PSA: If a probiotic is on the shelf, not in a cooler, it's probably not worth buying. The best companies certify the count of organisms at time of manufacture, but no counts are guaranteed at the shelf. Probiotics are living organisms and ought to be refrigerated for max lifespan.

You can get refrigerated probiotic supps at a place like Whole Foods.

Source: I used to work in the industry.

When I asked my doctor about which kinds of probiotics are most effective she specifically mentioned refrigerated vs non-refrigerated is not a way to identify quality or effectiveness unless you know the specific strain(s) needed cannot be made shelf-stable. This lined up with asking my endodontist after they prescribed some antibiotics for a tooth infection. They did warn that the use by dates are a bit bull, not to stock up on them as they do deteriorate in quality with time, and not to try to keep even the shelf-stable ones above room temperature.

Maybe I misunderstood what my doctor said, maybe my doctor was just wrong, maybe it's actually extremely nuanced, maybe it's something I hadn't even considered. I guess all I'm saying is it's probably better to talk to your doctor(s) about it than follow self-sourced (in both the above and this comment) medical advice from HN.

> The best companies certify the count of organisms at time of manufacture

The best companies certify the viable count at expiration, I've seen many that do.

There is a difference between probiotics in live culture and shelf stable products but both can be viable methods of delivery.

There are some newer types of probiotics (called "spore-based") which claim better shelf stability (don't require refrigeration) and resistance (to populate further down the digestive system). But you're absolutely right, they tend to die off pretty quickly (be extra weary of ordering them online, especially during the summer if they're going to sit around in a hot delivery truck or mailbox!).

They sell a yogurt starter that is purportedly Salivarius and ruteirii culture over at Beazos' Clubhouse. I haven't had it tested but it's way easier than the usual Bulgarian microbes. Assuming the cultures are as labeled, I have to imagine eating live culture yogurt is more likely to propogate than loszenges made in a factory though.

A very naive question: why are "dry and on the shelf" not worth buying, when so many of the food-related microorganisms obviously work fine through such distribution (baking yeasts, various yogurt starters, cheese molds, etc.)?

Why not run an experiment like this post: take a probiotic capsule, put its contents in a growing medium; after a day or two, sample from the medium and send it in for testing, and see which strains actually grew?

So I shouldn't spend money lactibiane buccodental oral probiotics in pills?

does this apply universally to bacterial strains ?

what kind of cooler, near zero or just yogurt level temperatures ?