Feel Good when you Opt for Optibac

Most researched live cultures range

We are committed to giving our customers the highest quality range of friendly bacteria. Our supplements have been backed by Gold Standard Science since 2004 - that's 20 years of research and continued development into our range of live cultures. In fact, the Optibac range has more clinical trials behind its strains than any other leading friendly bacteria brand in the UK & Ireland.

We use the most highly researched strains of friendly bacteria and we understand the importance of specific strains for different groups of people and individual needs.  Our Babies & Children sachets contains the most scientifically studied strain in the world, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, while Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM^®, the most researched acidophilus strain in the world, can be found in our two highest strength daily supplements, Every Day EXTRA and Every Day MAX. Our specialist friendly bacteria supplement for the vaginal microbiome, For Women, contains two strains, Lactobacillus reuteri RC-14^®and Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1^®, which have been trialled together in thousands of women around the world. 

Read more about our highly researched live cultures strains.

Charitable organisations & partnerships

Our founders and team are committed to supporting others, beyond our high quality supplements, so you can feel good about choosing Optibac.

To date we have donated over £1,800,000 to charitable organisations around the world.

As a business we donate at least 1% of our annual turnover to charities, including:

The Patient Welfare Programme in Nairobi, Kenya. This hugely important initiative, run by the Aga Khan University Hospital, provides medical care to patients who would otherwise be unable to afford it - regardless of gender, faith or ethnic origin. Optibac  have made regular contributions to their work since 2011 and our donations alone have funded medical treatment for more than 1125 adults and children, including for cancer care, heart surgery and in maternal health. 

We're very proud to have donated over £916,000 to Womankind Worldwide (September 2024). Since launching our For Women supplement in September 2014, we have contributed to this international women's rights organisation for every pack of For Women sold. Womankind's incredible work, in various countries around the world, focuses on 3 key areas: ending violence against women and girls, advancing women's economic rights, and strengthening women's participation & leadership. Read more about our partnership with Womankind Worldwide. 

Gecko - a local charity, based in Frome, providing support for neurodivergent young people. We are proud to have been donating to Gecko for the last 3 years, watching them develop and grow and support more families that otherwise couldn't afford the skilled mentoring and training neurodivergent young people need.

ABCD Bethlehem - a charity founded over 35 years ago which aids rehab centres in 4 different refugee camps in the area of the West Bank in Palestine. ABCD Bethlehem stands for ‘Action around Bethlehem Children with Disability’ and the organisation provides physiotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, primary education and essential family support. Over the last year we helped raise £8,000 for this organisation, which has gone towards providing technical aid for families to ensure things like wheelchairs, glasses and hearing aids are given to those in need. 

The most recent addition to the list of charities that we are proud to support is EDP Trust. We started to donate to this wonderful company in March 2023 and welcome our new relationship. EDP Trust are an inspiring charity who build and develop a free senior secondary school for disadvantaged students 50 kilometres west of Accra in Ghana. This unique school is called Awutu-Winton Senior High School. We look forward to see how the trust goes from strength to strength each year, fulfilling the dreams of every child at the school.

In November 2023, we also donated all proceeds from a week's sales of our children's range to Save the Children's Emergency Fund. Thanks to you, we were able to donate £11,244.55 to help support children in crisis.

Over the years we have also donated to numerous wellbeing organisations such as Whole Planet Foundation who works to empower individuals in 40 countries (and growing) around the world; as well as Shine Charity, the UK's leading registered charity providing information and advice about spina bifida and hydrocephalus. As a business we regularly take part in and raise funds for charity events such as the Macmillan Cancer Coffee Morning and Save the Children's Christmas Jumper Day. We actively encourage individual team members to raise money for charities of their choice, to share news of their volunteering with all of their colleagues, and to support each other with donations. The company matches any funds raised by employees - doubling any donations up to £500. Most recently these have included the Disasters Emergency Committee, Cancer Research, Women's Aid and Asthma & Lung UK. 

Our planet

Over the last few years we have moved our capsule supplements from plastic containers to glass jars. The cartons (which allow space for the important suitability & recommendation directions) housing the glass jars are made from fully recyclable, FSC certified cardboard, and each jar comes with a metal lid which is also recyclable. Overall, we have reduced the plastic in our capsule supplements packaging by 96%. 

Our most recently launched Kids Gummies and Gut Health Gummies come in completely plastic-free packaging, with a home-compostable pouch and recyclable outer carton. 

Our sustainability also extends to our packing materials. Our new delivery boxes are fully recyclable and sourced from an FSC-certified supplier, as well as being made from 70% recycled materials. Furthermore, the design is printed using water-based environmentally friendly ink. 

Not only do we consider the environment in our outwardly visible efforts, but the environment is always on our minds in the heart of the Optibac head office. It may seem small, but we all encourage each other to reuse and recycle our paper, turn off unused lights and computers, and boil no more water than necessary for the morning round of tea. We use the most sustainable suppliers possible, from plastic free point of sale materials in store, right down to our bamboo toilet paper at HQ!

Award winning UK business

As a company we are very proud to have been awarded the prestigious King's Award for Enterprise in 2024. We first won the Queen's Award in 2019 and are delighted to have been acknowledged yet again for our impressive international growth. These highly respected awards are a huge achievement for our small business.

It's not just our business that is award winning. Our range of friendly bacteria supplements consistently win awards in the UK and Ireland. Since 2015 industry experts, pharmacy professionals and consumers have all overwhelmingly voted in favour of our live cultures supplements. 

Most recently, For Women won top prize for the second year running in the ‘Best Women’s Product’ category at the Irish Pharmacy News OTC Awards 2024.

To find out more about how Optibac started and our proudest achievements so far, visit our meet the founders page.