What Is CFU In Probiotics

But what exactly is a CFU?

This article will explore the meaning of CFUs and their importance.

What Is A CFU?

CFU stands for Colony Forming Unit.

This is the unit of measurement used to determine the number of live and active bacteria or yeasts in a probiotic supplement.

You will usually see it measured in CFUs per gram (CFU/g) or CFUs per milliliter (CFU/ml).

CFUs are essential for probiotics because they tell us how many living beneficial bacteria cells we get with each dose.

If we want our probiotic to be effective, the bacteria in it must be alive.

CFU counts range widely from supplement to supplement.

An average supplement can have between 1 billion to 10 billion CFUs per serving, with others listing a CFU as high as 100 billion.

Should I Choose The Probiotic With The Highest CFU Count?

Companies often focus on advertising extremely high CFU counts claiming that a higher CFU means a more effective probiotic supplement.

So it’s no surprise that in a recent study of over 1,000 adults, 59% believed that the higher the CFU in a probiotic, the greater its efficacy. (Source)

If you’re faced with choosing between a probiotic supplement with 50 billion CFUs or 60 billion CFUs, you’re likely to opt for the latter, right?

But is a higher CFU count always better?

To put it simply – no.

CFU count is essential.

If you’re not getting enough CFUs from your probiotic, it won’t be effective, and you won’t see any beneficial results.

At the same time, taking too high an amount of a specific strain of bacteria may have a negative effect, causing digestive upset or passing through without any impact.

People suffering from conditions such as serious digestive tract inflammation and those who have sensitivities to supplements may benefit from choosing a lower CFU probiotic.

Similarly, children generally should not be given probiotics with a high CFU as they have a natural lack of diversity in their microbiota that may be disturbed by a high-dose probiotic.

The recommended dose for children is 5 to 10 billion CFUs per day. (Source)

Other Indicators Of Probiotic Quality

However, CFU is not the be-all and end-all when it comes to choosing a probiotic and should not be used as the single indicator for probiotic quality.

Several other important elements come into play when choosing a suitable probiotic supplement, such as:

The Actual CFU Measurement

When deciphering the label of your probiotic supplement, you may see the CFU number listed ” at the time of manufacture”.

This number is irrelevant.

Depending on storage conditions, the number of living cells in a probiotic can decline significantly between its time of manufacture and the time you’re ingesting it.

Instead, look for the CFU number at the end of the product’s shelf life to find the number of CFUs that should still be intact when you’re taking the supplement.

A Combination Of Suitable Bacterial Strains

There is no point in taking a product with 100 billion CFUs of bacteria if that bacterial strain is not the strain that will address your health needs.

Our wonderful guts contain 400 to 600 probiotic bacterial strains, each of which carries out a different function.

Choosing a probiotic with more than one strain of bacteria present, known as multistrain or multispecies probiotics, that includes the bacteria most suited to your specific health need is paramount.

If you are unsure about the bacterial strains that best work for you, consult your pharmacist or a health practitioner.

Scientific Evidence

With so much misleading information regarding supplements and their benefits, it is essential to ensure that any claims being made are backed up with conclusive scientific evidence.

Any probiotic products worth buying will contain specific strains of bacteria in the precise amounts that have been demonstrated to have clinically proven benefits at those levels.

Look for probiotics made by manufacturers who provide evidence to back up their label claims.

Check the product label for the full name of the probiotic strains in the supplement, and then go to the company’s website to find out whether studies were conducted and if so, what the findings were.

You can also go one step further and do some research of your own by searching the specific strains of bacteria online and looking through any studies that come up.

When researching the efficacy of a bacterial strain, look out for how many studies have been conducted and the number of people included in the studies.

You can be pretty confident in a strain whose benefits have been reported in many people in multiple studies.

If you can find studies that are investigating the effect of the bacteria in relation to your specific health concern or with participants of a similar demographic to you, even better.

Proper Delivery

Another critical factor that outweighs the CFU count of a probiotic product is the likelihood of the bacteria in the product surviving long enough to make it to your gut and impart their benefits.

This means the bacteria must go through the manufacturing process, storage, and your digestive system unharmed.

This is a risky journey; unfortunately, many good bacteria die along the way in many probiotic products.

Either due to improper storage conditions or, once inside the body, by the gastric acid in our stomachs.

Summary of Probiotic CFUs

The CFU count is often used to measure a probiotic product's potency or effectiveness.

A higher CFU count generally indicates that more live, active microorganisms are present in the product, which may provide more benefits for the consumer.

The number of live, active bacteria or yeast cells present in a serving or dose of a probiotic product will determine the effectiveness of a probiotic supplement. This means it pays to check the label and understand what your probiotic is actually providing you.