[HN Gopher] Oral microbiome sequencing after taking probiotics
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Oral microbiome sequencing after taking probiotics
        
       Author : sethbannon
       Score  : 176 points
       Date   : 2026-01-06 21:10 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (blog.booleanbiotech.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (blog.booleanbiotech.com)
        
       | ravedave5 wrote:
       | A surprising amount of variation from day to day even.
        
       | temp0826 wrote:
       | I have been wondering about these oral probiotics for a while. I
       | have used BLIS K12 lozenges before and had a strange experience-
       | it seemed like they changed my baseline for what I could detect
       | as fresh/clean breath and I began noticing everyone else's breath
       | (which isn't exactly pleasant, even if it's not bad per se). I
       | never asked anyone or received feedback about my own breath
       | personally but it made me very curious what anyone who's breath I
       | noticed would have sensed.
        
       | net01 wrote:
       | i remember reading about "lumina probiotic" Has anyone done
       | research on it since, reviewing thier claims ?
       | 
       | their claims on their website:
       | 
       | replaces S. mutans, alters oral microbiome, reduces acid via
       | ethanol metabolism, produces antibiotic, freshens breath,
       | brightens teeth, lasts decades. etc
       | 
       | i am very skeptical of it
        
         | TheJoeMan wrote:
         | I recall they were offering a few people mail-in swabs to test
         | if the colonization had taken hold, but haven't read any
         | follow-up.
        
       | SirensOfTitan wrote:
       | Only tangentially relevant, but I've dealt with mouth and gut
       | microbiome issues my whole life, the latter exacerbated by a
       | strong antibiotic I had to go on in mid 2017 for a super
       | resistant staph infection. L Reuteri supplementation and "L
       | Reuteri yogurt" was one of those alternative methods I read about
       | (though I'm skeptical that reuteri is the dominant strain in this
       | "yogurt")
       | 
       | Doctors don't really care to look at these kinds of issues. It
       | took years of suffering and autoimmune issues (particularly
       | muscle spasms and joint pain) alongside gut problems before I
       | demanded a gastroenterologist test me for H pylori and SIBO: I
       | was positive for both.
       | 
       | H pylori was a painful treatment process, but I cleared it after
       | one round of quad therapy. SIBO on the other hand, a condition I
       | think we hardly understand, has been hard to deal with. Many
       | rounds of rifaximin with very minimal relief and no real answer
       | as to how to deal with it.
       | 
       | Doctors are hesitant to help, so I've resulted to a lot of
       | personal experimentation to deal with it. The only thing that
       | ever worked (and it's just anecdata so unsure) was sulbultiamine
       | supplementation, but I can't actually get that anymore and normal
       | thiamine doesn't help.
       | 
       | This is all to say: I think microbiome is supremely important to
       | health, very few things seem to really impact it, and doctors are
       | hesitant to deal with these systems at all. I'm sure FMTs will
       | become much more popular for a variety of conditions, but it
       | seems like it's a real risk where not only might someone else's
       | microbiome not be a fit for your physiology, but you could be
       | inheriting a variety of risks the donor is susceptible to but you
       | are not.
       | 
       | I am not a doctor and much of what I'm saying may be wrong. Don't
       | quote me please.
        
         | robocat wrote:
         | > Doctors don't really care to look at these kinds of issues
         | 
         | Perhaps for good reasons?
         | 
         | The science is messy, there are few proven interventions and
         | every woowoo worrywart will be pestering their doctor. Your
         | doctor is in an unenviable position.
         | 
         | With doctors in New Zealand, my one trick is to find good
         | specialists and pay them privately.
         | 
         | I believe that a GP only helps point you in the right
         | direction. Our public health system is mostly too overloaded to
         | help (unless you have a critical problem and your GP helps you
         | get in a queue).
         | 
         | Not sure what helps in other countries.
         | 
         | But I 100% agree that you need to take responsibility for
         | healing yourself. Only you have the motivation, and the context
         | and experience to judge your own problems -- however one needs
         | to take care not to get caught in irrelevant or misleading
         | deadends (especially when mislead by corporations or
         | alternative woowoo freaks).
        
