Thoraiya DyerYoghurt With Germs In It
April 11th 2008 04:57
We've all heard the story. There's good bacteria and there's bad bacteria. To keep down the population of bad bacteria in your intestines, you have to eat good bacteria. Millions of the grinning little buggers, in fact (and they look frighteningly similar in the TV ads to the little blackcurrents that used to be in the Ribena ad).
The friendly yeasts and bacteria are called probiotics and will keep your bowels in shiny good nick. Sounds good, right? But before I deliberately buy food with germs in it, I want to know what the real story is.
I mean, to get to your intestines, food has to first get past the stomach, doesn't it? And the stomach, Ladies and Gentlemen, is an Evil Acid Pit Of Horror.
That's why so many medications get packed inside a gelatin capsule before you go to take them. The stuff has to be protected until it gets past the Evil Acid Pit. Pharmacists throughout the ages have bored themselves stupid measuring out powders and putting them inside capsules. Whoever invented the gelatin capsule is probably a billionaire.
But it would seem my yoghurt with germs has no such protection! Does it survive the journey? And if it does, does it actually work??
I decided to have a peek into the science behind three different products: Yakult, which is a probiotic drink, Yoplait Elivae, which is a low-fat yoghurt with probiotics added, and Inner Health Plus dairy-free probiotic capsules.
First of all, what's in them?
Yakult has Lactobacillus casei, Shirota strain.
What is that? Well, it's a bacteria. Bacteria are teeny tiny single-celled living things. A bacterium swims or floats around, getting fatter and fatter until it splits in half and...voila! Two bacteria! Seems like a pretty good life, unless you have a run-in with Pine-O-Clean.
Lactobacillus bacteria are not much to look at, even under a microscope. Shaped like a rice grain. Definitely NO happy little grins on their non-existent microscopic faces. (I have been misled!)
Well, anyway, each little 65mL bottle of Yakult has “hundreds of millions” of them, and the official Yakult website tells me that they are acid-resistant. Where's the proof that they come through the Evil Acid Pit of Horror unscathed, you ask?
The company has done its own research. Always a risk, evaluating your own product. Studies that don't provide good evidence of your argument tend to get left out in the snow to die. They certainly don't make it to the website. Here's what IS there:
“Consumption of LcS as a fermented milk drink has been shown to influence the composition and activity of the intestinal microbiota of human volunteers in trials conducted in Japan and in Europe.38,41 The results of both studies show consistently that following four weeks’ consumption of 10^10-10^11 live cells of LcS per day, the number of intestinal lactobacilli in the intestines tends to increase. In addition, a bifidogenic effect (i.e. an increase in numbers of bifidobacteria) was observed (P<0.05), as well as a reduction in the numbers of faecal clostridia. These findings are in agreement with early studies with LcS by Shirota et al (1966), which in addition showed significant reduction of enterococci in faecal samples. These findings are consistent with further evidence from other studies in children and adults.42,44,45,46.”
Oh my God, I can’t believe my eyes!
The study concludes that when you eat lots of Lactobacillus, the number of Lactobacillus in your intestine increases!
AMAZING!
OK, I’m just having a laugh. Actually, their studies have nicely answered the question I was asking…does Lactobacillus casei, the Shirota strain, survive the Evil Acid Pit of Horror?
Yes, it does.
BUT, you have to consume 10^10-10^11 live cells per day… which is 100 000 000 000. And each 65mL bottle has “hundreds of millions”, or somewhere in the region of 100 000 000.
Drink a hundred bottles of Yakult a day? No way! That watery, sugary stuff tastes filthy!
Well, that’s a totally subjective and non-scientific claim. My husband loves Yakult. He would drink it for fun. At least, he might drink one bottle for fun. Not sure about a hundred bottles, haha.
Personally, I’d rather eat yummy vanilla and strawberry yoghurt.
Yoplait Elivae, according to THEIR website, contains “over ten billion probiotic cultures.” Among these are the (amusingly named) “digestivus culturus TM”, Lactobacillus “Acidophilus” and Lactobacillus “Casei” (if I’m going to be pedantic, I’ll point out that the genus has a capital letter, the species has a small letter, but this isn’t my HSC biology exam).
Problem: This doesn’t appear to be the Shirota strain of Lactobacillus casei. Therefore, we can’t depend on the helpful Yakult studies to prove that Elivae emerges alive from the stomach. Where are the independent studies?
Since I can’t even find what species “digestivus culturus” claims to be, I’ll have to ask Yoplait themselves. Maybe they have trials in progress?
* quickly sends them a message using their Contact Us form*
Since I like the stuff, it’s no hardship to eat it anyway, while I wait for an answer.
