One product, one panel, one record.
Biotics 8 Men's High Performance Probiotic Formula — label audit
Biotics 8 publishes a 32-item numbered bibliography, which is more than most of this category offers. Every PMID in it is real. Not one is a trial of Biotics 8, and not one tests a strain the label identifies — because the label identifies none. Reference [3] is a study protocol containing no results, and reference [5] is a trial of Lactobacillus gasseri SBT2055, a species that is not in the product.
This page is an audit of a label. It records what this product’s panel discloses, what of that could be checked against a primary record, and what could not. The score below ranks this product on that disclosure and on nothing else.
The record this page rests on
- NIH label record
- No NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database record is on file for this product in this teardown.
- Label read on
- The most recent dated artefact behind this page. Labels change; this is how old our reading of it is.
- Cohort
- Addendum — outside the founding denominators Torn down 2026-07-31, after the founding cohort of 27 was frozen. It sits outside every D27 denominator the site publishes.
- How deep this went
- Full forensic teardown Panel transcribed, every strain designator queried, every certification chased to its issuer’s own register, and the literature behind each marketing claim opened and read.
The Label Verifiability Score for this product
31.8 out of 100
Rank 116 of the 154 products in this audit the rubric can score. This rank is shared with 4 other products — 5 products sit on 31.8 and are tied. They hold the position jointly; no tiebreaker is applied, because every tiebreaker available here would be a number the rubric deliberately refused to weigh, smuggled back in to make a list look tidier.
The score measures one thing: how much of what you are buying this company tells you, and how much of that survives being checked against a source that is not the company. It does not measure whether the product works — this site holds no efficacy data of its own, and 0 of 294 organism slots in the founding cohort carry a strain with a human randomised trial for any male-specific outcome, so nobody in this category has evidence that would support a ranking by effect.
Computed over 86% of the rubric by weight — the share of the five questions below this record could answer. The remaining question is unanswered, and unanswered is not nought: it leaves the divisor rather than dragging the score down. That share travels with the number and is never dropped — this score over 86% of the weight and the same score over all of it are different claims.
| Component | Weight | What was counted, and where | Fraction | Weight × fraction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strain identity printed on the panel | 0.24 | 0 of 10 organism slots carry a printed strain designator. | 0 / 10 = 0.0000 | 0.0000 |
| Per-organism amount printed | 0.20 | 10 of 10 organism slots have an amount of its own; the rest are inside a blend total. | 10 / 10 = 1.0000 | 0.2000 |
| What the CFU count is measured against | 0.22 | Potency basis "none-stated": CFU figure printed yes, single basis stated no, basis reaches expiry no — 1 of 3. | 1 / 3 = 0.3333 | 0.073333 |
| Printed designators that lead to a human trial | 0.20 | 0 of 10 checked organism slots resolve to at least one human randomised trial under the designator exactly as printed. This counts whether the identity leads to a trial, never what the trial found. | 0 / 10 = 0.0000 | 0.0000 |
| Certification confirmed at the issuer’s own register | 0.14 | Every certification on this record is brand-asserted with the register unreachable, or not yet queried. An unreachable register is a fact about the verification infrastructure, not about this brand, so it may not move its position. | Not answered | — excluded from the divisor, not counted as nought |
0.273333 — the last column added up — divided by 0.86, the weight this record could answer, is 0.3178. Multiplied by 100 and rounded to one decimal, that is the 31.8 above.
See this product’s row in the full ranking, alongside the other 153 scored products, or read what each of the five components asks and how to check it .
What this label discloses
Everything in this table is what the product itself states — on the printed panel, on the brand’s own page, or in the label record the manufacturer filed. Nothing in it is checked yet; checking is the next section.
| Disclosure | As recorded |
|---|---|
| CFU as printed | 20 Billion CFU per 3-capsule serving (10 organisms x 2 Billion CFU, inside a 400 mg "Proprietary Blend of 10 Strains of Gut Health Bacteria") |
| What that count is measured against | No basis stated |
| Strain designators | None — species only |
| Organism slots transcribed here | 10 — the full panel |
| Marketed as | Marketed to men |
No potency-guarantee language appears on the label or anywhere on the page — not "at manufacture", not "at expiry". The panel's column header reads "Typical Value", a UK/EU labelling convention denoting a typical or average figure rather than a guaranteed minimum.
