Interest in probiotics is taking off in this analysis of Google search terms since 2004.
As you can see, American parents interest in things like echinacea, fish oil, cod liver oil and vitamin C has remained a significant search term but with little change over time.
The blue in the chart is probiotics, check out the viral (ah hem) growth of American parents interest in probiotics. One would assume this would lead a good percentage of parents into a purchasing decision which leads to….What brands are they buying?
Related search terms to “probiotics for kids” is all about Culturelle, which is a product that is ‘all-in’ on the Lactobacillus strain meaning they don’t employ other probiotic strains such as Bifido and Bacillus species. Culturelle touts its single strain formulation as being superior to other brands. More research is needed on this topic but the naturopathic community generally likes a more diverse offering of species for health maintenance and the ‘top’ brands in my mind employ a wider diversity of probiotic species, but investigating this further is a topic for another post.
Drawing conclusions from the Google search terms and Culturelle’s dominance of the market place (they advertise themselves as America’s #1 brand), you could conclude that most American parents are giving their kids single strain probiotics.