ZBiotics

ZBiotics FAQ

Safety

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.

Yes!

There should be no issue taking Sugar-to-Fiber in conjunction with other probiotics or supplements. Sugar-to-Fiber works in a unique way by converting some of the sugar you consume into a special fiber called levan, helping boost your overall fiber intake and complementing other fiber sources you may already take. Its targeted benefits make it different from typical daily probiotics, so it’s not redundant and you’re welcome to take both together!

If you have any concerns, or if you have a medical reason for consuming these other probiotics or supplements, it is always a good idea to consult your doctor before adding a new supplement or probiotic to your routine.

Ingredients

Bacillus. subtilis ZB183™.

The primary ingredient is a patented (US Patent 10,849,938 B2) probiotic bacterial strain we invented called Bacillus subtilis ZB183™. We invented it by taking a base strain of B. subtilis and engineering it to produce an enzyme that breaks down the unwanted chemical acetaldehyde.

The primary ingredient in ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol is a probiotic bacterial strain we invented called Bacillus subtilis ZB183™, as we describe in the question above. Other ingredients are as follows:

  1. Water
  2. Natural flavors — this includes a small amount of flavor ingredients and acid, which helps to limit pathogens and tastes citrusy
  3. Potassium sorbate — a preservative that is necessary to stabilize the product for room temperature storage
  4. Sodium chloride (salt)

You can read more about the ingredients and nutrition facts on our product page for ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol (click “Nutrition Facts & Ingredients” below the “Add to cart” button).

Bacillus subtilis ZB423™.

The primary ingredient is a proprietary (patent-pending) probiotic bacterial strain we invented called Bacillus subtilis ZB423™. We invented it by taking a base strain of B. subtilis and engineering it to produce an enzyme called levansucrase, which breaks down sucrose sugar to create levan fiber.

The primary ingredient in ZBiotics Sugar-to-Fiber is a probiotic bacterial strain we invented called Bacillus subtilis ZB423™, as we describe in the question above. Other ingredients are as follows:

A blend of bulking fiber to help stabilize the probiotic and facilitate powder flow:

  1. Resistant Maltodextrin
  2. Partially Hydrolyzed Guar Gum (Galactomannan Oligosaccharide)
  3. Xylooligosaccharide

Natural flavors:

  1. Acerola Cherry Extract 
  2. Pear Pulp Powder
  3. Licorice Root Extract
  4. Lavender

Contains ingredients derived from corn.

You can read more about the ingredients and nutrition facts on our product page for ZBiotics Sugar-to-Fiber (click “Nutrition Facts & Ingredients” below the “Add to cart” button).

First off, no other ingredient in the world actively breaks down acetaldehyde.

But if we felt like any other ingredients would meaningfully improve your next morning, we would use them. Sadly, the science substantiating that is nonexistent or mixed at best.

And furthermore, even if they were functional, it’s difficult to verify the source and purity of many supplement ingredients. We invented Pre-Alcohol in-house and have extensively tested its safety, so we can be 100% positive about what’s in our drinks.

In the colloquial sense, ZB is definitely not all-natural. We invented it using modern genetic engineering technology.

But to go down the rabbit hole for a second, it also depends on how you define “natural.” Our technology leverages tools invented by nature. Homologous recombination – the technique we used at ZBiotics to build Pre-Alcohol – is a natural process, used by bacteria for billions of years. We merely designed an event where the use of that natural process has the precise result we want.

Genetic Engineering

Genetic engineering is the use of modern biotechnology techniques to specifically and deliberately edit the genetic code, or DNA, of an organism (citation).

Much like traditional plant and animal breeding on a farm, the goal of genetic engineering is to create unique organisms with new and useful characteristics: a more nutritious type of rice, for example. But genetic engineering allows for far greater control and speed than traditional breeding, as well as new combinations of extremely desirable characteristics with unprecedented transparency into the actual changes we are making.  With crossbreeding, we have absolutely no idea what has happened genetically, only the characteristics of the progeny.  With genetic engineering, we know exactly what has changed genetically — down to every single base pair — as well as the change in characteristics.  It is a much safer process, simply because it is more precise and we have more information about what has changed.

More or less.