         | majormajor wrote:
         | > Doctors don't really care to look at these kinds of issues.
         | It took years of suffering and autoimmune issues (particularly
         | muscle spasms and joint pain) alongside gut problems before I
         | demanded a gastroenterologist test me for H pylori and SIBO: I
         | was positive for both.
         | 
         | I went through a similar post-antibiotics gut nightmare. There
         | are good doctors and there are bad doctors and like everything,
         | there are fewer good ones than bad+average ones.
         | 
         | Seems like you got testing and treatment eventually, I'm sorry
         | it didn't work better; I'm replying less for you and more for
         | anyone who encounters similar. Shop around for your docs!
         | 
         | I got tested very quickly for both H Pylori and SIBO in 2019 on
         | doctor suggestions, I'd never heard of either. Sounds like this
         | was probably around the same time as you went through this
         | based no the antibiotic course that messed up your gut being in
         | 2017).
         | 
         | I went to three doctors in six months, the one that did the
         | testing was the second one. The one who was confident in their
         | knowledge but didn't do anything, including the testing ->
         | immediate no-return-visit from me. The one who said "we don't
         | really know how this works" but also didn't do anything -> no
         | return visit, but appreciate the candor. The one I went back to
         | is the one who said "we don't really know how this works, but
         | let's test for these other things we've learned more about
         | recently, and let's also try some experimental/off-label
         | things." I was actually negative for both of those things, so
         | there was even more random stuff beyond that, but the only one
         | the doctor I liked was really resistant to was a poop
         | transplant, though personally... seems like the only known way
         | to repopulate some of the shit, pun intended.
        
         | a_conservative wrote:
         | Not a doctor either.
         | 
         | Japan seems to love creating fat soluble forms of thiamine.
         | I've been experimenting with a form of thiamine called TTFD.
         | TTFD is synthetic, there's a natural form called allithiamine,
         | derived from garlic. There's also another form called
         | benfotiamine. All of these are fat soluble and highly highly
         | available forms of thiamine. TTFD in particular is associated
         | with paradoxical effects where a person can have a temporary
         | worsening of thiamine deficiency symptoms when first consuming
         | TTFD. Thiamine is generally considered very safe, but these
         | supplements are pretty hefty doses, so I would suggest treading
         | lightly.
         | 
         | There's also some thinking amongst some doctors that sub-
         | clinical thiamine deficiencies being more common than most
         | doctors realize [0] [1]
         | 
         | [0] Thiamine Deficiency Disease, Dysautonomia, and High Calorie
         | Malnutrition
         | 
         | [1]
         | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/chapter/monograph/pii/...
        
       | biotinker wrote:
       | I love that this is something that is feasible for someone to
       | just do right now as a hobbyist or blogger. The prices involved
       | here are very reasonable and well within reach of someone wanting
       | to do some project, though not yet at "sequence your microbiome
       | every day" levels.
       | 
       | I hope we see a lot more posts like this in the future.
        
         | the__alchemist wrote:
         | Yea; Plasmidsaurus slaps. Especially if you live near one of
         | the drop boxes. (e.g. a research university) $15/sample, and
         | they email the results the next morning. This sort of service
         | is enabled in part by nanopore sequencing.
         | 
         | I have just used them to dork around with my home lab to
         | validate cloning results. Now I want to try something like
         | this!
        
       | samuell wrote:
       | Nice experiment and writeup!
       | 
       | On a tangent, nice to see Plasmidsaurus using Emu [1], which has
       | been shown to work great for 16S ribosomal RNA analysis on ONT by
       | basically everyone I've heard who tried it. It has a nice
       | algorithm for predicting if variants are due to ONT sequencing
       | errors or are true variants, based on an expectation maximization
       | algorithm, and thus working around the somewhat limited accuracy
       | in ONT reads. Pretty clever stuff.
       | 
       | And if you want to run your own analysis on the raw data using
       | Emu, you might want to try out our Trana pipeline built around
       | Emu in Nextflow [2]. Apart from running Emu, it does some of the
       | preprocessing like filtering, as well as exporting as Krona
       | diagrams etc.
       | 
       | We're just putting it through validation at the clinical
       | microbiology lab at Karolinska here in Stockholm right now.
       | 
       | The main caveat worth mentioning is that the choice of database
       | seems to be able to affect results quite a lot in some cases.
       | 
       | [1] https://github.com/treangenlab/emu
       | 
       | [2] https://github.com/genomic-medicine-sweden/TRANA
        
