Lactobacills Susceptibilities

[RoseHip]

Anyone know if lactobacillus probiotic bacteria are susceptible to caprylic acid in the form of simply coconut water? What about grapefruit seed extract or uva ursi?

 

Thank you.

 

[RoseHip]

Anyone? So I have a microscope... (and a dream )... I know how to use the "machine" itself.. Say I wanted to test this out on my own... what type of magnification would I need for lactobacillus? The microscope looks like a bit of a clunker but I think it's about 400x. Say I take a probiotic capsule dump some of it in some distilled water on a slide... would I be able to see something? If I then add a substance to test to see if it would kill it... would that be a valid test? Any pointers?

[Endy0816]

Would probably be okay:

 

 

No difference was observed on the Lactobacillus population through the whole experimental period. 4. In conclusion, the addition of 120 mg/kg caprylic acid and 120 mg/kg Yucca extract exerted positive effects on egg weight and feed efficiency, decreased the serum and yolk cholesterol concentration and reduced the proliferation of Escherichia coli.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22221237

[RoseHip]

Good info thank you! What about uva ursi, and some other agents. Actually I'm wondering if anyone with some spare time on their hands could do a test of this under a microscope, for other agents too. Will tr to do it myself, except this would not be in a lab setting with little experience, therefore my results could be very skewed .

Edited May 20, 2015 by RoseHip

[CharonY]

There are so-called MIC assays, in which you measure the inhibitory potential of agents (such as antibiotics) on bacterial growth. Typically it is not done microscopically as you would require stains to see which cells are dead or alive and morphological changes are only partially diagnostic. Instead, either growth kinetics is measured in a concentration-dependent manner to see where inhibition starts. Alternatively, quick tests are done by adding your compound to a bacterial lawn and measure the inhibition zone.

[John Cuthber]

Anyone know if lactobacillus probiotic bacteria are susceptible to caprylic acid in the form of simply coconut water? What about grapefruit seed extract or uva ursi?

 

Thank you.

 

I'm willing to bet on no, they are not.

Capryllic acid gets its name from the same root as Capricorn- the goat.

Like Capric and caproic acids they are found in milk- particularly goats' milk.

Lactobacillus thrives in milk (including goats' milk) so it must be tolerant of those fatty acids.

[RoseHip]

Don't mean to flip my own thread on it's head, want to discuss the original topic going forward as well, but I'm wondering... as far as lactobacillus survival, will it survive without Milk? Will it survive on only sugar from carbohydrates such as found in carrots?

[CharonY]

If the growth conditions are ok they will grow. Milk is not their exclusive habitat, they are just happened to use for dairy production. But they are also around in soil, water, intestinal tracts, etc.

[RoseHip]

It is in the intestinal tract that I need them to survive, I suppose regarding environment you are probably talking about Ph balances? If I remember correctly from my prior reading they prefer low Ph?

[John Cuthber]

There is at least some evidence that probiotics survive in the gut somewhere, so you don't need to do anything special to get them to do that (whether or not it's a good idea or just marketing hype is another issue.)

 

If you have some medical condition then it's unlikely that probiotics will be the best available treatment and so you should see a doctor.

 

If you are part of the "worried well" and are taking them "just in case they help" then it hardly matters- the evidence that they work is thin, but they are cheap and almost certainly harmless.

Or you might prefer to eat yoghurt from time to time.

[RoseHip]

For this purpose it is for general knowledge. A doctor is being consulted for other things, they did recommend probiotics, but would like to look into it from this standpoint to understand the ins and outs regarding them. I'm on the same page as far as possible marketing hype, etc. .