I was considering starting this thread in IMHO, but I’m primarily looking for factual information, although personal stories may help.
I’m beginning to hear alot of talk about the wonders of the live, active cultures in yogurt, especially the Stonyfield Farms brand. Have the benefits of consuming the cultures been proven on humans?
A friend of mine had some gastro-intestinal problem for years and then began eating yogurt. He swears that the yogurt fixed his problems completely. A myriad of doctors couldn’t solve his problems but the yogurt did.
At first, I figured that it was psychological. But now more and more people are telling me about the benefits. I’m actually considering adding it to my daily diet. But does it really work? And since I’m lactose-intolerant, will it hurt me in any way?
Yogurt is allegedly good for restoring the flora of your intestines. Esp. after illness (esp. when antibiotics were used, which may have killed off some of your natural, necessary gut bacteria), the theory goes, if you eat yogurt, you’ll load up your gut with “good” bacteria to aid your digestion and crowd out any “bad” bacteria.
Lactose intolerance: In theory, no problems. The lactobacilli break down the lactose in the milk before you eat it (and, possibly, might hang around long enough to break down the lactose in other milk products). In practice, mixed results. My wife (lactose intolerant) occasionally has issues with yogurt, but not very often.
And one last IMHO … Stoneyfield’s yogurt bites. Whatever cultures they use … bleagh. It tastes like feet. I much prefer plain Dannon.
The upshot: Yogurt can’t hurt, it might help. The bacteria may stimulate your immune system. Probiotics (eating good bacteria to replenish intestinal flora) can help, but yogurt is probably not a reliable enough delivery system for doctors to recommend. Strains and quantity of bacteria in yogurt varies widely from brand to brand and batch to batch.
I’ve also read that live active cultures enhance the ‘antioxidant’ effect of many nutrients, like C and E vitamins.
The anitoxidant craze is out of control. Supposeddly, anitoxidants, which are supposed to prevent cell damage from ‘free radicals’, can slow aging and firm the body up against illness/disease, since they supposedly wipe out cell bombarding free radicals.
Free radicals are a by-product of living/breathing/eating…and these particles are being blamed for cell wear and tear…the process of aging.
Research shows that you could gorge yourself on a bajillion tons of anitoxidants and the effect against free radical damage is almost nothing.
Apparantly, the key to preventing free radical damage is a low body mass (being lean), a very calorie restricted diet which is very high in nutrition, along with modest exercise.
Not sure if active yogurt cultures have any research to back them up, but Dr Wolford has some amazing findings on groups of animals, including chimps and mice. He is taking a scientific methodology to it, and has control group, etc, working on various diets, low cal diets, diets with antioxidants…
-nothing works other than low cal diets that are high in nutrition.
Unfortunately, there’s no evidence at all that the lactase that the lactobacilli in yogurt make affects any other lactose than that in the yogurt itself. And as toadspittle’s wife noticed, the actual number of live cultures in any given sample of yogurt can vary by a factor or ten or more.
However, the first part of the statement is true. There are strains of bacteria in the colon that ferment undigested lactose that reaches it, producing gas, and there are strains that digest the lactose. If you can replace the former with the latter you can avoid many intestinal symptoms.
There have been a number of medical reports recently that have said generally good things about yogurt. You do have to distinguish between the sweetened syrups that most Americans call yogurt and just plain yogurt to get the most health benefits out of it, though.
My biology teacher in high school used to lead student trips to places like Honduras and Costa Rica. He always told anyone going on those trips to eat yogurt with active cultures for a week before going, to help prevent “intestinal distress.”