Best Probiotics
Our PT and nutritionalist James Dixon examines the best probiotics available to buy in the UK. With such a range to choose from it can be daunting but our top 8 should include something to suit your needs. Read on to find out which probiotics made our top 8…
It’s quite common to see our bodies’ gut bacteria balance thrown off. Sickness, environmental factors like pollution, and especially poor nutrition can lead to too much bad bacteria in the gut, and not enough good bacteria. The effects on our health can be disastrous.
Probiotics are the good bacteria that our bodies need to function. Our bodies use a few to maintain a healthy gut with a neutral microbiome, or to re-establish them after we have been sick. However, if our reserves of good bacteria are diminished too much, we get out of balance. We will have too many harmful, bad bacteria, and will need to take action. Our health will be compromised, including our immune function and digestive systems.
Happily, gut bacteria is relatively easy to put back into balance using probiotics supplements, some of the world’s most popular, most potent supplements. They can give you all the good gut bacteria you could ever need, which in turn can improve your immune health and keep you free from plenty of illnesses and diseases.
They essentially counter the bad bacteria by replenishing the good. Several studies support their efficacy, showing them to be the best way to support your gut health and restore its flora, giving you a great boost to your immune system and keeping you free from many diseases.
Today, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the best probiotics available on the UK market.
Top 3 Probiotic Quick Picks
| Image | Product | Features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
Top pick  | YourBiology |
| Check Latest Deals |
Best for men  | Biotics 8 |
| Check Biotics 8 Deals |
Water based  | Symprove |
| Check Latest Price |
Our 8 Top Probiotics In The UK
Members of our team have tested and reviewed the best probiotics available in the UK. We have assessed them and compiled a shortlist of our favourites starting with our top picks.
Contents
YourBiology
Best All-Rounder
YourBiology is amongst the most potent and best probiotic supplements on this list, or indeed on today’s market. The formula should, according to the manufacturer, provide a 250 times better survival rate than its competitors, meaning that your body can make far more use out of the bacteria it delivers. Indeed, plenty of well-intentioned, well-planned probiotics fall short of the mark by giving fantastic recipes that your gut can’t actually make use of – but that doesn’t seem to be the case with YourBiology.
YourBiology uses premium strains of good, healthy gut bacteria to give you the results you want. Designed by some of the greatest minds in the game, it contains a laundry list of some of the best ingredients going.
It includes Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Lactobacillus Paracasei, Bifidobacterium Lactis, MAKtrek® Marine Polysaccharide Complex and Fructooligosaccharide.
The first four are incredibly potent, incredibly healthy gut bacteria, which is where the main action comes from. These, once delivered safely to where they need to be, will make your gut flora flourish.
And they will get there, as mentioned above. This is because the good gut bacteria aren’t digested before they get to the gut, which can often happen. This is due to the MAKtrek® Bipass Technology used in each capsule. It allows the capsules to pass through the intestines safely, without degrading. They then only release their payload of good gut bacteria in the small intestine, which is exactly where it needs to be.
It really is very clever. It makes one of the best gut bacteria complexes going – the combination of Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Lactobacillus Paracasei, and Bifidobacterium Lactis – ridiculously more effective.
YourBiology is very easy to take, too, as all probiotics should be. It comes in capsule form. Simply take two each morning with a glass of water. You’ll begin to feel the benefits within a few days, maybe a few weeks, though best results are achieved long term, with regular use over a period of several months.
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Symprove
Best Water Based Probiotic
Not all probiotics come with the same delivery mechanisms. You get plenty of pills and capsules, of course. However, you also get a few outliers – enter Symprove, a water-based formula crammed full of good, live bacteria.
As with YourBiology’s formula, Symprove is designed to not trigger the digestive process. Being water based, it goes straight through to your gut, with far more active bacteria coming through your stomach intact and live. They can then colonise with no worries.
Symprove makes use of extract of germinated barley (interestingly making it both a probiotic and a prebiotic). It also includes sodium citrate, potassium sorbate, and vitamin C.
