The strains that die from extensive antibiotic use cannot be brought back to life with a strain of a probiotic that has nothing to do with the strain of what died. Ex: if a red maple dies you can‘t plant Loblolly pine trees and expect that tree to have the same effect or action on the colonic gut microbiota. So the answer is no. Gut microbiotas can not be recolonized because we don't have a probiotic for every single gut bacterial strain and also, most importantly, because gut bacterial strains do not colonize the gut either. No probiotic so far starts to grow and stays. They are transient. Some well-studied strains are physiologically beneficial but still transient. I teach a Gastrointestinal Imbalances class at a graduate program with a Ph.D. who has written several textbook chapters on the gut microbiota. If you have any general questions, feel free to ask. Analia Camarasa

Hi Analia - Can you explain further - gut bacterial strains do not colonize the gut?

Analia, I wonder what you think of the research of the Charlottesville, VA group, ION*Biome, www.ionbiome.com, (844) 432-5488? The main product is a Terrahydrite (TM) formula of a lignite supplement, claimed to repair the tight junctions of the gut lining, affecting the gluten pathway, caused by glyphosate pesticides (in Roundup, etc). I have taken it myself after antibiotics for an infected tooth socket, as a beginning to restoring my gut flora. Thank you.

Hello Chopra, The gut has only been seen to be colonized during birth and breastfeeding (infancy) or through fecal transplants. In the meanwhile, bacterial probiotic strains or un-labeled probiotic species, for that matter, do not colonize our guts. They do provide temporary therapeutic effects, indeed, but once you are done taking the product, aside from a few strains that still show up in the gut say after 7-10 days, they disappear from your gut. There are currently not I encourage you to test these statements by testing your own gut microbiota by using tests such as CosmosID. The caveat is that the probiotic strain has to be well researched, say such as Culturelle, for example, which contains Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. GG is the strain of that bacterial probiotic. So, if you take a probiotic that either has no strain/s disclosed (or what I called above as an un-labeled species) or a strain that has not been researched, then that probiotic strain will likely not make it to the colon or survive the trek through the acidic stomach and long large intestine. In that case, it definitely won't show up on a stool shotgun genomics test such as CosmosID. By the way, I have no financial connections to that lab and no conflicts of interest to report. Does that answer your question, Chopra? Be well! :) Analia

Hello Rhonda, I see Ion Gut Health and Ion Sinus. I don't see Ion Biome so I'm sorry I can't answer your question. If it's minerals they are using, it may be working by working on the mitochondria of the enterocytes. But I don't have any experience using any of these products. Analia :)

Thank you, Amalia! Important distinction btwn exerting a therapeutic effect in the gut vs staying there. Thanks for clarifying! - Mona

Analia, really appreciate your info and expertise. I'm curious: Are the bacteria acquired via certain food + bev, travel, and simply living also transient? I was under the impression that it was possible (/likely) that strains we picked up would stick around in our systems until we either wiped them out with antibiotics (or NSAIDs) or changed diet in such a way as to sort of phase them out. Thoughts on this? Otherwise, it sounds like you're saying that there's absolutely no recovery from lost flora; only the continuous band-aid of taking probiotics. Is that so? Thank you!

Hello Analia, thank you for this information. I was wondering if the bacteria we lose during antibiotic use (or rounds sadly...) would be able to recolonize. Have you heard of fecale microbiota transplant? Considering it comes from a donor with an abundant and intact gut microbiota...