”.
Make sure to read the label carefully the next time you are considering purchasing a probiotic supplement, and always look for “Made in the USA” on the label.
As always, I recommend products that contain probiotics from the Lactobacillus genus or the Bifidobacteria genus. All species from these two genera are safe at any level. Be wary of labels claiming to contain species from the Bacillus genus, such as Bacillus coagulans, as they are spore-forming organisms and give cause for serious safety concerns.
In Health,
Natasha


