Tried It: ISOThrive Prebiotics

It's a mildly sweet goo in a little foil packet. TMI warning, this post is about a gut health product.

Intestinal gas gives me an existential crisis. I assume this isn't a problem everyone has, but for some reason, deep in my brain, "I'm gassy" is connected to "mortal doom." In fact, a feeling of dread and fear beyond the reach of human harm is often the first symptom of gas I feel. Which is to say that products marketed as helping digestive health tend to catch my attention. Ain't nobody got time for that.

ISOThrive is a prebiotic. Yogurt, kombucha, and other things you eat that have live bacteria or other microorganisms are probiotics, and their purpose is to bring in good microbes to colonize your gut. Prebiotics, on the other hand, aim to nurture the good microbes that are already in your gut so that they dominate. The company sent me a 30-day supply to try for free, but has not otherwise compensated me for this post, nor have they had any editorial input.

Most prebiotics are small- to medium-chain sugar polymers. Other synonyms or near-synonyms you might hear are "soluble fiber" and "oligosaccharide." You can't digest such polymers directly like you can fructose or table sugar, and the microbes in your stomach mostly can't either. These longer sugars are digested instead by symbiotic (good) bacteria that live further down, in your intestines. So, the theory goes, by nurturing a healthy community down in your intestines, you get smooth, regular functioning of those organs.

Someone warned you a chemist writes this blog, right?

No euphemism zone: We're talking about avoiding constipation, diarrhea, excessive gas, and gas buildup. The company says "Many people experience a decrease in acid reflux, constipation, decrease in appetite, and other effects on their gut health."

ISOThrive uses "maltosyl-iso-malto-oligosaccharides," a term I'm going to score "just fine" from a science standpoint. The company sent me a thirty day supply of 1-gram packets of this slightly sweet goo. The instructions say to eat it straight or to dissolve it in water.

Results: I knew from the get-go this one was going to be hard to evaluate. The basic question is, "Does this stuff make my lower digestive tract behave better?" But there are too many variables to be 100% sure. I've tried to eat normally to avoid skewing the results. But you should understand this is anecdote, not rigorous data.

But I think it does help. Over the 18 days I've been taking it so far, things have been more consistent down there. I've been, overall, less gassy than normal. It's not a huge effect, I don't suddenly have the digestive powers of a 20-year-old again. But I've felt better on the parameters we're watching the past 18 days than I did the 18 days before that.

The volume of waste also seems to be less, which is an odd effect but kinda makes sense. If the microbes that break things down in my lower intestines are healthier, you could believe that they'd be able to extract more nutrition from the same input, leaving less to waste.

The jury is still out on the efficacy of prebiotic supplements. Scientists are doing rigorous, independent studies on it as we speak. But if you're already convinced of the merits, I can say that this is an easy and reasonably pleasant way to supplement.


If you want to read the play-by-play, I kept a log of the trial below. I'll try to keep it going till I run out my 30-day supply.

Day 1: I decided to squeeze the satchel directly into my mouth because I wanted to really taste it. It mostly didn't have a taste. A hint of sweet and a hint of sour, that's pretty much it. Entirely inoffensive. It was about as thick as cold maple syrup, but not sticky. Similar to glycerin. The brochure says to give it at least two weeks; it's a painless enough thing to take that I don't forsee a problem.

Day 2: Forgot to take it in the morning so I took it around 7pm. My gut feels pretty good today, but that can't be attributed to Iso-Trive this early in the trial.

Day 3: Gut is feeling fine. I was gassy and constipated when I started, some combination of flu and excessive dessert, maybe even some cheesecake gone bad. Those symptoms are mostly gone. The little packets poke at the sides of my mouth, though I could add it to water instead of taking it straight.

Day 4: Unremarkable.

Day 5: Having some lower back pain, probably unrelated. Bowels seem fine, but I'm sniffly, which is relevant b/c that often results in gas.

Day 6: Sniffles turned out to be this cute trick my body does where instead of feeling tired, it feels like I have a bad cold, presumably b/c feeling tired doesn't actually get me to rest. Anyway, guts felt fine through all that anyway.

Day 7: Back pain was a result of sleeping on my stomach without supporting my hips. Good to know.

Day 12: Not sure how I missed recording a few days, but I have 18 left and I started with 30, so that indicates that this is day 12. Anyway, I've had more sweets over the past few days, and I'm getting a bit more gas and constipation. So that's an interesting trend. Interesting in a bad way; I have quite the sweet tooth.

Day 13: Guts were a little rough today.

Day 14: Felt pretty good today, intestine-wise anyway. 

Day 15: Guts feeling solid, performing to spec.

Day 16: Guts feeling solid, performing to spec.

Day 17: Guts feeling solid, performing to spec.

Day 18: Still feeling good, even though the past few days have been very stressful. I usually get a bit of upset stomach when I'm stressed.

Day 30: Okay, I kinda lost steam on the daily journal thing. I just finished up my last packet. I also skipped a week because I misplaced the box of packets. My observation is that when regularly using ISOThrive, I was less gassy and more regular by a good margin that I can't explain by other variables. So my anecdotal experience suggests a pretty good chance that this product had a real and noticeable positive effect on my gut health.