       | compass_copium wrote:
       | >However, there is some light evidence that the variation I see
       | is not just intra-day variation. Specifically, there are several
       | species that stay consistent in frequency across all samples:
       | e.g., Neisseria subflava, Streptococcus viridans, Streptococcus
       | oralis.
       | 
       | Disagree. You can not make that claim without sequencing your
       | mouth's microbiome in the absence of probiotics for a month as
       | well (and, really, many more than one persom's). Was your diet
       | controlled all month? Oral hygiene habits? Any of a million other
       | variables?
       | 
       | Also, it's worth pointing out that the study was designed to test
       | one hypothesis, and you need to be very careful about looking at
       | further claims. This test only really provided evidence that
       | these probiotics don't introduce L. reuterii.
        
         | rossdavidh wrote:
         | Well, they did say "light evidence" rather than "proof".
        
         | Aurornis wrote:
         | Unfortunately self-testing something like this isn't trivially
         | cheap, so the self experimenters tend to skip the very
         | important control step.
         | 
         | This happens a lot when people discover that you can order your
         | own bloodwork. Reddit supplement and biohacking forums gets a
         | lot of posts from people sharing bloodwork from two different
         | dates and concluding that the changes are entirely due to their
         | supplement regimen. When you're only getting a couple tests
         | it's not easy to see that even day to day variations in these
         | tests can be very large. Even timing of tests during the day,
         | how you slept, or what you ate can have a lot of impact on many
         | tests.
         | 
         | Doing some basic controlling without taking the supplement is
         | important. Doing double-blind tests on yourself also isn't that
         | hard if you put some effort in. There have been some surprising
         | results from people doing controlled tests on themselves and
         | discovering that the supplements that looked promising on paper
         | were either doing nothing or were trending toward being
         | negative. Gwern's experiments with magnesium supplementation
         | which were generally flat with hints of trending toward being
         | negative are a good example. That experiment was a good reality
         | check during the era when the popular narrative that we were
         | all severely magnesium deficient and the solution was high
         | doses of magnesium for everyone.
        
       | throwoutway wrote:
       | I would love to see this same analysis with a gut probiotic! I am
       | never convinced if I'm wasting my money, which strains are best,
       | should I do refrigerated or shelf-stable, etc.
        
         | staticassertion wrote:
         | As far as I am aware, fiber has infinitely superior research
         | behind it with far more drastic effects. Just take fiber if
         | you're worried about gut health imo.
        
           | monkpit wrote:
           | Yes, feeding good bacteria is the best bet. Probiotics are
           | transient, they don't colonize.
        
             | ungreased0675 wrote:
             | How do they get there initially?
        
               | ac29 wrote:
               | The environment we live in and the foods we eat are
               | hardly sterile.
               | 
               | There is also a significant microbiome on your skin.
        
           | throwoutway wrote:
           | I agree, but if one has ever taken an antibiotic then they
           | should replace the bacteria that they lost? Strong
           | antibiotics completely destroy the gut biome
        
             | staticassertion wrote:
             | The research doesn't strongly support probiotics even in
             | that case one way or the other.
        
         | thom wrote:
         | Anecdata/placebo/whatever: I use BioGaia's Gastrus tablets and
         | they increase my quality of life noticeably, and I can tell
         | when I've been off them for a while. I got refrigerated
         | deliveries of probiotic yoghurt drinks for a while previously
         | and in addition to the faff, didn't notice as good results.
        
           | tonyarkles wrote:
           | Additional Anecdata: I head about BioGaia's Gastrus tablets
           | here on HN a couple of years ago and they have dramatically
           | improved my wife's quality of life as well. She suffered from
           | significant GI problems. We bought a pack of the BioGaia
           | tablets based on an anecdote here. Within about 3 weeks her
           | year-long GI problems were gone. She discontinued the tablets
           | and the GI issues stayed away. About 18 months later, after a
           | period of heavy stress and travel, her GI issues returned and
           | then disappeared again after another round of BioGaia
           | tablets.
        
             | throwoutway wrote:
             | Thank you both for the anecdata!
        
