FAQs

Nella is the world’s first athlete-derived Performance Probiotic. It is a daily capsule of next-generation probiotics designed to help anyone pursuing a healthy and active lifestyle to a new frontier of personal best from the inside out. This includes benefits in digestion/bowel movements, energy, and sleep.

Nella is the fruition of years of cutting-edge research, decoding the microbiome of some of the most fit people in the world. Nella is made with our patented next-generation Lactobacillus probiotic strains sourced from the guts of elite athletes, giving you the Guts to Defy your Limits.

Nella is Informed Sport Certified, Vegan, Gluten Free and made in the USA. #GutsToDefy

Nella is different from other probiotics because we went straight to the source: the guts of super performers. By understanding and decoding how elite athletes’ microbiome supports their sport’s intense physical demands, we are cultivating probiotics to better support your active lifestyle and defy your limits.

Nella is for EVERYONE who can benefit from gut health. We know that gut health supports holistic health and wellness. So Nella is for anyone who wants to live a more active life. From elite athletes to wellness seekers, we aim to help you take charge of your destiny, to excel and succeed in all aspects of life.

When we feel our best, we can be our personal best.

No, Nella does not need to be refridgerated. Nella probiotics are packaged in Alu Alu blister cards, which protects the capsules from exposure to light, oxygen, and moisture.

In short, yes you can combine Nella with other probiotics. Probiotic brands vary by the strains/amounts of each strain they contain. While many probiotics are sourced from a handful of manufacturers (you can find the same strains used in many different brands), the strains we use in Nella are our own proprietary strains. That means you will not find our strains in any other probiotics brand. Nella contains a blend of our patented Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, and Lactobacillus acidophilus strains. We would suggest transitioning to using only one to see how it effects you personally (as everyone is different), before experimenting with combinations.

Probiotics take varying amounts of time to be effective for different people based on their DNA, gut health, and the bacteria currently making up their gut microbiome. Studies have shown that it can take up to 4 weeks for probiotics to start working and sometimes 6-8 weeks to feel a difference. Furthermore, different benefits of consuming probiotics are realized at different times. For example, those with digestive issues may notice improvements within a week, but other benefits like improved immunity and energy can take months. As with any supplement, the impact may be gradual as balance is slowly restored to your gut bacterial community, addressing the core of your overall health.

There are a few reasons why you might not notice any benefits to taking Nella probiotics. First, the probiotics have expired. Check your Nella packaging to make sure the expiration date has not passed yet. Second, you are already consuming a lot of probiotic foods. If you are already eating and drinking a lot of probiotic foods like yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, etc., you might not notice as many changes when taking Nella probiotics. Third, you have not taken the probiotic long enough. Some benefits can take weeks or months to manifest as your body adjusts to the probiotic. Finally, everyone is different. Everyone has a different genetic code, a different microbial community in their gut, and different dietary and exercise habits.

FitBiomics is planning to develop many new probiotics in the future, so if this one is not working out for you, keep checking back for when our next probiotic will be released. 

Nella probiotics are safe for most people to take. However if you are pregnant, lactating, have a serious health condition, are taking any medications, or are planning medical or surgical procedures, consult your physician before use of any new probiotic or supplement!

Probiotic use for children should be discussed with your pediatrician.

Nella contains living bacteria in an acid resistant capsule to allow them to survive the acid of the stomach and be released in the intestine. Because we isolated these from the guts of elite athletes, we know they have to ability to survive in the gastrointestinal tract and interact beneficially with the human host. However, we know from the literature that without regular consumption of foods or probiotic supplements containing Lactobacillus strains, eventually their abundance will wane over time. Most probiotics therefore are transient and do not colonize in the gut. That is why it's important to take Nella daily, or at least as regularly as possible.

At our heart, Fitbiomics is a biotech platform that is decoding the microbiome of elite phenotypes to identify and translate next-generation probiotics of many types and functions. This includes novel genera of bacteria that the world hasn't seen before, like lactic acid eating strains such as Veillonella. And you'll be happy to know this strain is currently in development and in the commercial development phase.

Our product portfolio also includes athlete-sourced variations of current commercial bacteria species. A majority of the probiotics market today consists of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species, yet are decades old and have been mainly sourced from baby poop, food, animals, and the environment. One of the questions we asked ourselves was: "can we better harness natural diversity, and utilize a form fits function approach to select variants of these species that are enriched and naturally function in the guts of super performers?" The result is Nella, a next-gen probiotic clinically validated to deliver improvements in sleep quality (+69%), digestion/bowel movements (+37%) and energy (+31%) in a double blind placebo controlled study.

Informed Sport certification ensures every batch of Nella is tested for quality and over 250 banned substances before reaching consumers. This is crucial because up to 10% of sports supplements can be contaminated with prohibited ingredients. For more information, check the certified brand list.

We have tested whether Nella produces histamines. Many gut bacteria produce histamines, and healthy people's guts do normally include histamines. In laboratory culture, the Nella strains do produce histamine, but at levels consistent with what you would expect from bacteria in the average gut. Unless you have a sensitivity to histamines, we would not expect any side effects due to the histamine production levels of these strains.

Mast cells are immune cells involved in the symptoms you experience during allergic reactions. They are triggered by the antibody associated with allergies, IgE, but in some cases they can be triggered by other things like medications, venoms, or infections. They are also important for regulating epithelial, nerve, and immune function in the gut. Therefore, they do interact with bacteria quite often. While we haven't specifically tested Nella for the ability to activate mast cells, which is also very challenging to test because of everyone's unique set of responses to allergic triggers, we have not seen any patterns of our customers experiencing allergy type responses to our products. This suggests that they like tend not to trigger mast cell activation.

If histamine sensitivity or mast cell activation are particular health concerns for you, we recommend talking to your doctor before taking Nella.