Just out of curiosity, is your profession the reason you are so knowledgeable on this subject, or just your individual research into it?
The most popular store brand is Lifeway Kefir. I know that the Kroger chain carries it, as do many others. Sometimes it is in the health food section and/or the yogurt section. Tasty, and not very expensive at all. Very low lactose.
http://i.imgur.com/oumgbtn.jpg
At some health food stores, they also sell “Kefir grains”, which looks like dry cottage cheese. Some people make their own Kefir, especially if they prefer it made with whole milk.
As far as my knowledge, I was friends with a research rheumatologist a few years back, with a strong interest in the (jaw droppingly complicated) immune system, which is very interactive with the biome. With 100 different forms of arthritis, and 200 different forms of rheumatism, he had to be very pragmatic and experimental to find treatments for his patients. Everything from simple fruit juices and herbs, to old cures (like sulfa drugs) used “off-label” to cutting edge pharma was open season.
In any event, as a bonus treatment it would be really good to have something on hand for:
Clostridium difficile (C. diff) is a drug resistant, highly infectious pathogen all over the US right now, about half a million infections a year (29,000 killed), that create horrible diarrhea for around two weeks, and just wrack the heck out of you. It can also lead to painful colitis, internal damage and overall misery for a month. There is no really effective FDA approved treatment for it in the US.
But in Japan, Korea and China, a probiotic prophylaxis for it has been around for decades and is simplicity itself.
Clostridium butyricum was discovered in 1933, and in 1968 a new strain, called CBM 588 MIYAIRI was discovered. It is completely non-pathological.
But it eats what C. diff eats, and its waste products strongly inhibit the growth of C. diff.
It is manufactured by one company in Japan, and sold as MIYARISAN tablets. It is available on both Amazon and ebaY. Of course, being shipped from Japan, it takes weeks to get here, so it would be a good idea to have some on hand. Not a big price to pay for not having the next best thing to cholera.