Taking pills for no reason, now, that’s something I really don’t like. So, is it worth eating “12.5 Billion Lactobacillus Acidophilus (NCFM) Organisms and 12.5 Billion Bifidobacterium Lactis Organisms” every day? That’s what’s in Inner Health Plus’s Dairy-Free Probiotic capsules.
The numbers look good. 25 billion germs per pill for my hard-earned cash. Woohoo!
But what about the proof? The proof? The PROOF?!
According to the Australian ABC, in a story by Peter Lavelle published 06/03/08 :
“A review of 34 well-designed studies published two years ago in The Lancet Infectious Diseases found probiotics reduced antibiotic-associated diarrhoea by 52 per cent, reduced the risk of traveller's diarrhoea by 8 per cent, and of diarrhoea of any cause by 34 per cent. They found the most protective strains were Saccharomyces boulardii, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus.”
We have a mention of acidophilus in there. It looks like the probiotic capsules are in with a chance. When the world’s leading independent medical journal, the Lancet, tells you something, you sit up straight and listen!
It also helps to have some local experts on side.
Peter Lavelle's story mentions that “…a group of Australian gastroenterologists...did a review of the literature on probiotics and their effects on disease, and reported their findings in the latest Medical Journal of Australia. They found there's good evidence that they work in three different conditions causing diarrhoea. One is acute viral infectious diarrhoea, especially rotavirus, a common cause of severe diarrhoea in children. When given with rehydrating fluids, probiotics reduced the duration of the diarrhoea by an average of 1.2 days. Probiotics are most effective if given early in the course of illness; Lactobacillus rhamnosus was the probiotic found to be most effective. Probiotics were ineffective where the diarrhoea was caused by bacteria.”
Interesting, hey?
Doctors seem to think that probiotics are good for certain specific medical problems, but don’t seem to mention taking them every day just for fun.
In conclusion, you should eat yoghurt if you like the taste. I certainly intend to. But if I’ve been on antibiotics and I want to boost my Lactobacillus, I’ll stick with the capsules, I think.
A hundred bottles of Yakult is just a bit too much!
The friendly yeasts and bacteria are called probiotics and will keep your bowels in shiny good nick. Sounds good, right? But before I deliberately buy food with germs in it, I want to know what the real story is.
I mean, to get to your intestines, food has to first get past the stomach, doesn't it? And the stomach, Ladies and Gentlemen, is an Evil Acid Pit Of Horror.
That's why so many medications get packed inside a gelatin capsule before you go to take them. The stuff has to be protected until it gets past the Evil Acid Pit. Pharmacists throughout the ages have bored themselves stupid measuring out powders and putting them inside capsules. Whoever invented the gelatin capsule is probably a billionaire.
But it would seem my yoghurt with germs has no such protection! Does it survive the journey? And if it does, does it actually work??
I decided to have a peek into the science behind three different products: Yakult, which is a probiotic drink, Yoplait Elivae, which is a low-fat yoghurt with probiotics added, and Inner Health Plus dairy-free probiotic capsules.
First of all, what's in them?
Yakult has Lactobacillus casei, Shirota strain.
What is that? Well, it's a bacteria. Bacteria are teeny tiny single-celled living things. A bacterium swims or floats around, getting fatter and fatter until it splits in half and...voila! Two bacteria! Seems like a pretty good life, unless you have a run-in with Pine-O-Clean.
Lactobacillus bacteria are not much to look at, even under a microscope. Shaped like a rice grain. Definitely NO happy little grins on their non-existent microscopic faces. (I have been misled!)
Well, anyway, each little 65mL bottle of Yakult has “hundreds of millions” of them, and the official Yakult website tells me that they are acid-resistant. Where's the proof that they come through the Evil Acid Pit of Horror unscathed, you ask?
The company has done its own research. Always a risk, evaluating your own product. Studies that don't provide good evidence of your argument tend to get left out in the snow to die. They certainly don't make it to the website. Here's what IS there:
“Consumption of LcS as a fermented milk drink has been shown to influence the composition and activity of the intestinal microbiota of human volunteers in trials conducted in Japan and in Europe.38,41 The results of both studies show consistently that following four weeks’ consumption of 10^10-10^11 live cells of LcS per day, the number of intestinal lactobacilli in the intestines tends to increase. In addition, a bifidogenic effect (i.e. an increase in numbers of bifidobacteria) was observed (P<0.05), as well as a reduction in the numbers of faecal clostridia. These findings are in agreement with early studies with LcS by Shirota et al (1966), which in addition showed significant reduction of enterococci in faecal samples. These findings are consistent with further evidence from other studies in children and adults.42,44,45,46.”