The panel’s own words on potency, verbatim.
A CFU number appears with no temporal basis of any kind. A count with no basis is not a quantity; there is no date at which it is claimed to be true.
The panel names species only, with no strain designator anywhere. A species name is not a claim: the trials in this field are of strains, and a species can contain thousands.
| Organism as printed | Designator as printed | Quantity as printed | What the designator resolves to | The query we ran |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lactobacillus acidophilus | — none printed | 2 Billion CFU | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus casei | — none printed | 2 Billion CFU | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus paracasei | — none printed | 2 Billion CFU | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus rhamnosus | — none printed | 2 Billion CFU | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus plantarum | — none printed | 2 Billion CFU | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus fermentum | — none printed | 2 Billion CFU | No designator printed | — |
| Bifidobacterium longum | — none printed | 2 Billion CFU | No designator printed | — |
| Bifidobacterium bifidum | — none printed | 2 Billion CFU | No designator printed | — |
| Bifidobacterium breve | — none printed | 2 Billion CFU | No designator printed | — |
| Saccharomyces Boulardii (correct name: Saccharomyces boulardii) | — none printed | 2 Billion CFU | No designator printed | — |
What of that is verifiable
A disclosure is verifiable when a reader can open a record that neither we nor the brand controls and see the same thing. Below is every dated artefact this page rests on. What is absent from this list is not verified, however reasonable it sounds.
- Photograph of the printed panel — Biotics_8_Label_2d918df4-d304-493d-ba0c-5b29e24aeb33.jpghttps://biotics8.com/cdn/shop/files/Biotics_8_Label_2d918df4-d304-493d-ba0c-5b29e24aeb33.jpg — Address given, not linked: this site does not link out to the products it audits. captured The brand's own label JPEG, served behind a "See Full Label" disclosure widget and transcribed by eye. It is a UK/EU-format food supplement panel — "NUTRITION INFORMATION", "FOOD SUPPLEMENT", %NRV rather than %DV — carrying barcode 0616612124463, "SERVINGS PER BOTTLE: 30", the ten itemised organism CFU figures, the "Manufactured Exclusively For Wolfson Brands (UK) Ltd" line, the titration schedule and the pregnancy/nursing warning.
- Dated capture of the brand’s own page — biotics8-com-2026-07-31https://biotics8.com/ — Address given, not linked: this site does not link out to the products it audits. captured biotics8.com, HTTP 200, no block. A single-product funnel with no catalogue and no second SKU. Source for the three pricing tiers, the comparison table, the 32-item numbered bibliography, the ingredient-description claims, the milk-curdling FAQ and the "completely safe" statement. The terms of service and privacy policy were fetched separately from /policies/terms-of-service and /policies/privacy-policy.
How many of its strains have a human trial for what it is sold for
Across the frozen founding cohort, 0 of 294 organism slots (0.0%) carry an organism with a human randomised controlled trial for any male-specific outcome. Not for this product — for all 27 of the founding teardowns, taken together. That is the number to hold against any men’s probiotic, including this one.
Two further founding-cohort figures for context: only 43 of 294 organism slots carry a strain with any human RCT at all under the exact code printed on the label, and only 2 of 27 products have a published human trial of the finished formula — the thing actually in the bottle. All three figures divide by the frozen cohort of 27 teardowns and 294 organism slots, never by every teardown on this site.
For this product specifically, 0 organism slots carry a strain with a human RCT under the exact designator printed on the label.
A word on what a designator has to clear before it counts here. The organism must be named with the exact strain code that appears in the trial, the trial must be in humans, and the code must return that trial when a reader searches it. A species name does not qualify: the trials in this field are of strains, and a species contains thousands of them.
What it costs per day
$2.17 a day at the dose the label itself instructs.
