ZBiotics FAQ

Pre-Alcohol is designed to replicate the natural process of your liver, but do it in your gut. We took a normal probiotic bacteria you already eat every day, and we bioengineered it to produce the same type of enzyme your liver produces (citation). That enzyme breaks down acetaldehyde – an unwanted byproduct of alcohol that accumulates in your gut when you drink.

Your liver does not have access to your gut. But by drinking Pre-Alcohol, the goal is to augment your gut’s natural ability to digest acetaldehyde while you drink and while you sleep – helping you make the most of the next day. Just remember that Pre-Alcohol won’t affect intoxication or make alcohol safer to drink, so always drink responsibly.

Learn more about how Pre-Alcohol works.

The earlier the better. Ideally you drink Pre-Alcohol before your first drink.

The probiotic in Pre-Alcohol needs time to “wake up” in your gut, so we say the earlier the better if you can remember it. We drink Pre-Alcohol just before going out – right before our first drink. But it should be active if you drink it any time during the day or night. So whether it’s a few hours before drinking or you’ve already enjoyed a round or two, go for it. Pre-Alcohol can help from that point on.

The probiotic in Pre-Alcohol is likely to stay in your body for 18-24 hours after you drink it. So one bottle will cover you for a whole day, even if you're starting with brunch mimosas followed by evening plans later on!

1. Drink 1 bottle of Pre-Alcohol.
2. Enjoy your night.
3. Get some sleep.

Drink Pre-Alcohol before or during drinking – the earlier the better. Just give it a shake and drink the whole thing. The probiotics are designed to become active while you drink and while you sleep, helping your body digest acetaldehyde as they’re passing through your gut. Then they simply leave your body after a day or two, without changing your body or impacting your microbiome. A happier, healthier you, thanks to ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol.

It's the good stuff.

It's just the natural sedimentation of the probiotic and the flavoring that happens if the bottle is left resting for a while. Just give it a couple shakes to re-suspend and you're good to go.

The flavor is a bit tart with minimal aftertaste (like lemon water). 

The texture is just like water. The probiotic should make the liquid slightly cloudy unless it settles in the bottle. So give it a shake and watch all the ingredients mix together before drinking.

Acetaldehyde (pronounced “asset” + “AL” + “duh” + “hide”) is a chemical we most often experience as a byproduct of alcohol metabolism. It’s linked to lots of unwanted effects on our bodies, but most commonly it’s associated with the rough feelings you get the day after drinking.

When we drink, our bodies break down alcohol in 2 steps. 

1. From ethanol to acetaldehyde. 
2. From acetaldehyde to acetate (essentially vinegar). 

The first reaction (ethanol to acetaldehyde) moves quickly, but the second reaction (acetaldehyde to acetate) is less efficient, particularly in the gut. That’s because your gut has drastically lower amounts of the acetaldehyde-digesting enzyme. So when we drink, acetaldehyde tends to build up in the gut, which is bad news, because normal responsible drinking habits like hydrating and eating are unlikely to increase your body’s ability to digest acetaldehyde. So you’re probably going to feel it. Good news, ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol is here to help.

Room temperature. No refrigeration needed.

Store Pre-Alcohol at room temperature with the cap on. Do not refrigerate. Try not to open it until you’re ready to drink it; opening it could potentially let contaminants from the air into the bottle.

It probably won't do anything.

Pre-Alcohol won’t do much if consumed substantially after a round of drinking. Pre-Alcohol’s key ingredient – the probiotic that breaks down acetaldehyde – needs time to “wake up” in your gut and become active. That’s why we make Pre-Alcohol our first drink of the night.

Pre-Alcohol expires 18 months after bottling. We aim to deliver products to you that still have at least 12 months of shelf-life left. Check the “BB” (Best-By) date on your bottle or box.

Store Pre-Alcohol at room temperature with the cap on. Do not refrigerate. Do not open it until you’re ready to drink it; opening it could potentially let contaminants from the air into the bottle.

Interestingly, there is really good science that clearly debunks the persistent myth that alcohol causes dehydration, and that dehydration is responsible for how you feel the next day. Alcohol does not significantly dehydrate you, and there are many academic studies confirming this over the past several decades (citation). We did a write-up about alcohol and dehydration (with citations) we recommend reading.

