I recently received this email question from a blog reader:
-Lyonne
Keep reading for my answer...
MY ANSWER:
Hi Lyonne,
Thanks for the great question. Standard yogurt with the labeling of "contains live and active cultures," will contain a minimum of 100 million living organisms per gram at the time of manufacture, (probiotics). A number of companies currently participate in this labeling program by the National Yogurt Association:
Cloud Top, LLC
Red Mango
YoCream
Dannon
Yoplait
Well's Dairy
Kroger
Pinkberry
Berry Chill
Emmi USA
Scott Brothers
Johanna Foods
While this label is a great standard to look for,
today there are a plethora of SUPER-probiotics on the market.
If your main goal is to really re-vamp your intestines, I suggest trying something a bit stronger than standard yogurt and see if you notice a difference.
My favorite brand is BioKPlus which contains 50 billion organisms per shot of yogurt! And it comes in a yummy vegan non-dairy mango soy flavor! I try to drink a shot a day and can feel the difference in both my digestive and immune systems. Some studies show that 70% of your immune system is linked to the health of your digestive system, AKA your intestines where those bacteria set up shop.
Just think. Yogurt is usually 170 grams. So that's around 17 billion organisms per yogurt (at time of manufacture). BioKPlus guarantees 50 billion at time of consumption.
If you drink one full shot of BioKPlus a day, that is equal to around 3.5 yogurts.
Maybe more, maybe less.
Yogurt live cultures are highly volatile living organisms, and thus will vary from container to container.
So yeah, I guess super-probiotic products can make standard yogurt seem a bit pathetic...
I suggest a test of something stronger and see how you feel.
Give a stronger probiotic product at least two weeks to make a real change in your digestive health.
Good Luck!
Kathy
Read my original probiotics post here:
http://healthyhappylife.com/2008/10/friendly-bacteria-probiotic-product.html