The probiotic formulation itself is comprised of four unique strains of live activated bacteriaIn fact, you get 10 billion colony forming units of bacteria with every 70 ml serving of Symprove. They have been chosen through a rigorous selection process and gathered together in order to work synergistically with one another. And, of course, they all arrive at your gut in almost perfect condition, surviving the stomach’s harsh acidity.
From here, these four strands do exactly what any good probiotic should – they help you to maintain a healthy gut microbiome with fully balanced bacteria.
Symprove always impress me in particular with their fantastically able, innovative, well funded research and development programme. They are constantly looking to improve upon their baseline products, giving customers the best in cutting edge supplementation.
This is shown, of course, in their delivery system. They have worked with independent laboratories and healthcare professionals to make it as effective and efficient as possible. In fact, recent high quality independent research conducted by University College London (UCL) showed that theirs was the only product that was able to arrive, survive, thrive, and thus lead to successful gut colonisation.
They have one of the cleverest, highest quality, most potent formulas going. Anyone looking to improve their gut health would do well to look out for them.
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Biotics 8
Best Probiotic For Men
Biotics 8 is one of the highest quality probiotics we tested. It is specifically geared towards men although women would benefit from it too. Biotics 8 contains 10 high quality bacterial strains – comprised of 7 Lactobacillus and 3 Bifidobacterium strains.
Unlike some brands that add lower quality strains so they can advertise they use a high number of live strains, these 10 live strains found in Biotics 8 are all high end and highly impactful. Biotics 8 also link to scientific studies that support the inclusion of each strain on their website – a nice touch that shows the thinking behind this all-encompassing probiotic for men.
You also get the digestive enzymes lipase, amylase and protease which will aid with digestion, chicory root which helps to improve your overall gut microbiome and vitamin D which is proven to support the immune system and improve testosterone levels.
In terms of the benefits – expect this supplement to be a big hitter in terms of the impact it will have on your digestive system. The advertised benefits are wide and varied and generally revolve around improving your gut microbiome (as are most probiotics) – but in our testing we found that we saw results in 7-8 days when testing with a person who had not previously been taking probiotics – with the main benefits aside from an improved digestion being increased energy levels (that sustained through the day), less bloating, much improved symptoms of IBS and even an improved mood.
In the long term, we would expect to see more control over weight loss, improved muscle growth and an improvement in the immune system as just some of the benefits.
Biotics 8 is easy to take as it comes in pill form and there is no need to refrigerate it so it is easy to take even if you are away from home. Simply take 3 pills per day, starting with 1 pill per day to begin with as you slowly introduce it in to your system. By day 10 you should be on the full dose.
Overall, Biotics 8 is an excellent men’s probiotic and if buying a 3 month supply (which we’d suggest you start with) it is very good value for money. There is a 60 day money back guarantee so there really is little to lose and your gut will thank you for taking it.
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Feel Beauty Probiotic+
Best Probiotic For Skin Health
Feel Beauty Probiotic+ by WeAreFeel is, as you might imagine, primarily a beauty product. Or, at least, it is billed that way. It is, in fact, a superlative probiotic that should boost your overall health and wellbeing by a great deal.
I like WeAreFeel’s products. Their multivitamins are a solid option, as are many of their other bits and pieces. Everything they sell has a good ethical core to it, too – it all comes plastic free in completely compostable packaging, and they run everything through contactless letterbox delivery, for those worries about the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It also takes into account plenty of modern lifestyle choices. It is fully gluten-free, allergen-free, vegan, non-GMO, and guaranteed cruelty-free.
Their Probiotic+ is as good as you might expect from such a reputable company. It combines a top tier beauty formula with a top tier probiotic in, as far as I can tell, an industry first. Benefits to nail, skin, and hair health couple with benefits to your gut to keep you both looking and feeling your best.