In general though, you can do a simple thought experiment to prove to yourself that any rough feelings you have the day after drinking have nothing to do with dehydration: 1. If how you felt the next day really was due to dehydration, then a glass or two of water the next day would make you feel 100% again, which we all know from experience is not at all the case! 2. Things that DO cause dehydration (e.g. eating salty foods, working out) don't make you feel ANYTHING like the way we feel the day after drinking alcohol!

Instead, there are quite a few other things going on in your body when you drink. Here's a great review of the scientific literature on the subject. Acetaldehyde is a key factor, and one requiring an enzymatic approach to deal with. This is why we built ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol: a probiotic engineered to produce the same type of enzyme as your liver to break down acetaldehyde.

There are hundreds of papers demonstrating the unwanted effects of acetaldehyde. Here is one that shows a direct comparison of acetaldehyde to ethanol. Here is another on the impact of acetaldehyde on DNA. And here is a summary of studies published by the EU regarding the safety (or lack thereof) of acetaldehyde.

How will Pre-Alcohol make me feel?

Pre-Alcohol is designed to break down acetaldehyde, which is responsible for some of the worst feelings you get when you drink.* It is not designed to break down alcohol, which causes some of the more minor effects. In particular, alcohol itself affects the quality of your sleep, but you can usually take care of that with some breakfast and coffee. If you’re interested, here are 7 of our tips to feel better the day after drinking alcohol.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

One rarely appreciated fact is that your gut, and particularly your colon (part of your gut), is actually a huge sink and source of acetaldehyde in the body, even more so than the blood or liver. In fact, acetaldehyde concentrations in the colon are 10 to 100 times higher than in the blood (citation, citation). That’s because a large amount of acetaldehyde is actually created in your gut, produced by enzymes in both your intestinal lining and your microbiome (citation).

But acetaldehyde doesn’t just stick around your gut. It’s an extremely soluble molecule. So soluble, in fact, that it can actually diffuse into all the fluid of your body, easily passing through membranes from your gut and into your brain, muscles, and cells. The result? All those non-gut effects of acetaldehyde may in fact be quite gut-related.

Other products on the market today are different mixes of the same ~10 off-the-shelf vitamins and plant extracts you can find anywhere. Many of these have absolutely no demonstration of efficacy or even really a hypothesis as to how they could possibly help you.

Pre-Alcohol is different. We looked at one of the major unwanted byproducts of drinking alcohol – acetaldehyde – and invented a probiotic bacteria to break it down the same way your liver does. 

No other product out there does that.

We spent two years in the lab bioengineering a completely new solution from scratch. It’s built from the ground up specifically for this purpose, and we’ve patented it (US Patent 10,849,938 B2).

Furthermore, our product uses a completely new technology. We are the first genetically engineered probiotic to ever hit the market, for any purpose (not just acetaldehyde breakdown). We are extremely excited not just for this particular use case, but for all the other things we think we can do using bioengineered probiotics.

ZBiotics Sugar-to-Fiber (or “Sugar-to-Fiber” for short) is a drink mix containing a patented, genetically engineered probiotic (B. subtilis ZB423™) that converts a small amount of the sugar you eat every day into fiber.

Specifically, Sugar-to-Fiber produces an enzyme called levansucrase, which breaks down molecules of a sugar called sucrose (also known as table sugar) and uses the components as building blocks to create a fiber called levan (a prebiotic fiber that is rare in most diets).

Our product is not designed to reduce blood glucose levels, nor do we have any data to support such a claim.  

Sugar-to-Fiber works by converting a small amount (approximately 10g per day or less) of table sugar (sucrose) into a fiber called levan. At a molecular level, this process breaks apart sucrose into 2 molecular components: glucose and fructose. It then uses the fructose to construct levan, and releases the glucose molecule into the gut in the process. For those without adequate insulin regulation, the body is likely to react the same to the freed glucose, and consequently we do not anticipate any meaningful reduction in blood sugar. There are myriad benefits of having prebiotic fibers, but we do not have any data indicating levan is a hypoglycemic agent.

Sugar-to-Fiber contains a genetically engineered probiotic, Bacillus subtilis ZB423™, that takes a sugar called sucrose (table sugar) and uses it to create a fiber called levan. It does this by producing an enzyme called levansucrase.

When you mix Sugar-to-Fiber into your drink, the probiotic bacteria are naturally dormant and in a protective state called an endospore. The bacteria in this endospore form can travel safely through your stomach and make it to the intestines, where they will “wake up” and start producing the enzyme levansucrase. This enzyme is capable of breaking down the sucrose you consume into its two individual molecular components: glucose and fructose. It then strings together the free fructose molecules into long chains to make molecules of levan fiber.

