In a randomized controlled trial, the probiotic Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis—used in many probiotic products, including Dannon’s Activia yogurts—did nothing to improve bowel health in people with constipation, according to data from a randomized triple-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial Wednesday in JAMA Network Open.
Stomach acid is meant to kill anything, whether it’s a pathogen or beneficial probiotic. Yogurt’s probiotics shouldn’t survive the stomach if all is going well.
I had severe gut dysfunction due to multiple parasites and pathogens from spending a year in India. I had dysbiosis, IBS-C and SIBO all diagnosed, and for five years I developed a debilitating autoimmune condition that made eating nearly impossible without intense systemic inflammation, brain fog, body pain, etc.
In addition to multiple pill based probiotics I did literally every home fermentation project I could figure out; kraut, kimchi, yogurt, kefir, etc. None of them helped one bit. I eventually took a double capsule probiotic designed to survive the stomach intact and open in the small intestine and my symptoms were mostly resolved within a week.
I wish this was more common knowledge. We are just starting to understand how crucial gut health is to overall health, including mental health, and basically everyone gets their gut biome carpet bombed with antibiotics on the regular.
Stomach acid is meant to kill anything, whether it’s a pathogen or beneficial probiotic. Yogurt’s probiotics shouldn’t survive the stomach if all is going well.
This is misinformation.
I had SIBO
Not likely. https://humanmicrobiome.info/sibo/
You’re getting your information from poor quality sources.
I eventually took a double capsule probiotic designed to survive the stomach intact and open in the small intestine and my symptoms were mostly resolved within a week.
Almost certainly placebo or random luck. There are a plethora of probiotic and FMT studies that show it can have significant impacts when you take it directly orally:
We are just starting to understand how crucial gut health is to overall health, including mental health, and basically everyone gets their gut biome carpet bombed with antibiotics on the regular.
Agree. I’ve done FMT from 15+ donors and haven’t yet reversed the damage from antibiotics. When I would share studies about this on reddit I would get viciously attacked by people who seemed addicted to antibiotics.



