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Rainbow Light is one of our favorite and most trusted vitamin brands. You know they’re all about the health when even the name “Rainbow Light” comes from the fact that under a light spectrophotometer, spirulina refracts all the colors of the rainbow.
Wow. Clearly some health nerds over there.
Spirulina was what got them their start all the way back in 1981, but since then they’ve also jumped on the gummy vitamin train, and “All Aboard” is what we’re sayin’.
We love their gummy Vitamin D3, despite the fact that it melted into one giant blob of D.
And we have relied on their (non-gummy) Counter Attack for years to get us through the winter months.
But ok,
let’s talk probiotics!
We believe probiotics are an integral part of a complete health picture when it comes to supplements.
What are probiotics? Probiotics are live bacteria and yeast cultures. This might sound counterintuitive, as aren’t we trying to wash our hands and constantly cleanse ourselves of bacteria? Well, yes, but also no.
It’s actually incredibly important to maintain a balance of healthy bacteria in your intestinal system, otherwise this can lead to digestion issues and disease.* Your gut microbiome helps protects you from pathogens! 🚫👾
So actually, taking supplements that can help you keep that delicate balance afloat can be incredibly important.
These Rainbow Light gummies contains 3g from inulin and fructooligosaccharides (FOS), two of the most common prebiotics, extracted from chicory root.
They also contain 1 billion CFU from Rainbow Light’s proprietary “BioActive”, which is comprised of the specific probiotic strain bacillus coagulans.
👉If you’re curious about the difference between pro-biotics and pre-biotics, we dive into that distinction further in our Up4 review!
Tasting Notes
Even with all that goodness mentioned above, the flavor is a real standout here, and keeps us coming back to Rainbow Light’s probiotic gummies in particular.
It’s a tangy, tart cranberry. There’s not a flavor quite like this in the rest of the gummy galaxy. We would venture to say it even veers into the sour gummy category, which let’s be real, the sour gummy is the supreme gummy.
“Probiolicous” may be an eye-rolling moniker, but we can vouch that it is accurate.
Rainbow Light does like to dust their gummies with some sugar crystals, which we find a little strange and unnecessary, but with these ones it actually helps balance the tartness a little.
Refrigeration
So here’s a small, but important detail: these gummies are “shelf stable”, which means that you don’t have to refrigerate them.
Perhaps you’ve noticed, when you’re perusing the supplement section at your local Whole Foods, that there’s a refrigerated section, and a large swath of that space is devoted to Pro and Prebiotics.
That’s because Probiotics are alive! (It’s alive! *Cue horror music* 🧟♂️) And like all living things, they have a Life Cycle. (*Cue Circle of Life* 🦁)
And one of those life cycles is the “Growth Phase”, which is the phase that the probiotics in the fridge are in. There’s some discussion on the internet about which probiotics are more effective.
The talking points are as follows: While fridge probiotics (in drinks or capsules) are fresher and more potent, containing live cultures, when they are in that growth phase, they are busy with consuming nutrients and trying to replicate. Basically sometimes they aren’t stable enough to make it through the gauntlet of stomach acid.
When probiotics are not refrigerated, they are considered to be in the “Lag Phase”.
Laggin’
The Lag Phase is an earlier cycle in a young Probiotics life. One in which they are growing and maturing, but aren’t yet able to divide. Therefore metabolization hasn’t consumed them yet, and they are more stable at room temperature.
Here’s what Rainbow Light has to say about it:
Our shelf-stable probiotics are protected by a natural coating that can survive manufacturing, shipping and stomach acid to reach the digestive tract in sufficient numbers to thrive.
Well, color us impressed! That’s a pretty tough little strain there to withstand all of that. Take that, refrigerated probiotics! (j/k. In all honesty, we support Probiotics in all of their blessed life stages 🙏🏼)
But this is why we’ve given these Rainbow Light our special tag “Travel Friend”, and often find ourselves reaching for the non-refrigerated probiotics.
You can take these anywhere and not have to worry about finding a fridge wherever you go. And take it from us, probiotics are definitely something that you want when you travel. Travel can throw your regularity into chaos, from too much or too little (💩😬). No bueno. But probiotics are a great way to help stave off some of that gastro-stress.
At the end of the day, we hate to play favorites, but these might just be our favorite shelf-stable probiotic/prebiotic around. It delivers, it’s super tasty and Rainbow Light is one of our most trusted brands. If you try these, let us know what you think!