Remember: at a molecular level, fibers are just long strings of simple sugars, but their different structures totally change how your body interacts with them. Levan is a rare and beneficial fiber that supports a healthy and diverse microbiome.

The primary benefits of Sugar-to-Fiber relate to microbiome health. Sugar-to-Fiber is unlikely to break down enough sugar to impact things like caloric intake, blood sugar, or weight. 

But it will impact your gut health. Sugar-to-Fiber provides exactly what we know makes your microbiome healthier: 

1. More soluble fiber,
2. More fiber diversity,
3. Gradual delivery of fiber throughout the day, and
4. Diversion of intestinal sugar

And the benefits of a healthier microbiome for your body are vast and vary from person to person: better immune function, improved gut-lining integrity, improved bowel function, increased short-chain fatty acid synthesis, better nutrient utilization, improved energy, psychological benefits such as greater desire to exercise and cravings for healthier foods, and more.*

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Simply mix one stick pack with a beverage or food of your choice and enjoy.

While mixing it into a simple glass of water works great, we’ve found that incorporating it into things like coffee (hot or iced), breakfast cereal, yogurt, or a smoothie can be easier to incorporate into your morning routine and tastier if you’re not partial to the flavor in water alone. Sugar-to-Fiber works well mixed with a variety of things, so don’t hesitate to experiment.

It is important to note that Sugar-to-Fiber does not completely dissolve and will appear cloudy with some dark flecks in clear beverages. It also will settle out if left to sit for more than a few minutes. Give it a few stirs or shakes every once in a while if consuming the beverage slowly. 

If you are having trouble mixing with liquid, one tip that works well is to pour Sugar-to-Fiber into your glass first, and then add your beverage.

The benefits of Sugar-to-Fiber are greatest when you consume it daily. While each Sugar-to-Fiber day helps you get closer to your daily fiber goals (by converting a larger gross amount of sugar to fiber), consistent use is more likely to result in meaningful, lasting improvements to your gut microbiome.

No – you should consume shortly after mixing.

If you let it sit for a long time after mixing, it’s possible that either it gets contaminated by environmental microbes, or the probiotic germinates (“wakes up”) prematurely and loses its functionality when you eventually consume it. We recommend letting it sit for no longer than 30 minutes, especially if you’re mixing it into something that can go bad earlier, like oatmeal or a smoothie.

Levan is a kind of dietary fiber that can feed the microbes in your gut; these types of fibers are also referred to as prebiotics. Levan is a fiber that is naturally occurring in foods such as natto and made up of small individual sugar molecules called fructose. You can also find small amounts of levan in plants like wheat and barley but it is not a common fiber in significant quantities in western diets.

Levansucrase is an enzyme, which is a molecule that drives a chemical reaction forward. Levansucrase turns a sugar into a fiber, or more specifically it converts the sugar sucrose into the fiber levan. How does it work? Levansucrase binds to sucrose molecules, breaking them apart into the individual building blocks of glucose and fructose. It then uses that fructose molecule to build a growing chain of levan which, as we mentioned before, is a dietary fiber made up of many fructose molecules.

There is very little levan to be found in a typical western diet. The most common significant source of levan is a fermented soybean dish called natto, where levan is a byproduct of the fermentation process. Additionally, levan is sometimes also used as an additive in Japan’s dairy products, and minimal amounts of levan can be found in some fruits, vegetables, and grains. So while people can and do consume foods with levan in them, very few common sources of food have levan, and when they do the amount of levan is typically low.

If you mixed it into your hot beverage when it was above 180°F (i.e. freshly brewed and still too hot to drink), it might reduce the viability of the bacteria. Not all would necessarily die at that temperature, but some probably would and we want to maximize the benefits. As such, we recommend waiting to mix in Sugar-to-Fiber until your beverage is below 180°F. For example, you typically brew a cup of coffee at 195-212°F, but you typically drink it when the temperature drops to between 140°F and 160°F to avoid burning your mouth. So assuming you’re not pulling out the thermometer, your best bet is to take a test sip, and once it’s drinkable, mix in your Sugar-to-Fiber and enjoy!

You can take our product at any time of the day—there is no optimal time, and you do not have to take it with food, but you can if you’d like.

