I swapped my usual probiotic for Emily English’s Epetōme – here’s my review

If there’s one piece of wellness advice I’m forever handing out – solicited or not – it’s “take a probiotic”. Gut health is one of those subjects that probably seems a little boring and a little icky, but given the opportunity, I love to talk about it. Probiotic supplements have been part of my wellbeing routine for years and they’ve helped stabilise my digestive health, identify and tackle intolerances and prevent aggressive bacteria from causing infections. In my eyes, probiotic foods and supplements are the holy grail of health and I love them.

For the uninitiated, probiotics are living microorganisms. They contribute to optimal balance in the gut and (sorry if this is TMI) in the vagina too. Your whole body plays host to bacteria that thrive in the right conditions and keep everything working as it should. So if your gut bacteria changes and certain bacteria are allowed to spread and take over, taking a probiotic supplement or eating probiotic foods can help restore the balance of friendly microorganisms.

It’ll probably come as no surprise that fermented probiotic-rich foods and drinks, such as kombucha and yoghurt, feature pretty heavily in my diet. Along with this, I started taking a daily probiotic after reading a study on the gut-brain axis and the link between gut health and mental health. The human gut has the second-highest concentration of neurons after the brain and trials have shown that those suffering from anxiety disorders and depression are more likely to suffer from gut imbalances.

I realised that though probiotic foods were doing me good, I could probably increase my intake of probiotics more consistently. I hoped that by taking a quality supplement daily I’d be able to not only tackle any tummy issues but also potentially affect my mood and my energy levels too. I opted for the probiotic that I’d read was the best on the market and of course, Goop-approved: the Seed Daily Synbiotic .

I’ve been taking it every day for two years and though it would be a reach to say that the supplement alone delivered the results I was looking for (I’ve made several other healthy lifestyle changes over those two years), I no longer have stomach issues, my mood is better and I do have more energy.

That brings us up to date and to an email that dropped into my inbox informing me that Seed now has a UK-based rival: Epetōme . Epetōme is the creation of nutritionist Emily English and offers something called duo cap technology. The capsule contains an outer and an inner core to make sure that the 50 billion live probiotic strains in the inner core reach your gut alive, unmarred by stomach acid. English says this technology has been proven to be 30 times more effective at making sure the bacteria survive, compared to standard capsules. But the outer core does some heavy lifting too, releasing prebiotic FOS, vitamin D , zinc and biotin to top up your levels of these gut-balancing nutrients. I was keen to try Epetōme to see if the duo cap technology would measure up to my beloved Seed capsules.

Epetōme synbiotic duo cap, 30 capsules

The verdict: Epetōme synbiotic duo cap