       | CGMthrowaway wrote:
       | PSA: If a probiotic is on the shelf, not in a cooler, it's
       | probably not worth buying. The best companies certify the count
       | of organisms _at time of manufacture_ , but no counts are
       | guaranteed at the shelf. Probiotics are living organisms and
       | ought to be refrigerated for max lifespan.
       | 
       | You can get refrigerated probiotic supps at a place like Whole
       | Foods.
       | 
       | Source: I used to work in the industry.
        
         | Aeglaecia wrote:
         | does this apply universally to bacterial strains ?
        
           | CGMthrowaway wrote:
           | Yes
        
             | zdragnar wrote:
             | The Internet almost universally disagrees, based on a quick
             | search:
             | 
             | https://seed.com/cultured/probiotics-refrigeration-
             | storage-g...
        
               | CGMthrowaway wrote:
               | Lyophilization is a fancy word for freeze-drying. "If a
               | probiotic is refrigerated, it doesn't mean it's a better
               | quality" is of course true. But nothing that I said is
               | false. If I am getting probiotics from a quality source,
               | I am going to prefer the refrigerated product over the
               | "shelf-stable" one every time.
        
               | zdragnar wrote:
               | There's a difference between "choosing one over the
               | other" and the original claim of shelf stabilized
               | probiotics being not worth buying.
               | 
               | On a few occasions when my dog has gotten sick, or needed
               | antibiotics, shelf stabilized probiotics cleaned their
               | digestion right up.
               | 
               | Are strains that only survive when refrigerated probably
               | a higher count? Maybe. Are there stains that are better
               | but can't be freeze dried? Probably. Are there shelf
               | stable probiotics that are worth buying, especially if
               | you don't have access to refrigerated stuff? Absolutely!
        
               | CGMthrowaway wrote:
               | I never denied any of that. Read my comment again, more
               | carefully.
        
               | zdragnar wrote:
               | The very first line of your comment:
               | 
               | > PSA: If a probiotic is on the shelf, not in a cooler,
               | it's probably not worth buying.
               | 
               | is exactly what I was responding to, along with your one
               | word response "Yes" to that applying equally to all
               | bacterial strains, which is also untrue.
        
               | CGMthrowaway wrote:
               | The statements below can all be taken as true, together.
               | Probably doesn't not mean always.
               | https://i.imgur.com/BRNn0rJ.png                 If a
               | probiotic is on the shelf, not in a cooler, it's probably
               | not worth buying       Strains that only survive when
               | refrigerated are maybe probably a higher count
               | There are probably strains that are better but can't be
               | freeze dried       There are absolutely shelf stable
               | probiotics that are worth buying, especially if you don't
               | have access to refrigerated stuff
        
               | DANmode wrote:
               | Why do you think they're here, sharing the info with you?
               | 
               | If you could just Google it up, not nearly as interesting
               | to HN.
        
               | CGMthrowaway wrote:
               | Thank you
        
         | temp0826 wrote:
         | There are some newer types of probiotics (called "spore-based")
         | which claim better shelf stability (don't require
         | refrigeration) and resistance (to populate further down the
         | digestive system). But you're absolutely right, they tend to
         | die off pretty quickly (be extra weary of ordering them online,
         | especially during the summer if they're going to sit around in
         | a hot delivery truck or mailbox!).
        
           | CGMthrowaway wrote:
           | That is more around solving a different problem than shelf-
           | stability, which is the fact that most probiotics targeting
           | the intestines don't survive in great measure beyond the
           | stomach.
        
         | zamadatix wrote:
         | When I asked my doctor about which kinds of probiotics are most
         | effective she specifically mentioned refrigerated vs non-
         | refrigerated is not a way to identify quality or effectiveness
         | unless you know the specific strain(s) needed cannot be made
         | shelf-stable. This lined up with asking my endodontist after
         | they prescribed some antibiotics for a tooth infection. They
         | did warn that the use by dates are a bit bull, not to stock up
         | on them as they do deteriorate in quality with time, and not to
         | try to keep even the shelf-stable ones above room temperature.
         | 
         | Maybe I misunderstood what my doctor said, maybe my doctor was
         | just wrong, maybe it's actually extremely nuanced, maybe it's
         | something I hadn't even considered. I guess all I'm saying is
         | it's probably better to talk to your doctor(s) about it than
         | follow self-sourced (in both the above and this comment)
         | medical advice from HN.
        
