Lactobacillus Reuteri ATCC PTA 6475 is a strain that was hyped up in the community after an article was published called “Probiotic ‘glow of health’: it’s more than skin deep” [R].
In the article, you can see that the mice that were fed with this probiotic strain experienced significantly better hair growth, and also exhibited a much more favorable ratio of anagen to telogen hair cycle stages.
The majority of the article elaborates on how promising this probiotic strain is for hair growth, skin health, as well as overall health in general.
Of course, I had to try this myself to see if there was any crossover in humans.
My Experience With Lactobacillus Reuteri ATCC PTA 6475
It was really hard to come across to find this exact strain.
After digging for several hours, I found one company that sells it.
I bought several months worth and took it diligently every single day.
After using it for several months, I can confirm without a shadow of a doubt that it made no noticeable difference on my growth rate.
Obviously, these images and results look really promising.
When you see a mouse experience significant improvement in their hair growth with the only factor changed being this probiotic, you can’t help but assume this is very encouraging data.
But, not everything in rodent studies translates into humans, and this is one of those cases where the probiotic I don’t think is worth adding to your regimen.
My Verdict
Save your money.
The Lactobacillus Reuteri ATCC PTA 6475 probiotic strain doesn’t work well for hair loss prevention, if at all.
With that being said, I’m not asserting that probiotics aren’t good for health.
Good gut health does have some impact on levels of shedding, and potentially even androgenic alopecia in general.
Inflammation and the inflammatory response in your scalp is obviously tied to your gut health at the end of the day.
But, as far as the potential of this strain in particular inducing a unique growth effect that you wouldn’t get otherwise get, it just isn’t the case.