Can dietary supplements and probiotics be taken together?

Most conventional dietary supplements and probiotics can be taken at the same time, and there is no need to deliberately stagger the time. When I helped my grandmother, who had irritable bowel, regulate her gastrointestinal tract two years ago, I went to a nutritionist I was familiar with to confirm this. At that time, I gave my grandma an ordinary multivitamin, calcium D supplement and probiotics from Lactobacillus rhamnosus. After taking it for half a year, her original diarrhea problem after eating cold food was much better. The results of the bone density test were also better than before. The doctor said that not only did the two not conflict, but the fat-soluble vitamin D could also help the probiotics colonize the intestinal mucosa more stably, which is a combination of 1+1>2.

But not all situations are so worry-free. I have been in pitfalls before. A while ago, I caught a cold during the change of seasons. I wanted to improve my immunity, so I bought a high-purity allicin supplement. I happened to be taking probiotics to relieve constipation at the time, but I took them for three or four days without any effect. I went to the doctor and found out that dietary supplements with antibacterial effects, such as allicin and high-dose echinacea extract, inhibit both good and bad bacteria. When it comes to such supplements, it is best to take them at least 2 hours apart from the probiotics, otherwise the probiotics will be useless.

As for whether the high-dose vitamin C and iron supplements that have been hotly debated on the Internet can be taken with probiotics, there is currently no unified conclusion in the academic community. I have checked several different experimental data. Some say that high-dose vitamin C exceeding 1000mg or iron supplements above 30mg will reduce the activity of some ordinary probiotics without encapsulation technology by about 30%. There are also experiments using probiotics that are resistant to gastric acid and oxidation-resistant encapsulation. After taking high-dose vitamin C together, the activity loss is less than 10%. The difference is actually quite big. I have a best friend who suffers from iron deficiency anemia. She usually takes a 25mg dose of iron supplements together with probiotics for more than half a year. The blood replenishing effect and the gastrointestinal regulating effect are not affected. If you really mind, there is no trouble in taking it staggered by half an hour to an hour. There is no need to worry about this matter.

When you are usually unsure, you can actually just read the product instructions. If it is not clearly marked that you cannot take it with probiotics, you can basically take it together. If you are really worried, ask a doctor in the clinical nutrition department for a few questions, which is much more reliable than the various fragmented popular science you read.