           | Enginerrrd wrote:
           | Also frankly, doctor =/= expert on probiotics.
           | 
           | None of their training really addresses that and while they
           | might be more qualified to read research than random layman I
           | would not in general ascribe authority to what a random
           | practitioner has to say about probiotics. Frankly, the
           | research on probiotics is still very much in its infancy and
           | a LOT remains to be figured out.
        
             | xattt wrote:
             | > doctor =/= expert on probiotics
             | 
             | Medical microbiologists would love to have a word with you.
             | Medicine and medicine-adjacent disciplines each develop
             | institutional knowledge that percolates from each
             | specialized discipline.
             | 
             | > ...the research on probiotics is still very much in its
             | infancy and a LOT remains to be figured out.
             | 
             | I'm curious who you think does the research. It's certainly
             | not Bubba from down the creek.
        
               | cwnyth wrote:
               | PhDs do the research. Not your typical overworked family
               | practitioner.
        
               | xattt wrote:
               | They don't develop treatment protocols or testing
               | modalities either. Knowledge gets disseminated as best
               | practices and gets applied as needed to different
               | specialties.
               | 
               | If probiotics is what you're after, why not eat or drink
               | something fermented?
        
             | zamadatix wrote:
             | Absolutely, if you have access to domain specific experts
             | or researchers than that should trump whatever your more
             | generalized expert will say.
             | 
             | Also right to highlight that just because there exist
             | specialist in something does not mean we have the full or
             | correct understanding yet, it's just your best place to
             | find information regarding it unless you want to go join
             | the field.
             | 
             | Great points!
        
           | refulgentis wrote:
           | " and not to try to keep even the shelf-stable ones above
           | room temperature." - hate to ask, but night brain kicked in -
           | could I trouble you to give me an alternative way of phrasing
           | this? I keep parsing it as "don't even bother trying to keep
           | probiotics warm"
        
             | stavros wrote:
             | "Even the ones that can be kept outside a fridge shouldn't
             | be kept above room temperature".
        
             | zamadatix wrote:
             | No night brain, just a good splice on my part after editing
             | that sentence down :). stavros has a great rewrite already,
             | but an even more succinct one for just the particular
             | snippet could be:
             | 
             | "even shelf-stable probiotics should not be kept above room
             | temperature".
        
               | justinclift wrote:
               | "room temperature" has a whole lot of variation without
               | even thinking about the extremes of population location.
               | :(
        
               | zamadatix wrote:
               | They gave it as a defined term with a pdf copy of
               | https://www.goodrx.com/drugs/medication-basics/which-is-
               | the-... describing the ranges - I just neglected to
               | include all of that detail in my comment :). Another
               | example of why it's great to discuss with your doctor
               | instead of advice from forum comments! Googling around,
               | apparently these values are standardized for pharmacology
               | in the US by the USP, other areas may have other
               | standards.
               | 
               | Hope that helps!
        
           | DANmode wrote:
           | > maybe my doctor was just wrong
           | 
           | Yes, doctors are similar to mechanics or any other trade, in
           | that some simply suck.
           | 
           | Some got Ds.
        
           | CGMthrowaway wrote:
           | >self-sourced
           | 
           | It's not "self-sourced" whatever that means (like that's a
           | bad thing per se?). I saw the sausage being made and I spoke
           | to the sausage makers. The source is the sausage makers, not
           | me. Sorry I don't have a link. These facts may or may not be
           | trade secrets.
        
             | zamadatix wrote:
             | "Self-sourced" as in both of our comments are hearsay: we
             | say we heard this information from someone and our source
             | for that is only us saying so. That's pretty bad in terms
             | of what others can actually do with that information (from
             | either of our comments). Not just because hearsay can be
             | faked, but more because it's unquestionable, untestable,
             | and the quality of the information has almost always
             | greatly degraded compared to the source.
             | 
             | This doesn't mean the comments should be assumed to be
             | false any more than they should be assumed to be true. It
             | also doesn't imply we necessarily have some way to provide
             | an actual source either. Just that folks will have to go
             | elsewhere if they want any certainty about this
             | information, since we didn't provide any as random
             | usernames on a message board saying we heard something
             | before.
        
         | agumonkey wrote:
         | what kind of cooler, near zero or just yogurt level
         | temperatures ?
        
