I Tried the Viral Coconut Cult Chocolate Mousse—and Then Requested an RD for Their Ideas

First, just a little extra about these benevolent bugs: “They’re naturally current in fermented meals”—stuff like yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, and pickles—“however they can be added to different meals or obtainable as dietary dietary supplements,” Amanda Averett, MS, RD, a registered dietitian at Redefined Vitamin, tells SELF. Whereas completely different strains of probiotics can confer completely different results, the final concept behind consuming probiotic meals and drinks “is to enhance the general intestine microbiome and subsequently lower or enhance signs inside the GI tract,” Averett says—say, abdomen ache, constipation, bloating, and diarrhea. Actually, probiotics could even assist deal with sure GI issues, like acute infectious diarrhea, antibiotic-associated diarrhea, inflammatory bowel illness, and irritable bowel syndrome. A thriving intestine microbiome may also help your immune system and enhance your temper, so it’s no shock that there’s lots of curiosity in including probiotics to your weight loss plan.

Nonetheless, they aren’t some magic elixir that may treatment all illnesses, and, as SELF reported beforehand, we nonetheless aren’t fully certain about what probiotics can and might’t do—there are lots of components at play that may affect outcomes, like dosages, strains, frequency of use, and extra. On that notice, most analysis has solely centered on a number of particular strains (just like the Lactobacillus genus and the Bifidobacterium genus), and in particular quantities. (FYI, the Coconut Cult mousse incorporates 16 strains of probiotics divided between Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium: L. helveticus, L. salivarius, L. lactis, L. rhamnosus, L. plantarum, L. acidophilus, S. thermophilus, B. breve, L. brevis, L. gasseri, L. casei, L. reuteri, B. longum, B. bifidum, B. infantis, L. fermentum.) Principally, there’s lots to be realized about particular person probiotics and the class as a complete, and the analysis is ongoing.

Which brings me to a different query I had for Averett: May taking in a number of the bugs—every serving of the Coconut Cult mousse incorporates 50 billion probiotics, per the corporate’s web site—be an excessive amount of to your digestive system to deal with in a single sitting? That means, might you expertise GI points when you ate an excessive amount of (and even the really useful quantity)?

In fact, 50 billion is an enormous determine, however that quantity per serving isn’t past the pale for a probiotic product, in response to Averett. Some kinds of meals could even have extra. For example, the probiotic content material in yogurt can vary from 90 billion colony-forming items (CFU) to a whopping 500 billion CFU per serving, in response to Harvard Well being. To sum up, no, 50 billion isn’t wildly extreme. Simply keep in mind that the next CFU depend doesn’t essentially translate to a much bigger well being enhance.

That mentioned, probiotics in any quantity could be exhausting in your digestion, particularly when you aren’t used to them, so whatever the actual amount, you may’t rule out the danger for some preliminary GI points. Unintended effects can differ broadly between folks (and probiotic strains), in response to Averett. For example, the widespread probiotic Lactobacillus, “for me, could not trigger any subject, however for my next-door neighbor, could trigger lots of fuel,” she says. Clearly you may’t know upfront how your physique will react, so sure, there’s a likelihood that you can expertise elevated bloating, fuel, or diarrhea. Fortunately, these signs ought to subside inside a number of days.