OptiFlora DI: The Probiotic We Trust for Digestive & Immune Health
If you’ve ever stood in the supplement aisle trying to pick a probiotic, you know the feeling. Dozens of bottles, each one shouting a bigger number than the last — 5 billion, 50 billion, 100 billion. It’s easy to assume the biggest number wins. After 34 years of using and recommending these products, here’s the honest truth we share with every customer who asks us which probiotic to take: the number on the bottle is one of the least useful things printed on it. What actually matters is whether those bacteria survive the trip to where they can do you any good — and that’s a very different question. Here’s what to look for in a probiotic for digestive and immune health, and why OptiFlora DI is the one we trust and take ourselves.
Why a Bigger Number on the Bottle Isn’t Better
That big number you see is the CFU count — colony-forming units. It tells you how many bacteria in the sample are capable of dividing and forming colonies. It sounds impressive, and the marketing leans on it hard. But here’s the catch most labels won’t tell you plainly: most products guarantee those live bacteria only at the time of manufacturing.
Think about what that means. You could have a trillion bacteria in a bottle, and if they can’t survive the journey through your stomach acid and down to your large intestine — where they actually go to work — that number does you no good at all. The bacteria have to arrive alive.
So the question isn’t “how many bacteria are in here?” It’s “how many will still be alive and active by the time they reach my gut?” A quality probiotic is built and tested to answer that second question. OptiFlora DI was laboratory-tested to survive passage through the digestive tract so its key strain reaches the large intestine, where it can deliver the most benefit. That’s the number that matters.
Prebiotics + Probiotics: How the Two-Stage System Works
Here’s the simplest way we know to explain it across the kitchen table. Prebiotics are a food source for probiotics. As prebiotic fibers travel through your digestive system, they nourish the good bacteria already there and the ones you’re adding, helping them grow and multiply. More good bacteria in the gut means better digestion. Think of prebiotics as a turbocharger for probiotics.
That’s the idea behind the OptiFlora system: pair the two so the good bacteria arrive and have something to eat when they get there. The probiotic side uses a patented triple-layer encapsulation — the “pearl” — designed to protect the live cultures and deliver them to the large intestine intact, rather than letting stomach acid break them down along the way. When it was introduced, that delivery approach was a real leap forward in probiotic supplements, and it still holds up today.
Optiflora Pearl vs. OptiFlora DI — What’s the Difference?
A lot of folks come to us searching for “Optiflora Pearl,” an earlier name they remember. So let’s clear up the lineage, because both are excellent and the right one depends on what you’re after.
The original Optiflora Probiotic (the Pearl) contains two strains — Bifidobacterium longum and Lactobacillus acidophilus — for a total of 500 million bacteria. It provides dietary support for normal, healthy intestinal microflora, and that triple-layer pearl delivery makes it an excellent everyday choice. It’s still in the lineup, and it’s still very good. Suzanne gets hers this way, which we’ll come back to.
OptiFlora DI steps it up: four named strains — Bifidobacterium lactis HN019, Lactobacillus acidophilus La-14, Lactobacillus plantarum Lp-115, and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG — totaling 10 billion bacteria.
Now, it’s tempting to look at “four strains and 10 billion” versus “two strains and 500 million” and call it a day. But remember what we said about numbers: the type of strain matters more than the count. The reason DI stands out isn’t just the bigger figure — it’s that one specific, well-studied strain, Bifidobacterium lactis HN019, that has been clinically proven in peer-reviewed, published studies to support both digestive and immune health.1 It was also tested to improve gut transit time — the speed at which food moves through your digestive tract — which leading probiotic researchers consider a key factor in healthy gut metabolism.2
How OptiFlora DI Supports Digestive and Immune Health
Put simply, OptiFlora DI helps fortify your digestive system with healthy bacteria to support a healthy digestive system and maintain gastrointestinal balance — which in turn helps maintain regularity and reduce occasional gas and bloating. Because of that HN019 strain, it also supports immune health, since so much of your immune system lives in and around your gut.
A few practical things we like about it:
- It survives stomach acid. Laboratory-tested to reach the large intestine, so what’s on the label actually arrives where it counts.
- No refrigeration required. It stays stable at room temperature, which makes it easy to travel with — and we never travel without ours.
- Gluten-free, soy-free, and dairy-free.
Why We Take It — Our Own Experience
We don’t recommend anything we don’t use ourselves, and probiotics are a good example of how two people can take the same family of product a little differently.
Carl takes OptiFlora DI. Before Shaklee, I dealt with bronchitis more often than I’d like. I won’t promise a probiotic changes that for anyone — nobody honestly can — but it’s exactly why immune support is my personal priority, and why I take the version that delivers more of it. That’s the reasoning behind my choice, plain and simple.
Suzanne takes the original Optiflora Pearl — and here’s the convenient part: it’s built right into her Vitalizer multi-supplement strip. She doesn’t take a separate probiotic at all; she gets her daily Pearl along with the rest of her vitamins in one go. For someone who wants their probiotic handled automatically as part of a broader routine, that’s hard to beat.
Two of us, two versions, same reason underneath: consistent daily use of something we actually trust. And when our schedules and our food get thrown off on the road, keeping up our probiotic is one of the simplest ways we support our digestive health away from home.
Is OptiFlora DI Right for You?
If you want steady, everyday support for digestion and immune health — and especially if you’ve been on antibiotics, don’t eat many fermented foods, or just want a probiotic built to actually reach your gut — OptiFlora DI is the one we recommend without hesitation.
New to all of this and still sorting out the basics? Start with our plain-English guide to what probiotics are and whether you need a supplement, then come back here when you’re ready to choose. And if you’d like a personal recommendation — DI or the original Pearl — reach out to us anytime. Helping people sort this out is our favorite part of the job.
Want to take your digestive health a step further? The 7-Day Healthy Cleanse pairs OptiFlora DI with three other body-cleansing products for a full week of gentle digestive support.
Carl & Suzanne LaFlamme are independent Shaklee Ambassadors and the owners of All’s Well Health.
1. Gill HS, Rutherfurd KJ, Cross ML, Gopal PK. Enhancement of immunity in the elderly by dietary supplementation with the probiotic Bifidobacterium lactis HN019. Am J Clin Nutr. 2001 Dec;74(6):833-9.
2. Waller PA, et al. Dose-response effect of Bifidobacterium lactis HN019 on whole gut transit time and functional gastrointestinal symptoms in adults. Scand J Gastroenterol. 2011 Sep;46(9):1057-64.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. If you have a health condition or take medication, consult your healthcare provider before beginning any supplement.