Our team recommends taking it at the same time every day to build a habit and help promote consistency of use — the key to the product’s long-term benefits. To help you remember, keep it in a visible place, like next to your coffee maker or on your kitchen counter. Many of our team members prefer taking it in the morning with their beverage or breakfast (like in a smoothie or parfait) and find it an easy addition to their daily routine.

Everyone’s body and microbiome are different, which means that your experience may be different from others taking Sugar-to-Fiber. That said, there are a few ways to “know” that Sugar-to-Fiber is working, some of which you may feel, and some of which you may not.

Short-term shifts in bowel movements, digestion, gas, etc.: As with introducing anything new to the gut microbiome, you may experience an adjustment phase when starting to use Sugar-to-Fiber. Gas, bloating, and changes in stool can all be signals that your gut is recalibrating and that the product is working. If this is your experience, mild discomfort is totally normal and should be temporary. Stay hydrated and contact us with questions or concerns.

Medium and long-term shifts in your microbiome composition: As your microbiome recalibrates and adapts to the daily activity of Sugar-to-Fiber, the array and proportion of the microbes in your gut microbiome are likely to change. This may be reflected in microbiome tests, which you can self-administer using a microbiome testing service (of which there are many available to order online). If you decide to do such a test, we recommend doing one first before you start taking Sugar-to-Fiber, and second after you’ve been at it for at least ~4 weeks.

Long-term shifts in digestive health, immune health, etc.: After a few weeks, you may start to sense some of the long-term benefits of microbiome health. Some of these could be visceral and physical, such as the feelings that can accompany changes in digestive function. Others could be mental, like reduced cravings for certain foods or greater energy for activities like exercise. Others you may not feel at all. That is totally normal. We like to say that the long-term impact of taking Sugar-to-Fiber is likely to feel similar to how you’d feel if you added more vegetables to your regular diet. You may very well feel something significant and profound. Or you might not. Your experience will depend on your body and your microbiome.*

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Sugar-to-Fiber is a live probiotic bacteria that makes a prebiotic fiber, and fundamentally, the purpose of the product is to create a change in your microbiome.  As with any probiotic or fiber (or any change in your diet), this subsequent shift in the microbiome can cause some temporary and mild gastrointestinal discomfort for some people.

Ultimately though, if you do end up experiencing any of these effects, they will typically be short-lived and go away as soon as your microbiome adjusts in a few days.  And one of the great things about Sugar-to-Fiber is that it is delivering small extra amounts of fiber as a slow drip from the foods you’re already eating, rather than as a single big bolus that a traditional fiber supplement would do.  This slow drip is typically gentler on your gut, and is much less likely to cause gastrointestinal discomfort, because it allows your microbiome to adjust more gradually. 

If you purchased with standard shipping, you should receive your package within 3-7 days. If you order more than 100 bottles, we may reach out to confirm your address before shipping to ensure it doesn’t get lost in transit and we do require a signature for delivery.

Please note that these shipping timelines are estimates and not guarantees. We've learned the hard way not to guarantee a service we don't personally provide. Our shipments are usually sent via FedEx or UPS’s 2-day services, which deliver within that window roughly 95% of the time. That sounds pretty good, but if we have 100 orders per day, that means 5 people every single day will be receiving their orders late! Since we have no ability to ensure speedy service once shipments leave the warehouse, we've learned that setting beatable expectations is better than disappointing our customers.

Yes, you can change the shipping address of your order for approximately 2-3 hours after you’ve made your purchase. On your order confirmation page, scroll down until you see the shipping address. If there is an edit button visible, that means you can easily change the address on your own. If you realize this mistake after you’ve navigated away from the order confirmation page, you can always find a link back to this page in your order confirmation email.

Unfortunately, ZBiotics can only sell and ship in the United States for the time being. Each country has its own regulatory process, but we're working hard to expand internationally soon. If, however, you would like to bring ZBiotics with you abroad, our products are travel-friendly!

If the package says it was delivered but you can't find it, unfortunately it either:

1. wasn't delivered (i.e. the delivery person made a mistake);

2. was delivered to the wrong address; or

3. was delivered and then stolen from your front door (probably the most likely scenario).

It's probably a long shot, but you might try to check with neighbors or anyone who has a similar address to yours that might have gotten it accidentally (i.e. delivery error).

However, we'd hate for you to not get what you paid for. If you can't track it down, send us an email at support@zbiotics.com, and we will absolutely make it right.