You get eight compounds designed to keep your skin, hair and nails healthy. This is combined with hyaluronic acid (aka hyaluronan) that delivers over 10 billion live cultures for improved gut health.
The main ingredients, for me, are the bamboo extract, aloe vera (which I always love to see in a skincare product), and hyaluronic acid.
Hyaluronic acid is a potent anti-ageing ingredient. It helps skin to maintain elasticity and plumpness by promoting hydration. Plenty of topical products contain it and there is a wealth of scientific evidence underpinning its efficacy.
Bamboo extract, meanwhile, acts as an incredibly good silica source. Silica helps in collagen synthesisation, which will help your skin and hair to stay young and fresh looking. Aloe vera backs this up. It contains a great many vitamins that are perfect for keeping your skin in good condition. It also improves digestion.
Simply take two capsules of WeAreFeel’s Probiotic+ each day, ideally with food. You should begin to see results within a few days or weeks.
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BioCulture Complex
Best budget option
Next up, we come to another probiotic supplement designed with weight loss in mind.
Bio Culture Complex by WeightWorld™ is a very clever product. A fairly advanced, multi-strain formula, it is designed to deliver a premium blend of twenty different beneficial bacteria strains to best compliment a healthy diet, plugging the gaps that any diet inevitably will have. In so doing, it will both help to positively balance your gut bacteria whilst aiding your weight loss efforts where appropriate.
Those twenty different beneficial bacteria strains deliver a full 77 billion live colony forming units per serving, which is quite astounding.
It is also unique in that it uses both organic inulin and artichoke alongside those colony forming units. I am struggling to think of anything else on the market that packs this much of a punch. Most leading brands give you a small fraction of this kind of volume.
All the ingredients used are completely natural, and the capsules are completely free from common allergens like gluten, dairy or soya.
Simply take two capsules every day with a glass of water and a meal. I recommend taking them at breakfast. As with all other items on this list, though you may begin to see benefits quite quickly, the best results will come after a few months with ongoing use.
There isn’t much else in the complex designed to help you to lose weight. However, though it is made by WeightWorld™, there is nothing explicit in the branding or literature that points to it being a specific weight loss supplement. Maintaining healthy gut bacteria will always help you to lose weight, nevertheless, so a good quality probiotic is a worthy inclusion in any weight loss company’s product list.
If you want something with a bit of oomph, this may be the one for you.
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ProBio 7
Added fibre for additional gut benefits
ProBio 7 do a fantastic range of gut health supplements. I’ll be looking at their original here for clarity’s sake, but I encourage anyone to take a good look at their full range. There may be something entirely well suited to you and your specific needs in there.
It is a really good, daily, vegan supplement that has been a family favourite for nearly my whole lifetime – they launched it in the early nineties and it’s still going strong! As with any similar supplement, it is pretty much guaranteed to aid digestion, immunity, skin, and overall wellbeing by keeping your gut flora healthy and balanced.
Each serving gives you four billion good bacteria, fully alive, from a compliment of seven separate strains. These strains include firm favourites Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium.
ProBio 7 also comes with two different types of added natural fibre, which is what makes it one of my own personal favourites. Few people get enough fibre in their diets, and there are few things you can do to improve your diet that will be as good as increasing fibre intake. This fibre comes from chicory and soy, which are two very high-quality sources.
Everything is dairy-free, vegan, and gluten free – and is safe for anyone and everyone. Simply take one or two capsules each morning with your breakfast. The benefits will come on quite quickly – especially from the fibre – but for best results, aim to take them daily for at least three months.
Wicked Gummy Weight Management Bundle
Best Gummy Based Probiotic
Probiotics are worthwhile in and of themselves. They will help you to maintain long term wellbeing and can pick your immune system and digestive health up after illness.
However, they are also often key to successful weight loss.
This is where a product like Wicked Gummy’s Weight Management Bundle comes into play.
As it’s a bundle, you get three of Wicked Gummy’s products in one order. They are all designed to work in conjunction with each other, for a range of effects, and you get a decent multi buy discount on them (you save around 15% over buying them individually).