- Price
- $64.99 USD
- What that buys
- 90-capsule bottle (30 servings, 3 capsules daily) — the one-month package. Also sold as 2 months + 1 free at $129.99 and 3 months + 2 free at $194.99.
- Price checked
- — the source we read it fromhttps://biotics8.com/ — Address given, not linked: this site does not link out to the products it audits.
What certification it holds, checked at the issuer’s own register
A badge on a bottle is a claim like any other. Every row below was checked — or not checked — at the certifier’s own public register, never at the badge. Across the frozen founding cohort, 2 of 27 products hold a certification we could confirm at the issuer — a founding-cohort figure, not a count over every teardown on this site.
| Programme | Status at the issuer | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| "GMP-certified" facility | Brand-asserted, unverified | 31 July 2026 |
"GMP-certified" facility
The badge is displayed, but the register could not be reached to confirm it. We call this unverified, not false.
No certifying body is named. GMP certification without an issuer — NSF? NPA? UL? — cannot be checked at any register. No third-party laboratory is named and no certificate of analysis is published. No NSF, USP, Informed Choice or Non-GMO Project mark is claimed. What the brand offers instead, from its own FAQ, verbatim: "Break open one capsule of Biotics 8 and pour it into a bowl. Add about 1/4 cup of whole milk to the bowl, give it a stir, and wait 24 hours. If the milk has curdled, then you know you have a premium probiotic formula with live, active strains of good gut bacteria!" Milk curdling demonstrates only that some acid-producing organism is viable in some quantity. It cannot distinguish 20 billion CFU from 20 million, cannot identify a species, and cannot detect the absence of nine of the ten organisms.
How it differs from the same brand’s women’s version
Across the fourteen same-brand men’s-versus-women’s label diffs run inside the frozen founding cohort, zero men’s or default formulas contain a probiotic strain, identified by designator, that was selected on male-specific evidence. In eight of the fourteen the sex-specific differentiator is a botanical or a mineral, and in five of the fourteen the women’s SKU is better-specified, cheaper, or both — “better-specified” meaning the panel that discloses more, never the panel with more in it. The rule behind each of those counts, and all fourteen pairs classified against it , are published in full. Diffs run on teardowns added since sit outside this fourteen, and outside the sentence above.
This brand sells no women’s counterpart to this product, so there is no diff to run.
Every finding on this page, with the record behind it
Finding 1 three-conflicting-corporate-identities-and-a-blank-copyright-line
The product label says "Manufactured Exclusively For Wolfson Brands (UK) Ltd, 12 Payne Street, Glasgow, G4 0LF, UK". The terms of service say the site "is owned and maintained by 8 For Men Limited". The privacy policy says the site is "owned or controlled by Live Wellness Limited" and that "The data controller in respect of this website is Live Wellness Limited." The homepage footer reads "© 2026 . All Rights Reserved." with the company-name field blank. A consumer who wants to know who is selling them this product, or who to pursue on the advertised 60-day guarantee, gets three different limited companies from three documents on the same site.
The record: biotics8.com label JPEG, /policies/terms-of-service, /policies/privacy-policy and homepage footer, all 2026-07-31 — open ithttps://biotics8.com/policies/terms-of-service — Address given, not linked: this site does not link out to the products it audits.
Finding 2 reference-three-is-a-study-protocol-with-no-results
Reference [3], PMID 31096437 (Zhang et al., Medicine 2019), is cited to support the claim that a "probiotics + vitamin D3 formula can help ... relieve stress". It is titled as a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis. It contains no results — it describes searches that will be run.
The record: PMID 31096437 — open it (opens in a new tab)
Finding 3 reference-five-tests-a-species-not-in-the-product
Reference [5], PMID 25884980 (Ogawa et al., Lipids Health Dis 2015), is cited for weight management. It is a trial of Lactobacillus gasseri SBT2055 in Megmilk Snow Brand employees. L. gasseri does not appear anywhere on the Biotics 8 label.