           | CGMthrowaway wrote:
           | Freezing has potential to cause damage to the organisms,
           | safer to refrigerate (and consume asap)
        
         | anjel wrote:
         | They sell a yogurt starter that is purportedly Salivarius and
         | ruteirii culture over at Beazos' Clubhouse. I haven't had it
         | tested but it's way easier than the usual Bulgarian microbes.
         | Assuming the cultures are as labeled, I have to imagine eating
         | live culture yogurt is more likely to propogate than loszenges
         | made in a factory though.
        
           | davio wrote:
           | I've made the L. reuteri "yogurt" from the BioGaia Gastrus
           | tablets from amazon and it works well. First batch is a
           | little watery but after that it pretty much looks like greek
           | yogurt when I use half and half.
        
         | ac29 wrote:
         | > The best companies certify the count of organisms at time of
         | manufacture
         | 
         | The best companies certify the viable count at expiration, I've
         | seen many that do.
         | 
         | There is a difference between probiotics in live culture and
         | shelf stable products but both can be viable methods of
         | delivery.
        
         | dsego wrote:
         | So I shouldn't spend money lactibiane buccodental oral
         | probiotics in pills?
        
         | curl-up wrote:
         | A very naive question: why are "dry and on the shelf" not worth
         | buying, when so many of the food-related microorganisms
         | obviously work fine through such distribution (baking yeasts,
         | various yogurt starters, cheese molds, etc.)?
        
           | michael1999 wrote:
           | Yeasts and fungi produce durable spores. But most gut
           | bacteria do not form spores. When they dry out, they die.
        
         | mlmonkey wrote:
         | Why not run an experiment like this post: take a probiotic
         | capsule, put its contents in a growing medium; after a day or
         | two, sample from the medium and send it in for testing, and see
         | which strains actually grew?
        
       | knowitnone3 wrote:
       | interesting and well written article. I would imagine what you
       | eat, amount of saliva, dental hygiene, and a lot of other
       | variables would affect your oral microbiome. what would be a
       | better test is for people with "red complex" bacteria to take
       | this and see the results. the fact that it didn't colonize tells
       | me this is pretty much useless like most probiotics
       | https://medicine.tufts.edu/news-events/news/are-probiotics-a...
       | the author concluded that they will use it again only because of
       | the taste, not because it works.
        
       | OutOfHere wrote:
       | Wasn't there recently a discussion of a risk of methanol
       | formation from an ethanol producing strain? I sure hope that none
       | of your strains produce ethanol.
        
         | cluckindan wrote:
         | Why not? Ethanol kills competing bacteria and is only produced
         | in microscopic quantities.
         | 
         | Methanol is produced by a lot of bacteria, almost every human
         | produces it within their body.
        
           | OutOfHere wrote:
           | Isn't methanol a strong poison? I do not believe that any
           | probiotic or native strains produce it.
           | 
           | Chemically the problem with ethanol is that it's too close to
           | methanol.
        
             | cluckindan wrote:
             | From Wikipedia:
             | 
             | "Small amounts of methanol are present in normal, healthy
             | human individuals. One study found a mean of 4.5 ppm in the
             | exhaled breath of test subjects.[19] The mean endogenous
             | methanol in humans of 0.45 g/d may be metabolized from
             | pectin found in fruit; one kilogram of apple produces up to
             | 1.4 g of pectin (0.6 g of methanol.)[20]"
             | 
             | "Ingestion of as little as 3.16 grams of methanol can cause
             | irreversible optic nerve damage, and the oral LD50 for
             | humans is estimated to be 56.2 grams.[66]"
             | 
             | 19: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0967-3334/27
             | /7/00...
             | 
             | 20: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1530-0277
             | .1997...
             | 
             | 66: https://aoemj.org/journal/view.php?doi=10.1186/s40557-0
             | 17-01...
        
               | OutOfHere wrote:
               | It doesn't mean it's safe to risk adding to the burden.
               | The danger is that low-grade non-acute toxicity over the
               | natural level could still be harmful over time. All it
               | could take is one mutation.
        
         | vibrio wrote:
         | Slightly different point but many bacteria in us right now also
         | make lipopolysaccharide (LPS). If it were purified and injected
         | iv, the LPS in me could probably kill me 1000 x over.
        
