by Karl Seddon, Elixa Probiotic’s developer and sole manufacturer

I have very recently launched Elixa Probiotic V3 after extensive early user trials and feedback. The early results for V3 have been extremely positive and a succinct way to summarize them—for people familiar with Elixa—is that this is an improvement upon both V1 and V2 combined. There were, after all, a few people who responded better to V1 than to V2.

Well now, V3 appears to be superior for both groups that have tried it thus far. Better than V2 for those who responded best to V2, and better than V1 for the smaller portion who preferred V1.

For newcomers to Elixa, an explanation of our technology can be found in the V2 update article. There is also a video.

The changes for V3 have been steered by whichever of the V3 trial blends gave superior results, rather than being a prediction. Now that my company has grown, I’m able to afford to produce batches purely for purposes of early trials, which allows me to ‘A/B test’ blends. The final launch version of V3 was the one that performed best after a few iterations of such testing.

The species of bacteria plays a large role in what a prebiotic fiber is broken down into. For example, a beneficial short chain fatty acid versus a not-so-beneficial acetaldehyde.

With the upcoming release of Tribal Prebiotic (which is progressing nicely through a few extended trials I decided to run in order to make sure the launch goes well) many people will be consuming a defined set of prebiotics that I can account for. I have tailored the V3 blend to contain species that I think will work best, with those substrates in mind. The early results from V3 have all come from users who have taken it without Tribal Prebiotic, and there is in no way any requirement to use Tribal alongside Elixa.

The blend change for V3 has also come with a bias towards species that can be produced at a high CFU/gram concentration. ‘CFU’ stands for ‘colony-forming unit’, and 1 CFU means 1 bacterium (minimum).

Certain species are less sensitive to their own metabolic byproducts. When you culture bacteria, a primary objective is to remove their outputs to maintain optimal conditions, such as removing an acid/alkali byproduct to maintain pH.

An analogy: As humans, we exhale air with a higher concentration of CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) and less O2 (Oxygen) than the air we breathe in. If we did this in an air-tight environment, the CO2 would gradually increase and the O2 would decrease until we could not survive on that air any longer. Extracting CO2 and replacing O2 into that contained atmosphere would solve the problem. Recall the ‘duct-tape scene’ in the film Apollo 13.

That’s the same thing with removing byproducts when culturing bacteria. You don’t want them to poison themselves with their own waste. And ideally, you don’t even want them to reduce their conditions from optimal (for proliferation).

The species that are less sensitive to minor fluctuations from optimal conditions can be produced at a higher concentration: i.e., the final lyophilised powder will have more bacteria per gram. Using this fact, I have biased the species selection towards these higher CFU/gram species which has resulted in a higher number of CFUs per capsule. In other words, the dose is now more potent.

Lastly, the actual species themselves have seen a return in numbers of a couple of the Lactobacillus species that I’d previously culled from the V2 blend. This has been based on my growing appreciation for incidence rates of small intestinal involvement in dysbiosis. I have also entirely removed some species which, at this time, I do not think are contributing enough to the overall benefit of the product on a comparative per CFU basis.

In other news, I’m extremely happy to get my gut health video series rolling! The first episode can be found here and will explain the direction I’m going. And you can watch episode 2 right here.

What are people saying about Elixa?

Last July, I published some testimonials from Elixa customers. Here’s a second round.

“First, I would like to say how much Elixa has helped my husband. For all of the 28 years of our married life, he has only had Type 1 Bristol Stool Chart stools. Also, he has had several colorectal polyps removed during each of the 3 colonoscopies he has had.  This is despite having a very “clean” diet. After only one 6 day course of Elixa several months ago, however, all of his stools are now Type 4. We are very impressed with the difference.” — Mrs. K N

“Thank you for going the extra mile with my order.

“I just want you to know that Elixa has been life changing for me. I am 58 years old and have metabolic disorder. This will be the third time this year I’ve done a 24 day course.  Each time I recover a new level of health.

“Thanks for an exemplary product!” — Julie F

“I’m still eczema free 1 year later.  If I feel a tingle, just do a 6 day.  No more supplements needed.

“Could not be more appreciative!

“My results are nothing short of a miracle so I’m happy to help in any way I can.  Spread the love. 

“I’ve eliminated all other supplements to the tune of $400 a month.” — Stephanie W

“Hi, both my wife and I started Elixa about 120 days ago and have had great results. My wife has had unbelievable results. She has been on 40 mg of Nexium for the past 9 years. In the past she has tried to reduce her dosage of Nexium with horrible results. Since starting Elixa, she reduced her dosage from 40mg to 20mg and 3 weeks ago totally stop taking Nexium with no adverse effects, Needless to say, we are both thrilled with the results we have experienced with Elixa.” — Mr. R

[In a following email from Mrs. R…]

“Hello Karl.  My husband [Mr R] wrote you about my ability to wean off Nexium 40 mg/day (2wks & 1 day so far), which I’ve never been able to do.  I held off writing you about my results because I wanted to get to 3 months or longer before sharing. Meanwhile, I am thrilled to avoid the daily purple pill & the possible long-term health consequences from taking it.  In the past 2 weeks, I have had a little nausea, but I even had occasional  nausea when I was on Nexium.  Not sure why and am hoping it will go away over time.  I will choose to live with a little nausea over taking Nexium.

“Meanwhile, here’s some history.  Growing up, I rarely experienced typical GERD/heartburn & didn’t have a stomach ulcer.  As a young kid, I thought I was born with really bad allergies, a very sensitive stomach, and fatigue.  So, I took lots of allergy meds, antidiarrheals, and then Mucinex in later years for heavy chest congestion & mucous in my throat.  In 2007, I got tired of feeling so sick and tired, and was finally diagnosed with the LPR type of Reflux by an Otolaryngologist & then had an upper endoscopy later on.  Once I began taking Nexium, I started feeling wonderful & rarely ever had to take allergy, antidiarrheals or Mucinex meds.  However, I also significantly adjusted my diet and stopped eating the usual trigger foods like tomatoes, citrus, chocolate, garlic, onions, and limit yogurt (use Lactaid pills) as I’m lactose intolerant.  I still drink a touch of coffee but even less so the past couple of weeks because I want to optimize Elixa success.

“With the continuing news of possible bad consequences with long-term use of Nexium, I met with different gastroenterologists over the past few years to try to wean off the PPI.  I never succeeded even for a day with reducing Nexium to 20 mgs.  The docs didn’t like the surgeries available to fix reflux because they do not seem to be successful long term & may have some bad consequences. 

“We tell our family and friends about Elixa if they have any stomach or related problems.  I will continue to share my results with you, and am so VERY happy that Elixa exists!  Thank you. […]

“I’m enjoying another beautiful day, feeling well, and am so happy to be off that purple pill.  Thank you!” — Mrs. Maurine R

“Well it’s a condition called seborrheic  dermatitis, an easier term would be dandruff of the skin. I was getting dry painful red patches around my face that were just awful. It wasn’t dry skin so I did more and more research and found that it could be caused by bad bacteria in your gut. So I researched probiotics and heard it could help the condition but the ones at the store just weren’t strong enough. That’s when I came across elixa and how powerful it is along with the great reviews that came with it. So I gave it a shot and after 3 days I noticed a drastic improvement my face was smoother and less red and after the 6 days it was about 80% gone I couldn’t believe it. Now every 3-4 months I take elixa to keep my condition at bay.” — Luke B

Order your 6-day program of ultra-high-dose Elixa Probiotic here.