FYI: If you’re drinking kombucha for the probiotic hit, you can do better. While kombucha has the benefits from the enzymes developed in the fermentation process, it only has, at most, a few million probiotic CFUs [colony-forming units] per serving,” says Stefana Prodea, co-founder and president of Welo. The Canadian company’s Probiotic Ferments are brewed for three months before an additional one to two billion probiotic strains are added. “This allows all the beneficial enzymes, antioxidants, omegas and multi-strain probiotics to form,” she explains.

Welo also uses a non-dairy probiotic, which clinical studies found to be ten times more effective than a yoghurt-based probiotic. (Dairy probiotics have as low as 3 to 5% survivability in the gut, so they don’t get where they need to go.) 

“Taking probiotics in conjunction with food helps your body absorb the vitamins and nutrients from food better,” says Prodea, who points to another clinical trial from December 2017, where researchers found that test subjects who consumed protein with 1 billion CFUs of Welo’s strain of probiotics had an increase in 27 amino acids (which make up cells, muscles and tissue) in their blood.

Drink up. 

The ferments are a favorite of ours, it's a 3 month fermentation process which gives them the enzymes and multi strain cultures and then on top of that we add probiotics and cold-pressed organic juices?. . . . . #cleaneats #healthyfood #cleanfood #probiotics #glutenfree  #sugarfree  #paleo #guthealth #whatveganseat #huffposttaste #buzzfeast  #foodandwine  #feedfeed #TIU #kaylasarmy #plantbased #vsco  #healthyeating  #iamwellandgood #poweredbyplants #plantstrong  #healthysnack #beautifulcuisines #wellness #juice  #vegan  #bbg #veganfoodshare  #bbgcommunity #kaylaitsines

A post shared by Welo (@drinkwelo) on Oct 20, 2017 at 12:06pm PDT

A version of this article originally appeared in the March 2018 issue of ELLE Canada.