{"id":720121,"date":"2026-06-22T23:55:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T23:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/720121\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T23:55:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T23:55:20","slug":"should-i-take-a-probiotic-and-other-gut-questions-answered-life-kit-health-npr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/720121\/","title":{"rendered":"Should I take a probiotic? And other gut questions, answered : Life Kit: Health : NPR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782172520_279_.jpeg\" data-template=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/5333x3000+0+0\/resize\/{width}\/quality\/{quality}\/format\/{format}\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F18%2Fc6%2Fc51c488c4696a3ccca4557f0b6c6%2Fd2f7c5e0-c40e-4b6b-abea-e4c633ceb1e0.jpg\" class=\"img\" alt=\"An illustration of a woman's silhouette with colorful intestines and digestive tract representing gut health and the human microbiome.\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Research shows that our gut microbiome \u2014 the trillions of microbes that populate our intestines \u2014 isn&#8217;t just involved in digestion. It&#8217;s intimately linked to our immune systems, mental health, cognition and more. If you want to improve the health of your gut microbiome, there are specific best practices that can help. This episode, NPR health correspondent Will Stone shares tips on probiotic supplements, microbiome tests, and the most important factor \u2014 your diet.<\/p>\n<p>Follow us on Instagram:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/nprlifekit\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@nprlifekit<\/a><br \/>Sign up for Life Kit&#8217;s skincare newsletter: <a href=\"http:\/\/npr.org\/skincare\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">http:\/\/npr.org\/skincare<\/a><br \/>Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/06\/22\/nx-s1-5863500\/mailto:lifekit@npr.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">lifekit@npr.org<\/a><br \/>Support the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/plus.npr.org\/lifekit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">plus.npr.org\/lifekit<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Saccharomyces boulardii CNCM I-745 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG are two examples of probiotic strains that have considerable evidence from randomized controlled trials. Saccharomyces boulardii CNCM I-745 for travelers&#8217; diarrhea and antibiotic-associated diarrhea and\u00a0Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG for antibiotic-associated diarrhea for children and adults, and also for upper respiratory tract infections.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Research shows that our gut microbiome \u2014 the trillions of microbes that populate our intestines \u2014 isn&#8217;t just&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[97,269],"class_list":["post-720121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}