Why Qiara by Emma Park Nutritionist

Why Qiara?

By Emma Park : Consultant Nutritionist.  

Is a probiotic for everyone? Probiotics are very beneficial for a lot of reasons. Supplemental probiotics (as opposed to probiotics found in fermented foods) can be used as targeted therapies and are definitely on the 'recommended' list for most of my clients from preconception, through pregnancy & breastfeeding / infancy.

Why should I take one? Probiotics have a beneficial effect on our microbiome (all of the bugs that live in and on us) and the microbiome helps regulate everything from gut & immune health, to mood and behaviour. 

During the First 1000 Days life stage (from conception to 2 years old) the mums microbiome is especially important as she passes her microbiome onto bubs. And in this early stage - the microbiome helps to 'set up' the immune system - and this will impact bubs for life! It’s a really important stage to look after 'all your microbiomes' (generally considered just in the 'gut') but every body site has a microbiome and they all impact health & development.

A good probiotic will benefit not just the gut, but also reproductive, skin, lung, and oral microbiomes - and all of these are important for pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and infant outcomes. 

What makes Qiara so special as opposed to something else I can get at the chemist or supermarket? 

Qiara is unique as it contains a probiotic strain that has been originally isolated from healthy human breastmilk (as opposed to bowel flora or food). It is one of the ‘foundation strains’ and so is uniquely adapted to interact with the human digestive & immune system, and the human baby.

It is also a thoroughly clinically researched strain - meaning there have been many clinical trials in humans demonstrating the safety and benefits, and Qiara has exaclty the same dose and formulation as used in the clincial trials. 

The strain in Qiara (Lactobacillus Fermentum CECT5716) is one of the only strains that has ‘maternal transfer’. This means that when mum takes it, it passes from her gut into her breastmilk – this not only increases beneficial flora in the breastmilk, but also benefits the health and function of the breast tissue (reduces inflammation, improves flow and supply etc.) – AND it then passes onto to baby via the breastmilk – improving bubs  gut & immune health as well. A win win!

Qiara is also Australian owned and manufactured and adheres to high quality standards & contains no allergens & only safe excipients (additives). This is extremely important during this life stage.

When is the best time to take a probiotic and should I take it with food or on an empty stomach? 

With the strain in Qiara it doesn’t really matter. Clinical trials have shown it has higher than usual ‘survival rates’ through the digestive tract. Being a breastmilk strain, this makes sense – it is designed to be delivered that way!

 What else can I be doing to support my gut health and also my milk supply?

Diet is definitely the biggest impact on our gut & microbiome health – and also effects breastmilk health & supply. A healthy wholefood diet, rich in nutrients & plant food diversity really supports a healthy microbiome & general wellness. This also provides a diet rich in PREbiotics – these are the plant fibres that feed the good bugs (the probiotics) and these are really important for long term health of the gut and microbiome.

Recent research shows mums diet during pregnancy and breastfeeding effects the natural PREbiotics in her breastmilk (how cool that breastmilk has it's own prebiotics - Human Milk Oligosaccharides) and these are also really important for feeding the baby’s gut bugs and helping bubs develop a healthy balanced microbiome & immune system.

One of the other highly beneficial things you can do for milk supply is skin-to-skin contact – it helps to stimulate oxytocin and that has many, many benefits to both mum and bubs.

Good quality (low sugar & additives) or homemade lactation cookies can also be helpful, but if supply issues continue it is always best to seek the help of a health professional, ideally an IBCLC (a board certified Lactation Consultant).

Other really important considerations are to reduce unnecessary medication use (especially antibiotics – these have big impacts to both gut & breastmilk microbiome) toxin exposure, and stress.