# Florastor alternatives?



## Trino

Hey guys!I had actually purchased a small amount of Florastor online. When I got it though it was less in quantity than I expected. Then I got looking recently under the scientific name of the organism saccharomyces boulardii, and found there are other companies selling this for a lot cheaper. Apparently though this is a slightly different strain, because Florastor is saccharomyces boulardii lyo, and the others are just saccharomyces bouldardii. Does anybody have any experience with these cheaper variants? I know sometimes with acidophilus products the generics are not as good, though I may note acidophilus seems to help me to some extent. But if they are the same thing, it would cost a lot less...


----------



## wearyone

Trino said:


> Hey guys!I had actually purchased a small amount of Florastor online. When I got it though it was less in quantity than I expected. Then I got looking recently under the scientific name of the organism saccharomyces boulardii, and found there are other companies selling this for a lot cheaper. Apparently though this is a slightly different strain, because Florastor is saccharomyces boulardii lyo, and the others are just saccharomyces bouldardii. Does anybody have any experience with these cheaper variants? I know sometimes with acidophilus products the generics are not as good, though I may note acidophilus seems to help me to some extent. But if they are the same thing, it would cost a lot less...


Hi Trino - In the June 2007 edition of Prevention Magazine, there is an article on p. 97 entitiled "Europe's Best-Kept Health Secret" which lists the best probiotics to buy which have been tested and are reliable. The probiotics recommended for IBS-D are Align (aligngi.com), Culturelle (culturelle.com), Florastor (florastor.com), and Theralac (theralac.com). I am currently taking Align and will continue it as it is helping. However, none but Florastor contain S. boulardii, except possibly Theralac, which has a blend of five bacterial strains, none of which are listed in this article. Hope this helps. Wearyone


----------



## Trino

wearyone said:


> Hi Trino - In the June 2007 edition of Prevention Magazine, there is an article on p. 97 entitiled "Europe's Best-Kept Health Secret" which lists the best probiotics to buy which have been tested and are reliable. The probiotics recommended for IBS-D are Align (aligngi.com), Culturelle (culturelle.com), Florastor (florastor.com), and Theralac (theralac.com). I am currently taking Align and will continue it as it is helping. However, none but Florastor contain S. boulardii, except possibly Theralac, which has a blend of five bacterial strains, none of which are listed in this article. Hope this helps. Wearyone


Thanks wearyone. I should note I haven't been exactly formally diagnosed, but went to a gastroenterologist who suggested it was IBS-like symptoms I have. Usually it's after or during travel. To me it's consistent with IBS-D. I've actually used Digestive Advantage and the one he mentioned specifically, which was Align, and they both work for me quite well except I did have one situation on another trip where both failed. I recently bought some Jarrow Saccharomyces Boulardii which was very economical and plan to try it out soon. The difference may be in the lyo designation. I think they did something to it to make Florastor, which possibly makes it quicker to get into your system? That's just a guess. Or it's a slightly different strain. Florastor says it's the only tested version of s.b. Apparently since it is not a bacteria but a yeast you could actually take s.b. with another bacterial probiotic. If the sky were the limit or I was suffering as badly as some others unfortunately do I would probably go for VSL #3 and take Florastor too, as well as some prebiotics and fiber. I also bought some Culturelle and it looks promising. A lot of people have raved on this site about Primadophilus Reuteri and PB 8 so I might give them a spin as well.


----------



## Trino

Actually I just found it on one of the Florastor web pages. The lyophilization is apparently a process that gives it a longer shelf life and so the s.b. doesn't have to be refrigerated. The Jarrow version says to refrigerate and has an expiration date.


----------



## clack013

Can you give me some brand names of the alternatives? Where are they available? I would love to find this yeast for a cheaper price.


Trino said:


> Actually I just found it on one of the Florastor web pages. The lyophilization is apparently a process that gives it a longer shelf life and so the s.b. doesn't have to be refrigerated. The Jarrow version says to refrigerate and has an expiration date.


----------



## Trino

clack013 said:


> Can you give me some brand names of the alternatives? Where are they available? I would love to find this yeast for a cheaper price.


Yes. Sorry clack013. The one I bought was Jarrow Saccharomyces Boulardii. I just did a search on my browser under saccharomyces boulardii. As I recall there are one or two others besides this brand.


----------



## clack013

Ok thankyou, I'm gonna go see if this is available in stores.


Trino said:


> Yes. Sorry clack013. The one I bought was Jarrow Saccharomyces Boulardii. I just did a search on my browser under saccharomyces boulardii. As I recall there are one or two others besides this brand.


----------



## clack013

I found out that primal defense contains saccharomyces boulardii but after reading Midnight's posts saying that she would not trust primal defense I am skeptical. Has anyone used primal defense?


----------



## Iwillcuremyibs

when we find what works, we should stick to it. Sometimes we can waste a lot of time and money looking for cheaper alternatives. Also, sometimes pills may have the same active ingredients. but it is the inactive ingredients and fillers that can alter the effectiveness.


----------



## pb4

Primadophilus reuteri made by natures way is far better in my opinion with my experiances with crohns and IBS...and it's very affordable and very affective...it also has other benefits such as aiding with high cholesterol, lactose intolerance and vaginal health...I've tried other probiotics but nothing compares all around to the primadophilus.


----------



## Trino

That's very possible. I have taken the Jarrow s.b. for a few days and in the beginning had a lot of gas; I think someone else has commented on this problem in the forum too with Florastor. Lately however it's done very well for me. I think possibly one advantage of Florastor is the smaller pill size, so you don't get the whole dose at once as with the Jarrow pills.


----------



## Trino

I also bought some PB 8 and the reuteri and plan to try them out. So far it's just a question of which one will be the best since every probiotic I've used seems to have some benefit to it and to help.


----------



## Gret

Primal Defense didn't do much for me and I felt like the hard capsule couldn't break down efficiently - although I'm sure it did. It just felt like a lump in my gut for an hour or so. The Florastor has been the best, although Align worked as well. I've been on one Florastor daily for a long time with fantastic results.


----------



## Trino

That's great. Personally I used Jarrow S.B. for a couple of weeks and found it to be really gassy. Maybe Florastor is a little different. While Primal Defense brings the house in terms of having about everything in it, I wonder just how much of it is there, but haven't tried it yet. I agree 100 percent about Align from when I used it before; I definitely wish they would bring the price down a bit though.


----------



## Bradw4040

I used Align for about 3 months. It helped some initially... maybe by 75%, but as time wore on the effectiveness diminished. I switched to VSL3 and had better results. I've tried another probiotic... Natures Secret, and it worked really well for about 5 months. I think you have to switch around to keep the theraputic effects. At least that's my experience and I had a person in the health food store tell me it's best to rotate the probiotics.


----------



## Rosarita

Trino said:


> Yes. Sorry clack013. The one I bought was Jarrow Saccharomyces Boulardii. I just did a search on my browser under saccharomyces boulardii. As I recall there are one or two others besides this brand.


I just bought the Jarrow Saccharomyces Boulardii and started taking it this morning. I will let you know how it worked. I suffer from IBS-D and have tried various probiotics, including Align and Digestive Advantage. Neither worked very well for me, so I hope this does.


----------

