Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/398011
32B October 2014 Tablets & Capsules supplement formulation Meeting the challenges of producing ultra-potent, high-count probiotics Tad Stewart and Connie Sindelar DuPont Nutrition & Health their unique strain-specificity while others opt for a "more-is-better" appeal—both in terms of the variety of species contained in their product as well as its overall potency (live-cell count). This article focuses on the limi- tations of ultra-potent, high-count probiotics and the for- mulation considerations not seen in lower-count prod- ucts: specifically, culture concentration, density, overage, processibility thresholds, and packaging. Culture concentration The maximum number of probiotic cells that can fit into a single dose depends largely on the concentration of the culture involved, in addition to the space needed for excipi- ents in the formulation. Culture concentration—or cell density—may range from fewer than 50 billion colony- T he growing popularity of probiotics—beneficial live bacterial cultures, such as lactobacilli, taken orally to main- tain good health—has motivated dietary supplement makers to offer products that stand out from their com- petitors. But this isn't easy in the USA, where the struc- ture-function claims allowed for any particular probiotic strain or clinically studied dose are fundamentally the same from brand to brand. Some companies promote One way to capture consumer interest in a probiotic health sup- plement is to offer a product loaded with multiple microbial strains in large concentrations per dose. Here we consider the spe- cial challenges of formulating, manufacturing, and handling these ultra-potent probiotics and offer advice on overcoming them.