Olly Probiotic Review: Overpriced and Underdosed?

Olly Probiotic Review: Overpriced and Underdosed?


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Olly is one of the largest supplement brands in the US; famous for their gummy vitamins and supplements. The company sells a probiotic supplement used to support gut health and immunity.

But does Olly's probiotic contain research-based ingredients for promoting gut health? Does it contain any questionable additive ingredients? How do real users rate and describe its effects? And which retailer sells Olly Probiotic for the best price?

In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Olly Probiotic based on clinical studies, to give our take on whether or not it's likely to support optimal gut health.

We'll feature unsponsored customer reviews, and provide a price comparison to show which retailer sells this supplement for the best price.

Ingredient Analysis

Olly Probiotic active ingredient

The active ingredient in Olly Probiotic Bramble Berry is shown above.

Bacillus coagulans MTCC 5856 is a probiotic strain that was shown to reduce gas and bloating in a 2023 clinical trial, however the dose used in the trial was twice the dose in Olly's supplement.

This probiotic strain is also clinically shown to relieve symptoms in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but at a dose twice as high as that in Olly's supplement.

We can't identify any clinical studies showing that this probiotic strain is effective in humans in as low a dose as included in Olly Probiotic.

The inactive ingredients in Olly Probiotic Bramble Berry are shown below:

Olly Probiotic inactive ingredients

Cane sugar and glucose syrup are refined forms of sugar, and this supplement contains 4 grams (g) of added sugar per serving.

Citric acid is a preservative and flavor enhancer that's clinically shown to cause whole-body inflammation in some individuals, as we discussed in our Karma Water review article.

Natural flavor is a broad categorical descriptor that fails to document the specific flavoring chemicals used.

Overall, we consider Olly Probiotic Bramble Berry to have the potential to support gut health, given that its active ingredient has research backing.

However, we don't currently recommend this supplement because we consider its active ingredient to be underdosed, and because of the inactive ingredients highlighted above.

Real People Try Olly Probiotic

A TikTok creator named Caitlin McQuade had a positive experience with Olly Probiotic gummies:

@caitmcquadeee i love you @OLLY 🫶🏼✨ #olly #ollywellness #probiotics #vitamins #supplements ♬ 4EVA (feat. Pharrell Williams) - KAYTRANADA & KAYTRAMINÉ & Pharrell & Aminé

A TikTok creator named Kaleigh Finch suggests that Olly's probiotic gummies were effective against bloating:

@kaleighfinch Replying to @taylorclimmons ♬ original sound - KALEIGH FINCH

Is Olly Overpriced?

Since the only active ingredient in Olly Probiotic Gummies is  Bacillus coagulans MTCC 5856, it's easy to compare the cost to other probiotic supplements with the same ingredient.

A one-time purchase of Olly costs $19.99 at the time of publishing this article and contains 40 servings.

A one-time purchase of Doctor's Best Digestive Health (a probiotic supplement containing the exact same active ingredient as Olly) costs $13.44 at the time of publishing this article and contains 60 servings.

However, Doctor's Best Digestive Health provides 2 billion colony-forming units (CFU) while Olly only provides 1 billion CFU.

This means that per-CFU, Olly is over two times more expensive than Doctor's Best.

We found another probiotic supplement called Jarrow Formulas Probiotic + Prebiotic that costs only $1.50 more than Olly Probiotic, but contains five more servings and contains two other clinically-backed active ingredients (one probiotic and one prebiotic).

Overall, while the retail price is low, we consider Olly Probiotic to be overpriced for what you're getting.

We don't necessarily recommend either of these two supplements referenced in this section; we're just sharing them for comparative purposes.

Real Customers Rate Olly Probiotic

Amazon is a better resource for unbiased customer reviews than a brand's website in our opinion.

Olly Probiotic has been reviewed over 2,500 times on Amazon at the time of publishing this article, with an average review rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars.

A top positive review from a verified purchaser comes from a user named "Suzy" who gave the product a 5/5 star rating, and claims it's helped to resolve stomach issues:

"I have horrible stomach issues and have taken probiotics for a few years now. In the months since I started taking this, I have had none of the normal issues (constipation/excessive bathroom). I have already set up for this to be mailed out monthly. 10/10!"

A top negative review from a verified purchaser is written by a user named "Megan Hamilton" who gave the product a 1/5 star rating, and claims it arrived melted:

"I don’t recommend buying at all! The order was late and when I finally received them, all 3 bottles were melted...I do not recommend buying! You can look at other reviews and see that they had the same issue. Don’t waste your money!!

Olly currently has an average review rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars on Facebook.

Olly Probiotic currently has an average review rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars on Google.

Our Clean Probiotic Picks

Ritual Synbiotic+ is our top value probiotic pick.

It contains prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics, and costs under $1.50 per serving at the time of updating this article.

Probiotics "can improve in the immune, gastrointestinal...health systems in healthy adults" according to a 2019 medical review.

VSL#3 is our top premium probiotic pick.

This probiotic supplement has been studied in 25 clinical trials, and a 2020 meta-study on VSL#3 concluded the following:

"...many studies demonstrated that VSL#3 has a beneficial effect on obesity and diabetes, allergic diseases, nervous systemic diseases, AS, bone diseases, and female reproductive systemic diseases."

MBG Organic Fiber Potency+ is our top prebiotic fiber pick.

MBG Organic Fiber Potency+ contains 100% soluble fiber, which was described as "one of the most important nutrients for the gut microbiota" in a clinical review published in the Molecules journal.

All of the products recommended in this section are entirely free of ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.

Where to Get the Best Price

Olly Probiotic is sold at a variety of online retailers. Here's a price breakdown for a one-time purchase at the time of publishing this article:

Vitacost: $20.99 (plus shipping, link)

Brand website: $19.99 (plus shipping, link)

Target: $19.99 (plus shipping, link)

Amazon: $19.99 (free shipping, link to official Amazon listing)

Olly Probiotic is currently around 25% cheaper at Amazon than other online retailers when factoring in shipping fees.

Olly Probiotic Pros and Cons

Here are the pros and cons of Olly Probiotic:

Pros:

  • Contains a research-backed probiotic strain
  • May reduce bloating
  • May support optimal gut health
  • Affordable

Cons:

  • Underdosed in our opinion
  • Contains refined, added sugar
  • Contains citric acid
  • Contains natural flavor
  • Brand website charges for shipping
Stay up-to-date on our research reviews

Conclusion

Olly Probiotic is underwhelming from a formulation perspective, which is perhaps unsurprising given its price.

This supplement does contain a research-backed probiotic strain, and we consider it to be a mark of a high-quality supplement brand to list the specific strain of probiotic.

However, we can't find any clinical trial data in humans suggesting that this strain, at the dose included in Olly Probiotic, has positive effects on gut health. The clinical trials we could find on this probiotic strain used higher doses than that in Olly's supplement.

Olly Probiotic also contains some inactive ingredients like glucose syrup and citric acid that we consider to be suboptimal from a health perspective.

Consumers interested in the specific probiotic strain used in Olly Probiotic could purchase Doctor's Best probiotic supplement for a better price and a higher dose of the exact same strain.

At the time of publishing this article, Amazon has the best price on Olly Probiotic when factoring in shipping fees.




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