Call us: (415) 723-5065

Email us: support@zbiotics.com

(Note: we are only available during standard business hours on weekdays, and even then we cannot always answer the phone.  Email is often the most reliable way to get ahold of us. If you send us an email over the weekend, we will reply as quickly as we can on Monday.)

With a subscription, you don't need to remember to restock your ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol and/or Sugar-to-Fiber.

For Pre-Alcohol, you can purchase any number of 6-packs or 12-packs at 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12-week intervals.

For Sugar-to-Fiber, you can purchase your 28 day supply of stick packs at 4-week intervals.

Yes! You can log into your ZBiotics Subscription account at any time to change your pack size or quantity, the number of weeks until your next order, your payment details and your shipping address. You can even change the date of your next shipment, skip a shipment or cancel your subscription altogether. If you have any questions or need help, you can also send us an email at subscriptions@zbiotics.com.

Your first order of ZBiotics will be charged when you create the subscription, just like purchasing a one-time order. Your future upcoming orders will be charged to the same payment details you used to make your first purchase 3 days before your order is shipped. Don't worry, you'll receive an email reminder or SMS text reminder (if you opted into SMS).

If you need to change your payment details, you can log into your ZBiotics Subscription account to make an update.

Sure, just log into your ZBiotics Subscription account and choose "Skip This Order" on your subscription product. Please note that you won't be able to skip your upcoming order if your payment method has already been charged (within the 3 days before your order is due to ship), or if your order has already shipped.

Yes, log into your ZBiotics Subscription account and select "Next Order" with the upcoming order data on your subscription product. A calendar will pop out and you can select a new order date or skip this order. Please note that changing the date will update your upcoming future order dates as well.

To cancel your subscription, log into your ZBiotics Subscription account and choose "Cancel Subscription" on your subscription product.

Please note that you won't be able to cancel an order you’ve already been charged for through the account portal so if you need to make an immediate cancellation on an order that’s already been placed, please send us an email at subscriptions@zbiotics.com.

Yes. Both ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol and Sugar-to-Fiber are fully FDA-compliant for safety and adhere to all regulatory requirements for sale in the U.S.

Note that FDA compliance is not FDA approval. FDA approval is a process reserved for drug products making health claims. ZBiotics products are functional foods, not drugs. They have not been approved as efficacious for any purpose by the FDA.

FDA-compliant for safety means that we’ve satisfied all regulatory requirements to ensure Pre-Alcohol and Sugar-to-Fiber are safe and can be legally sold in the United States. That means that all our manufacturing is conducted in FDA-registered food-grade facilities according to Good Manufacturing Practices compliant with 21 CFR 117. It also means that our novel probiotic strains, ZB183™ and ZB423™, have been extensively tested and are generally recognized, among qualified experts, as having been adequately shown to be safe under the conditions of their intended use (“GRAS”).

That's not how it's designed.

We intentionally designed Pre-Alcohol so that it would not change your microbiome. We purposefully built our probiotic using a base bacteria that is well-adapted to passing straight through you and not colonizing your gut.

This creates a few likely benefits: (1) your microbiome remains unchanged; (2) the interaction between our probiotic and your gut should remain consistent and predictable; and (3) because we’re not trying to change your microbiome, we don’t need to use an excessive amount of probiotic per serving.

In contrast to Pre-Alcohol, Sugar-to-Fiber was designed to change your microbiome, but not in the way you might be thinking.

The probiotic ingredient in Sugar-to-Fiber — B. subtilis ZB423™ — is not designed to colonize your gut. We purposefully built upon a base bacteria that is well-adapted to passing straight through you and not take up residence in your microbiome.

Instead we designed ZB423™ to convert sugar into fiber. Fiber is a prebiotic which feeds the microbes in the gut. This gives your microbiome the tools it needs to evolve into a more diverse, healthier state on its own, rather than by trying to force it to adopt a new microbial resident. Our strategy stands in stark contrast to how traditional probiotics companies try to change your microbiome — by force-feeding it new microbes and hoping they take up residence. This is both unlikely to occur and questionably valuable.*

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

No.

Pre-Alcohol will not affect your level of intoxication. Pre-Alcohol does not decrease your blood alcohol level, nor does it make alcohol any safer.

All the same rules about alcohol safety apply. Don’t get behind the wheel, don't operate heavy machinery, and don't drink too much. Alcohol is still dangerous on its own (citation).

Absolutely not.

Pre-Alcohol has no effect on alcohol, nor does it shield your body from the health effects of alcohol. Please drink responsibly.