We try to reduce confusion by using these terms interchangeably. The terminology of genetic engineering is convoluted, even for scientists. It’s inconsistent and contradictory at times, so we try to keep it straightforward. But if you really want them, we do have the answers… if you want to know more, check out our blog piece on bioengineering and GMOs.

The primary probiotic ingredients – Bacillus subtilis ZB183™ (“ZB183™”) in Pre-Alcohol and Bacillus subtilis ZB423™ (“ZB423™”) in Sugar-to-Fiber – are created using genetic engineering.

Specifically, the genetically engineered component in each is the production of an enzyme. 

In the case of ZB183™, that enzyme is known as acetaldehyde dehydrogenase. The base bacteria Bacillus subtilis – a bacteria used for thousands of years to ferment a Japanese soybean food called natto – does not produce this enzyme normally. ZB183™ only produces it because we genetically engineered it to do so.

In the case of ZB423™, that enzyme is known as levansucrase. In contrast to ZB183™, the base bacteria Bacillus subtilis does indeed produce this enzyme normally. However, it does not produce it consistently or at a high enough rate to be physiologically relevant. We genetically engineered ZB423™ so that it produces levansucrase constantly and at a high enough rate to be helpful.

Genetic engineering – the technology underlying GMOs – is a tool to make new products. The tool itself does not carry any inherent risk, but the resulting products must be individually evaluated for safety just like anything else. Saying GMOs are altogether safe or unsafe would be like saying that any product made with metallurgy is always safe or unsafe. But of course a sword and a spoon have very different safety profiles. So we need to evaluate individual products individually.

With that in mind, the scientific consensus on the safety of the GMO foods currently on the market is settled – having been endorsed time and again by unbiased sources from the World Health Organization (WHO) to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The WHO puts it this way: “[Genetically modified] foods currently available on the international market have passed safety assessments and are not likely to present risks for human health. In addition, no effects on human health have been shown as a result of the consumption of such foods by the general population in the countries where they have been approved.”

But again, genetic engineering is just a tool, and like any tool it can be wielded carefully or recklessly. That is why we strongly advocate for the extensive scientific evaluation of the safety of all new GMO products as a basic tenet of responsible use of genetic engineering.

Lots of things – many of which may surprise you.

There are many GMOs in the world today. We’re most familiar with them as components in major agricultural crops like corn, soy, cotton, sugar beets, and alfalfa. But another major source of GMOs is in the production of therapeutics, where microbes are genetically engineered to produce life-saving drugs. Just one example is insulin for diabetics, which has been produced using GMOs ever since the 1970’s. GMOs can also be found in industrial production, where they are increasingly being used to produce useful food ingredients and industrial products.

There are also an increasing number of GMOs currently in development. Some of these have the potential to save current crops from threats like climate change and disease. For an example, check out this infographic of the genetic engineering research going into saving coffee plants.

Miscellaneous

Good catch – we did make a minor change. Previously the name of both our company and our product was “ZBiotics,” but we are excited to say that we’ll be launching our second product soon. We needed to update our naming so we don’t confuse people when that product comes out.

Our company name remains “ZBiotics.”

Our original product is now “ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol,” or “Pre-Alcohol” for short.

If you or your client would like to order a specific number of bottles beyond our 50 or 100-packs, please email our support team at support@zbiotics.com. We will reply as quickly as we can during normal business hours.

For Pre-Alcohol, we offer discounted pricing on bulk orders of 50 and 100-packs. If you’d like to purchase a large quantity of our smaller pack sizes (3, 6, or 12-packs), please contact us at support@zbiotics.com.

If you’re interested in placing a large order of Sugar-to-Fiber at a discounted rate, feel free to reach out to us at the same email.

We recommend placing ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol near your drink station or bar so that guests can easily pick up a bottle and drink ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol before they begin drinking alcohol. It can also be helpful to instruct your bartenders and servers that there is a pre-alcohol probiotic available before your guests arrive. We’re happy to provide informational signage with clear instructions as well.

Yes. The rights to ZBiotics®, ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol Probiotic Drink, and all intellectual property associated with our hero ingredients and products were developed and are owned exclusively by ZBiotics Company. As it relates to our first product, the USPTO granted our original US Patent 10,849,938 B2 in December 2020. We have extended those patent rights domestically and abroad and expanded our patent portfolio to include our second product. We do not sublicense our technology or sell our ingredients, so they are only available within ZBiotics® products.

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