16 January, 2006
Are probiotic yoghurts potent enough to do any good?
The de facto standard for the level of probiotic cells in probiotic yogurts at the end of shelf-life is generally accepted to be in Australia 10^6 (one million) cfu (colony forming units)/g. At the beginning of shelf life, an AB (acidophilus/bifidus) yogurt that meets that standard needs to have around 10^7 cfu/g. The Lactobacillus acidophilus count will then meet the standard at the best before date but the bifido in all likelyhood will not. Bifidobacterium lactis strains will have dropped to around 10^5 cfu/g and if they use human strains such as B. infantis it will have dropped a log or two more, which makes the latter pretty useless.
The de facto standard for the level of probiotic cells in probiotic yogurts at the end of shelf-life is generally accepted to be in Australia 10^6 (one million) cfu (colony forming units)/g. At the beginning of shelf life, an AB (acidophilus/bifidus) yogurt that meets that standard needs to have around 10^7 cfu/g. The Lactobacillus acidophilus count will then meet the standard at the best before date but the bifido in all likelyhood will not. Bifidobacterium lactis strains will have dropped to around 10^5 cfu/g and if they use human strains such as B. infantis it will have dropped a log or two more, which makes the latter pretty useless.
