Re: SBO's without SBO's (false advertising) consumer beware

The list of organisms of the bottle of NOW Probiotic Defense are as follows:
Freeze-dried Probiotic Strains (1 Billion cfu/g) [Lactobacillus acidophilus. Bifidobacterium lactis, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lacto- bacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus salivarius, Lactobacillus paracasei, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Bifidobacterium brevis, Bifidobacterium longum, and Saccharomyces boulardil]. All of the organisms listed are either lactobacilli, bifidus, or yeast. I called Garden of Life myself to ask specifically which organisms in their list of ingredients were responsible for Jordan Rubin's recovery. I told them I could not tolerate the acidophilus in their formula and I wanted to find another company that sold these SBO's without the acidophilus. She told me that the SBO's in their formula were bacillus subtilis, and bacillus licheniformis. These organisms are not listed on the Probiotic Defense label. I called NOW and their rep. told me that they list all the organisms on the label, and that there were no others in it that were not listed. Unless they are making the claim that Lactobacilli or Bifidus are SBO's (a false claim), there are no SBO's in this product. If you want to read about the unique properties of these organisms you can go to:
http://www.stopcancer.com/critters.htm
http://www.yourhealthright.com/healthright/paul_yanick_sbo_update.html

I have been able to verify some of the claims made in these articles by going to other scientific publications. Here is a page on the bacillus species from an online textbook of bacteriology:
http://textbookofbacteriology.net/Bacillus.html
I know this is a long technical article but it contains many references to the fact that this species of bacteria have a special capacity to break down organic material, and produce antibiotic subtstances that suppress pathogenic bacteria. Here is an excerpt from another website that sells these two organisms comercially for different purposes:
"Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis: Bacillus Blend Liquid RTU is a blend of beneficial spore forming Bacilli cultivated for their unique abilities to attack carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, oils, and grease and help remove buildup of these components in waste streams or systems."
All in all the claims made for these organisms can be summed up as:
they are more dominant than the typical probiotic strains
they stimulate the immune system
they clean out the intestines by digesting the mucoid plaque off the intestinal wall
they produce antibiotic substances that suppress pathogenic bacteria
they increase the bodies absorption of vitamins and minerals
they help rebalance the body's normal intestinal flora

According to Jordan Rubin's Story, after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on all kinds of alternative treatments, and dozens of different probiotics, these two organisms are what cured him. The ironic thing here, is that after getting cured by this product which, although not well known, was already being marketed to the public under the name of "Earth Flora", he decided to start a company himself and make big bucks off of someone elses discovery. I have since read accusations on various websites that he has diluted his product, and that it no longer contains the fermented grasses that were in it to begin with. As for the NOW brand "Probiotic Defense", it is a good product. It contains the fermented grasses and fulvic acid, but it does not have any SBO's in it. I think that it is still a good price if you are willing to recognize that limitation. But I feel that it is unethical to advertise their product as containing SBO's when it does not. I am currently taking a product with SBO's in it ,and I have been able to observe directly many of the supposed benefits listed above - benefits I did not get on the standard probiotics. SBO's can help some of the chronically ill where other  probiotics have failed. So by selling this product to the public, and making them think they have tried SBO's when they have not, they are doing a huge disservice to the consumer in my opinion. I have had a great deal of respect for the NOW brand in the past, because they produce high quality products for a very competitive price, but I think if they were to do the right thing - they should either take the claim off of the label that this product contains SBO's or add bacillus subtilis, and bacillus licheniformis to their ingredients list. Tweet