A pilot study finds people with multiple sclerosis (and healthy controls) increased several species of beneficial gut bacteria and induced an anti-inflammatory immune response after supplementation with a strong, high CFU probiotic for 3 months.

Multiple sclerosis patients also displayed a decrease in a type of immune cell called myeloid-derived dendritic cells which play a role in suppressing immune cells that prevent autoimmunity (called T-regulatory cells). Larger studies are needed to replicate these findings as well as investigate whether the probiotic supplementation has any effect on clinical symptoms.

To my knowledge, there are exactly three brands that have this type of formulation of high CFU probiotic that seems to have a strong and growing body of clinical, published evidence: • VSL#3 (the original formulation) • Visbiome (a newer brand used in this study that is supposed to be substantially similar) • Vivomixx (European branded Visbiome)