           | OutOfHere wrote:
           | Nothing about this discussion was about injecting anything.
        
           | echelon wrote:
           | LPS is a critical component of gram negative bacteria, like
           | E. coli.
           | 
           | We evolved LPS detection so long ago that it's in our innate
           | immune system instead of adaptive immunity. It's so ancient
           | we share this immune function with fruit flies.
           | 
           | LPS detection is so good and immediate because it's tuned to
           | pick up single instances of LPS molecules. Not a few nmol.
           | Single molecules. Detection will trigger inflammation and
           | immune scale up to deal with the problem.
           | 
           | If you go injecting LPS or E coli into your blood stream, of
           | course your own body is going to kill you. It'll freak out
           | and think WW III has started and begin firing the nukes in
           | every direction to stop it.
           | 
           | This is septic shock.
        
       | dekhn wrote:
       | This article is basically cargo cult biotech.
        
         | ch4s3 wrote:
         | Tech bro woo at its finest. Can't wait until they discover
         | crystals.
        
       | bzmrgonz wrote:
       | I want this for nasal microbiome. I think modern living is
       | wreaking havoc on our upper respiratory track. We need to find a
       | way to regenerate or improve nasal cavity microbiome.
        
         | cluckindan wrote:
         | Just don't get caught insufflating your probiotics during lunch
         | hour :)
        
         | ahstilde wrote:
         | I think your best bet is first curing your allergies. That's
         | what I've been working on for 5 years: www.wyndly.com
        
           | chasebank wrote:
           | how do you test for allergens? i did 5 years of immunotherapy
           | shots, twice weekly at a doctors office and i had to stay 30
           | minutes after each shot for the anaphylaxis risk. it worked
           | quite well but it was really inconvenient.
        
         | inglor_cz wrote:
         | Nasal rinsing may help. In my case, it reduced my number of
         | colds per year from 6 to approx. 1, and they also tend to be
         | milder. This was likely accompanied by some change in nasal
         | microbiome as well.
        
         | tboyd47 wrote:
         | Fresh air
        
       | ck2 wrote:
       | the supplement industry is ridiculously sketchy and virtually
       | unregulated wild-west
       | 
       | and probiotics are the absolute worst of the industry with
       | endless lies in claims and products that often test with nothing
       | of the claim in them
       | 
       | if you want to try probiotics
       | 
       | 1. start with a single strain probiotic, multi-strain are often
       | lies
       | 
       | 2. try an extremely well known/proven probiotic
       | 
       | want to know something is happening? try lp299v Lactobacillus
       | Plantarum
       | 
       | it's cheap, it's been studied for 30+ years so lots of trials and
       | proven claims
       | 
       | it won't colonize, no oral probiotic will colonize, so you have
       | to keep taking it or it's gone in a few days from your GI
        
       | bhouston wrote:
       | Hmmm makes me want to sequence by own oral biome just for kicks
       | or my gut flora - two sides of the same system. That would be
       | neat and I would definitely pay $100 for either if it included an
       | analysis.
        
       | mcc1ane wrote:
       | https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/probiotics-if-you-do...
        
       | dsego wrote:
       | Any opinions on using pure xylitol to stamp out streptococcus
       | mutans and improve the oral microbiome.
        
       | port3000 wrote:
       | Eat 30 different types of fruits and vegetables every week. There
       | is no 'hacking' your way to a good microbiome via these pills.
        
       | daveguy wrote:
       | Fun fact: kombucha is an excellent source of probiotics and is
       | refrigerated.
       | 
       | I used to turn my nose up at it, but I got some branching out at
       | a beer bar that tasted pretty good (0.5% ABV so you'd puke from
       | too much liquid before getting drunk). It seemed more of a
       | breakfast drink so I had a few ounces every morning. Most regular
       | I've been in my life. That said, the "evidence" presented in the
       | article should not be considered due to the lack of controls
       | (just look at the variance between day -4 and day -1). Both this
       | comment and the article are anecdotal.
       | 
       | But kombucha is a lot cheaper than manufactured probiotics,
       | refrigerated, and the drink is acidic so the bacteria in the
       | drink should already be well suited to the stomach pH (1-3 vs
       | 2.5-3.5 kombucha).
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2026-01-07 23:01 UTC)