The record: PMID 25884980 — open it (opens in a new tab)
Finding 4 reference-twentyseven-is-cited-for-an-outcome-the-trial-did-not-measure
Reference [27], PMID 30094122 (Minami et al., Biosci Microbiota Food Health 2018), is cited for the claim that "B. breve can help increase muscle mass and reduce overall body fat after 12 weeks". The trial tested B. breve B-3 in 80 pre-obese adults and reported visceral fat area, body fat mass and percent body fat. It did not report muscle mass. The claim adds an endpoint the study did not measure — and the strain it tested is not named on this label.
The record: PMID 30094122 — open it (opens in a new tab)
Finding 5 the-male-performance-claim-rests-on-a-different-product-and-a-rat-study
The two claims a men's-probiotic buyer is actually paying for are testosterone and sperm. The page states that "men who consume bacteria-rich probiotics may experience higher t-levels, along with higher sperm concentration, volume, and motility", footnoted to PMID 28245352 — Maretti & Cavallini, Andrology 2017, a self-described pilot study of Flortec (L. paracasei B21060 plus arabinogalactan 1243 mg, FOS 700 mg and L-glutamine 500 mg) in 41 infertile men with idiopathic oligoasthenoteratospermia. Biotics 8 contains no arabinogalactan and no L-glutamine and names no strain. The second citation, PMID 32607132, is 35 male Wistar rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes.
The record: PMID 28245352 · PMID 32607132 — open it (opens in a new tab)
Finding 6 thirty-two-references-and-not-one-tests-a-strain-this-label-names
Every PMID in the published bibliography was verified against NCBI E-utilities and all are real. None supports the product. The set contains four rodent studies, three in-vitro or organoid studies, three pieces of trade or consumer press (Harvard Health, Nutraingredients, Nutraceutical Business Review), one study protocol with no results, one trial of a species not in the product, and roughly a dozen trials of specifically-named strains — Shirota, GG, 299v, HA-196, NTU 101, PCC, BB536, B-3, MIMBb75, Lb, NS9. Eleven named strains cited; zero named on the label. The brand demonstrably knows strain designators exist.
The record: All 32 references verified via NCBI esummary.fcgi, 2026-07-31
Finding 7 zero-strain-designators-across-ten-organisms
No ATCC, DSM, CNCM, NCIMB or CECT code appears anywhere on the label or the page. The blend is called proprietary and then itemised — all ten sub-quantities published, 10 x 2 billion = 20 billion, and the arithmetic is honest — but no organism can be matched to a trial, because none is identified beyond species.
The record: biotics8.com label JPEG Biotics_8_Label_2d918df4-d304-493d-ba0c-5b29e24aeb33.jpg, transcribed 2026-07-31 — open ithttps://biotics8.com/cdn/shop/files/Biotics_8_Label_2d918df4-d304-493d-ba0c-5b29e24aeb33.jpg — Address given, not linked: this site does not link out to the products it audits.
Finding 8 uk-format-food-supplement-panel-sold-in-usd-to-us-buyers
This is not a US Supplement Facts panel. It is headed "NUTRITION INFORMATION", declares "FOOD SUPPLEMENT", and uses %NRV (Nutrient Reference Value) rather than FDA %DV. The site sells in USD with a US-default storefront and ships to the United States. Its named manufacturer of record is in Glasgow and its telephone contact is +44 203 476 4892 — while the page claims "Made in the USA". A US buyer is being sold a product carrying no FDA-format Supplement Facts panel and no %DV.
The record: biotics8.com label JPEG and homepage copy, 2026-07-31 — open ithttps://biotics8.com/ — Address given, not linked: this site does not link out to the products it audits.
Finding 9 cfu-basis-unstated-and-the-column-reads-typical-value
No potency-guarantee language appears anywhere — not at manufacture, not at expiry. The panel's column header is "Typical Value", a UK/EU convention denoting a typical or average figure rather than a guaranteed minimum. That is weaker than either form of the honest claim.
The record: biotics8.com label JPEG, transcribed 2026-07-31
Finding 10 a-yeast-listed-under-a-heading-that-says-bacteria
The blend heading reads "Proprietary Blend of 10 Strains of Gut Health Bacteria: 400 mg (Consisting of 20 Billion CFU)". The tenth entry is Saccharomyces boulardii, which is a yeast. The homepage repeats the error, describing it as "this bacterial strain".
