One trillion CFU per box. Three named live cultures, two prebiotic fibres and seven vitamins and minerals in a single daily sachet. We take the formulation apart — specification by specification — so you can judge it on evidence rather than on the number printed across the front of the pack.
The number printed on a box is the number that goes into your mouth — not necessarily the number that reaches your intestine. Gastric acid and bile reduce viability, and how well a culture copes varies strain by strain. Maxilin™ is positioned around acid tolerance and a stated shelf-life count rather than a headline figure alone.
Rather than one organism, each sachet declares three named cultures alongside two non-digestible fibres — resistant dextrin and inulin — which act as substrate for gut microorganisms. Combining live cultures with fibre in one serving is what the literature calls a synbiotic format.
One sachet dissolves into 250 ml of warm water. For anyone who dislikes swallowing capsules — or who simply forgets a bottle in a cupboard — turning the dose into a twice-daily drink with six flavours to rotate makes the routine considerably easier to keep.
Live cultures cannot yet carry a gut health claim in most regulated markets. The vitamins and minerals in the formula can: vitamin C, vitamin E, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, calcium and magnesium each have specific authorised health claims under applicable food-supplement regulations.
Not a scorecard — a like-for-like read of what each column actually declares. The left-hand column reflects what is commonly found across the general consumer market.
Historical work traces fermented-milk practices in the Middle East back at least nine thousand years, spreading outwards across Eurasia and taking root on the Central Asian plains. Long before anyone could see a bacterium, whole populations were consuming live cultures every day — not as medicine, but as the only practical way to keep milk edible.
Working in Geneva, the Bulgarian physician Stamen Grigorov isolated and described the organism responsible for traditional Bulgarian yoghurt. For the first time a specific fermenting bacterium could be named, cultured and studied on its own — the step that turned an ancient food practice into a laboratory science.
Élie Metchnikoff, at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, connected the fermented-milk diets of Bulgaria and the Caucasus with unusual longevity, and proposed that acid-producing bacteria might suppress putrefaction in the intestine. He set the idea out in The Prolongation of Life in 1907 and shared the Nobel Prize the following year. His ageing theory was later revised — his lasting contribution was to make intestinal bacteria a serious scientific subject.
Fermented dairy moved into industrial production — kefir was being made at scale in Russia by the 1930s — and national microbial culture collections were founded to deposit, catalogue and permanently preserve individual isolates under reference codes. Maxilin™ attributes its lead culture to one such deposit, recorded as VKPM B-2585.
Modern live-culture manufacturing is judged on three things: is the organism correctly identified to strain, is it still viable when the consumer takes it, and is every batch the same? Maxilin™ is produced under GMP conditions with ISO 22000 and HACCP food safety systems, and is HALAL certified.
A note on heritage. A long fermentation tradition in a region does not establish that a modern isolated strain descends from it, nor that it produces any particular effect. Probiotic effects are strain-specific and use-specific. Heritage explains why a culture was collected and studied — the certificate of analysis explains what is in the box.
Strain 2585 · deposit code VKPM B-2585
The lead culture and three quarters of the declared count. L. acidophilus is an obligately homofermentative organism associated with the human gastrointestinal tract, and is among the most widely used species in products studied as probiotics. Published work has examined gastrointestinal survival and adhesion to the gut lining — though these behaviours vary strain by strain, which is exactly why the deposit code matters.
Strain 90301
A thermophilic lactic acid bacterium and one of the workhorses of dairy fermentation, used in yoghurt and cheese production worldwide. It is routinely paired with lactobacilli during fermentation, and is the species behind the narrowly defined EU claim on live yoghurt cultures and lactose digestion.
Declared per sachet
A Gram-positive, non-spore-forming thermophile used in Swiss-type and long-ripened Italian cheeses. Its distinguishing feature is a powerful proteolytic system that breaks milk proteins down into peptides and amino acids — the process behind flavour development in aged cheese, and the reason the species attracts research interest.
Live cultures plus non-digestible fibre in a single serving is what the literature calls a synbiotic format. Presence alone does not prove synergy — but it does mean the fibre and the cultures arrive together rather than separately.
A soluble, non-digestible carbohydrate that passes through the small intestine largely intact and becomes available to microorganisms further down the tract. It dissolves cleanly and is virtually tasteless, which is why it works well in a drink format.
A non-digestible fructan found naturally in chicory root and Jerusalem artichoke, and used as a substrate by gut microorganisms. EFSA has issued a favourable opinion for a specifically characterised native chicory inulin and normal defecation — at an intake of at least 12 g a day, a threshold that applies to that characterisation only.
Each of these carries specific authorised health claims under applicable food-supplement regulations. Eligibility depends on the product meeting the applicable conditions of use per serving.
Twice a day for twenty-five days is a long time to drink the same thing. All six varieties ship together, so you rotate rather than resign yourself.
Empty a single sachet into 250 ml of warm — not hot — water and stir until fully dissolved. Water that is too hot risks the live cultures; lukewarm is what the manufacturer specifies.
The directed schedule is two sachets daily, roughly thirty minutes before a meal. That works out at 40 billion CFU a day and makes a 50-sachet box a 25-day supply. Do not exceed the recommended daily dose.
