NDS Classic, Barrier and Panda: What is the difference?

NDS sells three powders with lactic acid bacteria in Denmark: Classic 10, Barrier and Panda 2. The names make them sound as if each has its own purpose. But what is the difference?

Short answer: The three powders are more alike than the names suggest. They share several bacterial strains, and we have not found clinical trials with any of them. The studies that are often mentioned were done on other mixtures.

What do the labels say?

The label is the list of contents on the pack. Here is what the Danish labels state (manufacturer: Kurm Pharma):

	Classic 10	Barrier	Panda 2
Number of strains	15 according to the manufacturer	9 entries	10
Bacteria (CFU)	Over 20 billion	Over 15 billion	Over 15 billion
Fibre	Inulin and oligofructose	Inulin and FOS	Not stated
Notable	Includes L. rhamnosus GG and HN001	Includes L. brevis Lbr-35 and mineral salts as excipients	B. breve M-16V, no flavouring
Adult dose	1 teaspoon (3 g)	1 teaspoon (3 g)	1 teaspoon (3 g)

CFU stands for colony forming units, i.e. the number of live bacteria. You can read more about what the number does and does not tell you in our article on CFU and bacterial strains.

The overlap is large. Three strains are found in all three powders: Lactococcus lactis Ll-23, Bifidobacterium longum Bi-05 and Ligilactobacillus salivarius Ls-33. Panda 2 also shares several strains with both Classic and Barrier. The only strain found in Panda 2 alone is B. breve M-16V.

Note also that some of the bacteria are listed only by species and not with a strain code, e.g. "Lactobacillus casei". Without the strain code, you cannot look up the research.

Have the products themselves been studied?

We have not been able to find a single published trial with NDS Classic 10, Barrier or Panda 2. So everything that is said about their effect is based on studies of other products.

This matters, because the effect of lactic acid bacteria depends on the exact strain and on the purpose. A review of 228 trials found that one strain could work in a trial, while another from the same species did not [1].

Barrier and Panda: the studies apply to other mixtures

The names Barrier and Panda are also used by the Dutch manufacturer Winclove for the mixtures Ecologic® Barrier and Ecologic® Panda. Those are the ones the research is about. According to the Danish labels, the NDS products do not contain the same strains.

Ecologic Barrier and similar mixtures from Winclove have been tested with mixed results:

• In 131 patients with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, the mixture led to lower levels of zonulin in blood and stools after 3 months. Zonulin is a protein used as a marker of how tight the gut wall is. The psychiatric symptoms themselves did not improve more than with placebo [2].
• In 63 patients with migraine, a different multispecies mixture, where one of the authors was employed by Winclove, made no difference compared with placebo on gut permeability, markers of inflammation or migraine [3].

Neither of the two trials was done with NDS Barrier, and neither was done in healthy people.

Ecologic Panda was tested in the so-called PandA trial with 102 children from families with allergies. The mothers took the mixture late in pregnancy, and the children were given it in their first year of life. The parents reported fewer cases of eczema in the first 3 months: 6 out of 50 versus 15 out of 52 on placebo. After that, equal numbers of children in the two groups got eczema, so the difference arose early. By the age of 2, a total of 27 children in the probiotic group had had eczema versus 34 in the placebo group [4]. A follow-up, in which the children were followed until the age of 6, found only small and short-lived differences in gut bacteria and no lasting differences [5].

This is one small trial with a different mixture, and it cannot be applied to NDS Panda 2.

B. breve M-16V, the strain that is unique to Panda 2, has mostly been studied in premature babies. A review of five randomised trials found no clear benefit, and the authors rated the overall quality of the evidence as very low [6].

Are 15 strains better than 9?

This is the clearest difference between Classic 10 and the others, but the number does not say much.

• A review article found 16 studies that compared a mixture with the individual strains on their own. In 12 of them, the mixture did best. However, the authors could not tell whether this was due to interaction between the strains or simply a higher total dose [7].
• A later, systematic review of 65 trials with over 10,000 participants concluded that single strains were in most cases just as good as mixtures, and that the choice should be based on evidence, not on the number of strains [8].

The fibre can cause wind

Classic 10 and Barrier contain inulin or FOS. These are prebiotic fibres, i.e. fibres that gut bacteria can ferment. The EU has authorised one claim for chicory inulin about normal bowel function, but it requires 12 g a day. A teaspoon of the powder weighs 3 g in total.

If you have a sensitive stomach, it is worth knowing that inulin can cause more wind. A meta-analysis of 11 trials with 729 patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and similar bowel problems found that the inulin type made wind worse [9]. Read more in our article on prebiotics.

Pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and children

The name Panda can make it sound like a product for children. But on the label for Panda 2, the manufacturer itself states that pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and children should only use it in agreement with a doctor or health visitor. The manufacturer only gives a dose for adults. The same caveat appears on our product pages for Classic 10 and Barrier.

How you can think the choice through

1. First ask what you want to achieve. If you have persistent stomach problems, start with your doctor. The symptoms can have many causes, and a supplement is not a treatment.
2. Do not choose based on the name. "Barrier" and "Panda" refer to research on mixtures other than the ones listed on the Danish labels.
3. If you want to try one of them, the differences are small in practice: Classic 10 has the most strains and the most bacteria, Barrier has a narrower selection, and Panda 2 has no flavouring.
4. If you are sensitive to inulin, read the ingredients list on the pack before you buy, and start with a small amount.
5. Not buying anything is also a reasonable choice. No health claims for probiotics have been authorised in the EU, and a varied diet with fibre and preferably fermented foods is a better-documented place to start.

If you want to see the full strain lists, you can find them on the product pages for Classic 10, Barrier and Panda 2.

The bottom line

• The three NDS powders share several strains, and none of them has itself been tested in published trials.
• The studies behind the names Barrier and Panda apply to Ecologic mixtures with other strains, and the results are mixed or based on small trials.
• More strains are not in themselves better than a few.
• The manufacturer states that pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and children should only use Panda 2 in agreement with a doctor or health visitor.

Supplements cannot replace treatment. If you have persistent stomach problems, talk to your doctor.

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Sources

1. McFarland LV et al. Strain-specificity and disease-specificity of probiotic efficacy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Med. 2018. PMID 29868585
2. Borkent J et al. Probiotic Formulation for Patients With Bipolar or Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder: A Double-Blind, Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial. Schizophr Bull. 2025. PMID 39504580
3. de Roos NM et al. The effects of a multispecies probiotic on migraine and markers of intestinal permeability: results of a randomized placebo-controlled study. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2017. PMID 28537581
4. Niers L et al. The effects of selected probiotic strains on the development of eczema (the PandA study). Allergy. 2009. PMID 19392993
5. Rutten NBMM et al. Long Term Development of Gut Microbiota Composition in Atopic Children: Impact of Probiotics. PLoS One. 2015. PMID 26378926
6. Athalye-Jape G et al. Bifidobacterium breve M-16V as a Probiotic for Preterm Infants: A Strain-Specific Systematic Review. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2018. PMID 28796951
7. Chapman CM, Gibson GR, Rowland I. Health benefits of probiotics: are mixtures more effective than single strains? Eur J Nutr. 2011. PMID 21229254
8. McFarland LV. Efficacy of single-strain probiotics versus multi-strain mixtures. Dig Dis Sci. 2021. PMID 32274669
9. Wilson B et al. Prebiotics in irritable bowel syndrome and other functional bowel disorders in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr. 2019. PMID 30949662

This article is general information and not medical advice.