[UPDATE: I added an Oct. 2018 update to the post The One Probiotic That Treats Sinusitis, which was originally posted in January 2015.] Updates incorporate the latest information about treatments and products with Lactobacillus sakei (kimchi brands, the probiotic Lacto Sinus , the sausage starter culture Bactoferm F-RM-52, etc.). According to research by Abreu et al (2012), Lactobacillus sakei is a bacteria or probiotic (beneficial bacteria) that chronic sinusitis sufferers lack and which treats chronic sinusitis. Chronic sinusitis sufferers also don't have the bacteria diversity in the sinuses that healthy people have.
Many thanks to those who have written to me about their experiences with L. sakei products and sinusitis treatment. Please keep the updates, results, and progress reports coming. If you have had success with other kimchi brands, please let me know so that I can add it to the list. And I also want to hear if other probiotics work or don't work, or if you have found other sources of Lactobacillus sakei or new ways to use L. sakei. It all adds to the knowledge base which I will continue to update. You can Comment after posts, the Sinus Treatment Summary page, on the CONTACT page, or write me privately (see CONTACT page).
It is now over 2 1/2 years since my family (4 people) successfully treated ourselves with Lactobacillu sakei for chronic sinusitis and acute sinusitis. We feel great! With each passing year we can tell that our sinus microbial community is bettter, and levels of inflammation are down. As a consequence, we are getting fewer colds or viruses than ever. And best of all - no antibiotics taken in over 2 1/2 years! Yes, Lactobacillus sakei absolutely works as a treatment for sinusitis.
[Read the updated post: The One Probiotic That Treats Sinusitis - with Oct. 2018 update]
The manufacturer, CHR Hansen, has changed the formula of F-RM-52 and it no longer contains lactobacillus sakei. It looks like sakei may come from the FISH SAUCE in kimchi. So if you use a kimchi without fish sauce, then no sakei. This bacteria is also present in other fermented fish products...
I am happy to report that is a bad rumor. I just got off the phone with Chr Hansen headquarters and I was told that Bactoferm F-RM-52 still contains Lactobacillus sakei - it's still the same formulation. And the other piece of good news is that L. sakei is also found in vegetables, but probably not as much as in seafood, so some vegan kimchi brands may contain it. My family (4 members), being ultra-cautious, only used vegan (no seafood) kimchi to successfully treat ourselves - and so far it has worked for us for 3 years (vegan and seafood kimchi post)
For a Jan. 28, 2016 update on where to find L. sakei products and results, please go to this post
I am from Copenhagen, Denmark, home of Chr. Hansen, and even I can't buy it from them because I'm not a company. However, I can and buy this one, which seems to be a German product, from a danish outdoors webshop: http://danishoutdoor.dk/polseudstyr/krydderiblandinger/starter-kultur-til-spegepolser and I but it in nasal spray with sterile water and some xylitol.
I am in my fifth year and more than 10.000 USD worth of stuff tried, but still have the chronic sinusitis. But this Bitec Starter LS 25 seems to do better then any other nasal sprays I have tried, where most of the work quite good in the first couple of days, but after a while they seems to be quite ineffective. All though, I still use SinuSoothe once in a while.
I change the sterile water and mix new lactobactoi. sakei and xylitol in my nasap slray every 3rd day, because after that, I can feel it in my nose, that it starts to go sour.
On the page I buy the Bitec Starter LS 25 from, it says that it contains Lactobacillus sake, without the "i" after sake - aka sakei - but MicrobeWiki https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Lactobacillus_sakei once stated that sake was one of its synonymous names.
Also, I just - about a week ago - found research stating that whole leaf stevia extract can combat biofilms, so I have started to irrigate with that as well, which also seems to help, and don't clog me up as baby shampoo does (which also combat biofilms because of the surfactants it contains.)
• "Findings from this study show that Stevia whole leaf extract, as an individual agent, was effective against all known morphological forms of B. burgdorferi." http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4681354
And biofilm seems to be one of borrelias morphological forms.
• "Studies have suggested that resistance and recurrence of Lyme disease might be due to formation of different morphological forms of B. burgdorferi, namely round bodies (cysts) and biofilm-like colonies." http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3132871
I have also tried to buy a 100% lactob. sakei product from Korea, but I couldn't register myself on the only Korean page that seemed to have it and shipped it internationally. Even the Bitec Starter LS 25 seems to be only 50% lactob. sakei, and it surely will be nice to get a "cleaner" product then that.
Sorry it took so long to respond - for some reason your comment went into the spam folder.
Thanks for the BITEC STARTER LS 25 (also called BITEC LS-25) information. I looked at the ingredients list and it's the same 2 bacteria as Bactoferm F-RM-52, but this product is made by BITEC, a brand of Frutarum (a global "flavor, fragrances, and fine ingredients" company).
One thought is that when you mix xylitol and L. sakei in the same solution, then you may be killing off the L. sakei, because L. sakei is easily killed off.
Researchers think that both L. sakei and L. rhamnosus dominate over pathogenic bacteria and also kill off biofilms.
People have written to me about other probiotics (beneficial bacteria species) helping. See the updated post The One Probiotic That Treats Sinusitis for more information.
Hello,
I would just like to know whoever wrote this article above, are your sinus issues completely healed? Or do you have to keep taking the Kimchi in order to feel good?
I mean if your off kimchi is your sinus still good ? Or do you have to supplement forever?
Thank you,
It's now over 3 1/2 years since we started and Lactobacillus sakei still works to treat sinusitis - and it doesn't seem to matter what L. sakei product is used (kimchi, etc). Unfortunately, L. sakei from these products does not seem to colonize in the sinuses so we (and everyone else) has to use a L. sakei product whenever we get sinusitis again from a cold, virus, etc. The rest of the time we feel totally fine, so we only treat when needed.
[May 2018 UPDATE: Just wanted to say that over time the sinuses do improve, and it takes less and less treatment when needed to get back to good health. Amazing!]