Oh my God, I can’t believe my eyes!
The study concludes that when you eat lots of Lactobacillus, the number of Lactobacillus in your intestine increases!
AMAZING!
OK, I’m just having a laugh. Actually, their studies have nicely answered the question I was asking…does Lactobacillus casei, the Shirota strain, survive the Evil Acid Pit of Horror?
Yes, it does.
BUT, you have to consume 10^10-10^11 live cells per day… which is 100 000 000 000. And each 65mL bottle has “hundreds of millions”, or somewhere in the region of 100 000 000.
Drink a hundred bottles of Yakult a day? No way! That watery, sugary stuff tastes filthy!
Well, that’s a totally subjective and non-scientific claim. My husband loves Yakult. He would drink it for fun. At least, he might drink one bottle for fun. Not sure about a hundred bottles, haha.
Personally, I’d rather eat yummy vanilla and strawberry yoghurt.
Yoplait Elivae, according to THEIR website, contains “over ten billion probiotic cultures.” Among these are the (amusingly named) “digestivus culturus TM”, Lactobacillus “Acidophilus” and Lactobacillus “Casei” (if I’m going to be pedantic, I’ll point out that the genus has a capital letter, the species has a small letter, but this isn’t my HSC biology exam).
Problem: This doesn’t appear to be the Shirota strain of Lactobacillus casei. Therefore, we can’t depend on the helpful Yakult studies to prove that Elivae emerges alive from the stomach. Where are the independent studies?
Since I can’t even find what species “digestivus culturus” claims to be, I’ll have to ask Yoplait themselves. Maybe they have trials in progress?
* quickly sends them a message using their Contact Us form*
Since I like the stuff, it’s no hardship to eat it anyway, while I wait for an answer.
Taking pills for no reason, now, that’s something I really don’t like. So, is it worth eating “12.5 Billion Lactobacillus Acidophilus (NCFM) Organisms and 12.5 Billion Bifidobacterium Lactis Organisms” every day? That’s what’s in Inner Health Plus’s Dairy-Free Probiotic capsules.
The numbers look good. 25 billion germs per pill for my hard-earned cash. Woohoo!
But what about the proof? The proof? The PROOF?!
According to the Australian ABC, in a story by Peter Lavelle published 06/03/08 :
“A review of 34 well-designed studies published two years ago in The Lancet Infectious Diseases found probiotics reduced antibiotic-associated diarrhoea by 52 per cent, reduced the risk of traveller's diarrhoea by 8 per cent, and of diarrhoea of any cause by 34 per cent. They found the most protective strains were Saccharomyces boulardii, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus.”
We have a mention of acidophilus in there. It looks like the probiotic capsules are in with a chance. When the world’s leading independent medical journal, the Lancet, tells you something, you sit up straight and listen!
It also helps to have some local experts on side.
Peter Lavelle's story mentions that “…a group of Australian gastroenterologists...did a review of the literature on probiotics and their effects on disease, and reported their findings in the latest Medical Journal of Australia. They found there's good evidence that they work in three different conditions causing diarrhoea. One is acute viral infectious diarrhoea, especially rotavirus, a common cause of severe diarrhoea in children. When given with rehydrating fluids, probiotics reduced the duration of the diarrhoea by an average of 1.2 days. Probiotics are most effective if given early in the course of illness; Lactobacillus rhamnosus was the probiotic found to be most effective. Probiotics were ineffective where the diarrhoea was caused by bacteria.”
Interesting, hey?
Doctors seem to think that probiotics are good for certain specific medical problems, but don’t seem to mention taking them every day just for fun.
In conclusion, you should eat yoghurt if you like the taste. I certainly intend to. But if I’ve been on antibiotics and I want to boost my Lactobacillus, I’ll stick with the capsules, I think.
A hundred bottles of Yakult is just a bit too much!
| 111 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Comment by signals
The Health Fanatic
The Natural Order
Media Piranha
Arrogant News
The Dope Chronicles
Actually your most beneficial yogurt is PLAIN yogurt. That's the one that tastes awful. Add fruit like pineapple and peaches and berries, and it'll be cheaper and more beneficial than some expensive 'name brand' that tastes good but damages your wallet!
Good points.
Comment by Thoraiya Dyer
Demented World
I'm glad you mentioned plain yoghurt - wait a minute, whaddya mean, tastes awful? It's yummo! Especially in salads with garlic and mint, or with dill on top of grilled salmon and limes.
Mmmmm *drools*
Comment by Tyronne
Sydney Fun
Melbourne DiaryStar