Table 3.

Properties of Saccharomyces boulardii that can determine the efficacy of S. boulardii.

Properties of Saccharomyces boulardii	References
1) Survives passage to its target organ (most commonly the colon): although much of the oral dose is destroyed (usually stool levels are 100–1000 times lower than the oral dose), surviving oral doses have been found to be effective (usually at levels over 108 organisms/gram stool)	[Gorbach, 2000]
2) Survives at body temperature (37°C): unique advantage of being one of the few yeasts that do best at human body temperatures	[Graff et al. 2008b]
3) In lyophilized form, S. boulardii survives gastric acid and bile	[Graff et al. 2008b]
4) As is the case with all yeasts, S. boulardii is naturally resistant to antibiotics	[Graff et al. 2008b]
5) S. boulardii is resistant to proteolysis	[Buts, 2009]
6) S. boulardii exists in the competitive milieu of the intestinal tract	[Buts, 2009]
7) S. boulardii levels are higher in patients with disturbed intestinal microbiota (due to antibiotic exposure) compared to patients without antibiotic exposure	[Klein et al. 1993]
8) When given orally, achieves steady-state concentrations within three days and is cleared within 3–5 days after it is discontinued	[Blehaut et al. 1989; Elmer et al. 1999b]
9) Some types of fiber (psyllium) increased S. boulardii levels by 22%, while other types of fiber (pectin) showed no effect.	[Elmer et al. 1999a]