The first is their Happy Tummy, a fully vegan gummy that works to improve your gut and digestive health and immune function. It contains the prebiotics we are after, contributing to healthy gut bacteria.
Then there is apple cider vinegar, which also improves digestion and has been linked to weight loss. I like it mostly as an antioxidant, which should improve your liver function, keep your skin looking healthy, and fight damage from oxidation. It also includes folic acid to help your body to produce and maintain cells, and vitamin B12 for brain health.
Finally, you get a multivitamin complex. This includes vitamins A and C, and selenium, for immune health, vitamin B6 to help you overcome fatigue, vitamin E to further ward against oxidative stress, and biotin for hair, skin and nail health.
This is a mixed bag. I personally don’t rate apple cider vinegar for weight loss. The multivitamin complex could also do with a few more additions – some minerals, such as zinc or magnesium, would be nice. However, a healthy gut will generally mean better weight loss. Combine this with some of the other ingredients and a decent calorie deficit and you should be able to lose weight quite easily.
You get sixty of each gummy and should take two of each daily.
Bio-Kult
Great for brain health
Finally, we come to Bio-Kult, a product jam packed full of live bacteria to help you make the most of your gut health and keep your gut flora balanced.
It contains a full fourteen different strains of live bacteria, aiming at multiple strains in order to give your gut flora the best chance at being as healthy as possible. It includes the common, potent Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium longum, and Bacillus subtilis, alongside eleven more similarly worthwhile strains of bacteria.
I’m mostly talking about their main product, the basic probiotic in their line. However, they also offer more specialised complexes in their range, designed to improve everything from brain health to the health of your urinary tract!
For example, if you are looking to enhance your cognitive wellbeing and brain health at the same time as your gut health, you can opt for Bio-Kult Mind. For children, there is the excellently named Bio-Kult Infantis. These additional products will contain added ingredients, such as omega 3 fatty acids, botanicals, and vitamins, to support whatever you need supporting.
All of their products share the same basic DNA, however. They all contain multiple strains of fantastic, high-quality probiotic compounds. They are all made in a U.K.-based facility according to current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP). Everything they come out with undergoes thorough third party testing for quality control and efficacy.
Bio-Kult’s capsules are all non-GMO verified and free from eggs, gluten, nuts, and artificial colours and flavourings. All of their products contain cellulose as a bulking agent, as well as the vegetable-based coating hydroxypropyl methylcellulose. Unlike many of their competitors, no Bio-Kult product needs to be kept refrigerated.
Everything in their line is suitable for all ages, for women during pregnancy, and for vegans, vegetarians, and anybody else following a plant-based diet (as are most of the products on this list, to be fair.)
They are particularly effective when taken in conjunction with antibiotics, as they can ably replenish healthy bacteria even as the medication kills them off. In fact, the NHS uses them with its patients, they are that reliable.
Take two daily, or four if you’re on antibiotics.
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Verdict
This is a hard list to choose from. There really are some great products included in it.
There is a lot of versatility. For example, if you’re looking to boost brain health or are male and looking for an all-in one supplement that can also improve testosterone levels, then Biotics 8 would be perfect for you. ProBio 7 also have a wide range of products with many different purposes. Have a look at both of their lines to see what would best suit you and your needs.
If you’re looking for a bit of punch, on the other hand, then it’s all about quantity, heft per dose, and all that. BioCulture Complex may be for you, with a full 77 billion live colony forming units per serving.
However, it isn’t all about what a product delivers. The how is often just as important. It doesn’t matter how many more live colony forming units a probiotic contains if it can’t get them into your gut effectively.
For me, therefore, it has to be YourBiology, one of the best probiotics in the world, not just the UK. Its ability to get its goodness to where it is most needed, undigested, non-degraded, is second to none. If you want your money’s worth, with something reliably injecting the good stuff right where your body can use it best, it’s the one to go for.