The record: biotics8.com label JPEG and homepage ingredient copy, 2026-07-31
Finding 11 prevent-claims-and-an-absolute-safety-claim-outside-the-disclaimered-blocks
The headline bullets are disciplined and carry the † disclaimer. The ingredient-description section does not. It contains four uses of "prevent" against named conditions — "prevent diarrhea", "may help prevent leaky gut", "Helps to prevent gut issues and stomach cramps", "prevent gastrointestinal problems" — plus "combat illness". And the FAQ states, verbatim: "Is Biotics 8 safe? Yes! Biotics 8 is completely safe. ... are entirely safe, with no known side effects." An absolute safety claim no supplement can support, and materially riskier than the efficacy copy.
The record: biotics8.com ingredient descriptions and FAQ, verbatim, 2026-07-31 — open ithttps://biotics8.com/ — Address given, not linked: this site does not link out to the products it audits.
Finding 12 a-milk-curdling-test-offered-in-place-of-a-certificate-of-analysis
The FAQ instructs buyers to open a capsule into a quarter cup of whole milk and wait 24 hours: "If the milk has curdled, then you know you have a premium probiotic formula with live, active strains of good gut bacteria!" This cannot distinguish 20 billion CFU from 20 million, cannot identify a species, and cannot detect the absence of nine of the ten organisms. It is offered where a certificate of analysis would be.
The record: biotics8.com FAQ, verbatim, 2026-07-31 — open ithttps://biotics8.com/ — Address given, not linked: this site does not link out to the products it audits.
Finding 13 pregnancy-and-nursing-warning-on-a-mens-only-product
The label warns "Do not take if you are pregnant or nursing" on a product sold exclusively as a men's formula. Nothing else in the composition is male-specific either: no prostate ingredient, no urinary ingredient, no androgen-related botanical, no male-specific organism, and all ten organisms sit at an identical 2 billion CFU — a flat dose distribution showing no organism was selected or weighted for a male endpoint. The male case rests on the name, the audience copy, vitamin D3 10 mcg, and the two citations above.
The record: biotics8.com label JPEG, transcribed 2026-07-31
Finding 14 permanent-struck-through-retail-pricing-and-escalation-to-the-five-bottle-package
All three tiers show a struck-through "Retail" against a "Today" price, with no date, no countdown and no evidence the retail price is ever charged. The advertised "Low as $1.30 a day!" is printed inside the competitor-comparison table as a headline attribute, where it reads as the product's price rather than as its deepest-bundle price; entry cost is $2.17/day, 67% higher. The FAQ escalates: "We always recommend securing the 3 or 5-bottle package", and the guarantee is used as the closing argument — "There's no added risk to you by ordering more today."
The record: biotics8.com pricing tiers, comparison table and FAQ, 2026-07-31 — open ithttps://biotics8.com/ — Address given, not linked: this site does not link out to the products it audits.
Finding 15 privacy-policy-relies-on-the-eu-us-privacy-shield
The privacy policy names the EU-US Privacy Shield as its data-transfer mechanism — a framework invalidated by the CJEU in Schrems II in July 2020, six years before this page was served.
The record: biotics8.com/policies/privacy-policy, 2026-07-31 — open ithttps://biotics8.com/policies/privacy-policy — Address given, not linked: this site does not link out to the products it audits.
What we could not verify
Every gap below is published rather than deleted. Most are derived automatically from the empty fields in this page’s own record, so a gap cannot be hidden by leaving a box blank.
- "GMP-certified" facility status
- No certifying body is named. GMP certification without an issuer — NSF? NPA? UL? — cannot be checked at any register. No third-party laboratory is named and no certificate of analysis is published. No NSF, USP, Informed Choice or Non-GMO Project mark is claimed. What the brand offers instead, from its own FAQ, verbatim: "Break open one capsule of Biotics 8 and pour it into a bowl. Add about 1/4 cup of whole milk to the bowl, give it a stir, and wait 24 hours. If the milk has curdled, then you know you have a premium probiotic formula with live, active strains of good gut bacteria!" Milk curdling demonstrates only that some acid-producing organism is viable in some quantity. It cannot distinguish 20 billion CFU from 20 million, cannot identify a species, and cannot detect the absence of nine of the ten organisms.