Swallowed cultures meet gastric acid and then bile. How many survive depends on the strain and the formulation — which is why acid tolerance, rather than the headline count, is the specification worth interrogating on any live-culture product.
NICE advises that adults with IBS who choose to try a probiotic should take it at the manufacturer’s recommended dose for at least four weeks while monitoring the effect on symptoms. A simple daily note is the most useful thing you can do.
Before you start. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, taking medication or living with a medical condition — including anything affecting your immune system — speak to your doctor or pharmacist first. A food supplement should never replace, delay or alter prescribed treatment.
A genuinely well-built formulation in a format people can actually stick to. The gap is the same one that affects almost every consumer probiotic: published trials on the finished product.
Talk to a partnerReviewed 12 January 2026
Per-sachet counts, per-culture splits and fibre content are all declared openly.
Two of three cultures carry a strain code — better than most of the high street.
A flavoured drink in six varieties is far easier to sustain than a daily capsule.
Two fibres plus seven nutrients in the same serving is unusually complete.
Species-level research is plentiful; product-specific human trials are not.
The partner model means guidance and follow-up, but no next-day checkout.
Label literacyBillions, tens of billions, a trillion. Front-of-pack culture counts have turned into an arms race — here is what the number actually measures, and the five things on the label that tell you far more.
Read the article
Evidence review“Take a probiotic with your antibiotics” is among the most repeated pieces of health advice online. The actual evidence is narrower, more conditional, and more interesting than the slogan.
Read the article
Digestive comfortThere is no officially recommended probiotic for IBS. There is, however, a recognised method for finding out whether one helps you personally — and NICE has written it down.
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Heritage & scienceEvery live-culture supplement on the market today traces back to a simple problem: how do you stop milk spoiling? The answer took nine thousand years to explain.
Read the articleMaxilin™ Super Probiotic is a powdered food supplement sold in single-serve sachets. Each sachet declares 20 billion CFU across three named live cultures — Lactobacillus acidophilus strain 2585, Streptococcus thermophilus 90301 and Lactobacillus helveticus — together with two prebiotic fibres and seven vitamins and minerals. A box contains 50 sachets in six flavours, which the manufacturer describes as one trillion CFU per box.
CFU stands for colony-forming unit — an estimate of how many viable microorganisms are capable of reproducing under laboratory conditions. The one trillion figure is the arithmetic total for a whole box: 20 billion per sachet multiplied by 50 sachets. It is a compositional statement about the pack, not a dose anyone takes at once, and not in itself evidence of an effect.
No. The dose–response relationship for live cultures is not consistently linear, and a bigger number does not substitute for correct strain identification, viability at the point of consumption, survival through the gut, or evidence in the population and outcome that matters to you. Some studied interventions use comparatively modest doses of a well-characterised strain. Read the strain codes and the shelf-life guarantee before you read the headline figure.
Ask your pharmacist or GP — this depends on the antibiotic, the reason for it and your own circumstances. For context, some NHS clinical protocols advise giving a probiotic at least two hours before or after an antibiotic dose rather than at the same time, and there is moderate evidence that certain preparations may reduce antibiotic-associated diarrhoea in particular settings. That is clinical protocol guidance, not universal consumer advice, and no supplement should ever change, delay or replace prescribed treatment.
We cannot tell you that, and nor can anyone else without product-specific evidence. What we can tell you is how to test it properly: NICE advises that adults with IBS who choose to try a probiotic should take it at the manufacturer’s recommended dose for at least four weeks while monitoring symptoms. NICE does not endorse any particular product. Persistent, severe or changing symptoms warrant a clinical assessment rather than a supplement.
Dissolve one sachet in 250 ml of warm water and drink it. The directed schedule is twice a day, around thirty minutes before a meal. Use warm rather than hot water, and do not exceed the recommended daily dose.
Six — pineapple, guava, lemon, vanilla, apple and passion fruit — supplied together in the same 50-sachet box, so you can rotate rather than commit to one taste for a month.
The product is HALAL certified and manufactured under GMP conditions with ISO 22000 and HACCP food safety systems. For any specific dietary requirement or allergen question, check the current pack labelling and the manufacturer’s specification, as formulations can be revised.
Live cultures are generally described as safe for people with healthy immune systems, but caution applies to medically vulnerable groups. NHS protocols typically exclude or individually assess people who are immunocompromised or neutropenic, those receiving immunosuppressants or recent chemotherapy, those at risk of aspiration or using certain feeding tubes, and people with conditions such as acute pancreatitis. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, taking medication or living with a medical condition, speak to your doctor or pharmacist first.
Maxilin™ is available in over 38 countries and is distributed person to person through a global network of partners. You buy from a named individual who can walk you through the schedule and stay in touch afterwards. Email [email protected] or call +44 7746 106000 and we will connect you with a partner in your area.
Maxilin™ is distributed through a network of partners rather than sold on a shelf. It means you buy from a named person who explains the twice-daily schedule, helps you set up a four-week trial properly, and is still there in week three when you have a question. Tell us where you are and we will connect you with a partner.