- A machine-readable Supplement Facts panel
- The label exists only as a JPEG behind a "See Full Label" disclosure widget on the brand's own CDN, and was transcribed by eye. Nothing in the page HTML carries it.
- Any record of this product in DSLD
- Four query forms, all zero or non-matching: barcode 0616612124463 (0), 616612124463 (0), "Biotics 8" (66,429 fuzzy hits, top results all "Silver Biotics" by American Biotech Labs, no match), "Wolfson Brands" (6,442 fuzzy, no match). Absence is expected here rather than damning — this is a UK-format food supplement, not a US dietary supplement — but it means no government transcription of the panel exists.
- Any product-level trial of Biotics 8
- "Biotics 8"[All Fields] returns 0 records in PubMed.
- Which company a buyer is actually contracting with
- Three different limited companies appear across three of the brand's own documents, and the footer copyright names none. See the finding below.
- The identity of four bibliography entries
- References [22], [26], [20] and [17] were matched to the named strains they concern — NTU 101, BB536, L. acidophilus Lb and 299v — without a PMID being recorded for each. The strain-mismatch finding does not depend on them; the reference-by-reference count does.
How to check every line of this page yourself
Nothing on this page requires trusting us. Every claim above resolves to a record you can open:
- Open the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database record linked at the top of this page. It is the label the manufacturer filed, not our transcription of it.
- Compare the CFU line and the suggested-use line against the disclosure table above. If they disagree with us, we are wrong and we want to know.
- Take any strain designator from the panel and run the query printed beside it. The query is published precisely so you can get a different answer than we did.
- Divide the price by the number of days the label’s own dose instructions make the container last. That arithmetic is the whole of the cost-per-day row.
- Search the certifier’s own register for this product, not for the brand. A company can participate in a programme without this product being on its list.
Two things make this product unusually documentable, and both are to its credit.
It discloses per-organism CFU — all ten of them. It calls the blend proprietary and then defeats the point of a proprietary blend by publishing every sub-quantity: ten organisms at 2 billion each, totalling 20 billion, and the arithmetic is honest. And it publishes a 32-item numbered bibliography, which almost nothing in this category does.
So the bibliography was opened. Every PMID in it is real. Not one supports the product.
Two entries need no interpretation at all. Reference [3] (PMID 31096437), cited for a stress claim, is a protocol for a systematic review — it contains no results; it describes searches that will be run. Reference [5] (PMID 25884980), cited for weight management, is a trial of Lactobacillus gasseri SBT2055 — a species that is not on this label.
A third is nearly as clean. Reference [27] is cited for “may increase muscle mass and reduce overall body fat.” The trial measured visceral fat area, body fat mass and percent body fat. It did not measure muscle.
The rest of the bibliography resolves the same way: four rodent studies, three in-vitro or organoid papers, three pieces of trade and consumer press, and about a dozen trials of specifically named strains — Shirota, GG, 299v, HA-196, NTU 101, PCC, BB536, B-3, MIMBb75, Lb, NS9. Eleven named strains cited. Zero named on the label. The brand demonstrably knows strain designators exist.
And the two claims a men’s-probiotic buyer is actually paying for — testosterone and sperm — rest on a 41-man pilot study of a different product containing arabinogalactan, FOS and L-glutamine that Biotics 8 does not contain, and on a study in diabetic rats.
Around the formula sits a set of smaller things that point the same way. Three different limited companies across the label, the terms and the privacy policy, and a blank name in the footer copyright. A UK-format food-supplement panel, %NRV and all, sold in USD to US buyers. A “Typical Value” column where a potency guarantee should be. A pregnancy warning on a men’s-only product. And, offered where a certificate of analysis belongs, an FAQ that tells you to curdle milk.