Not all yogurts are equally healthy
I approached: it never hurts to find out, again, maybe something new will tell you how to distinguish "good" bacteria from "bad" ones.
The girl with a smile gave out memorized phrases about how we all eat poorly, how we are plagued by endless stress, how the intestines and immunity suffer from this…
And how the new drinking yogurt will save us all. When the word "probiotics" flashed through her speech, I switched from passive interest to active. And the young creature told me that probiotics are "good" bacteria that populate our intestines and help us fight all the adversities of our world, for example, colds and other infections.
"Excuse me, but why colonize the intestines?" – I innocently asked. "How why? – the girl was genuinely surprised. "After all, our bacteria die from stress and malnutrition, and by the age of thirty, the majority of the population has no intestinal flora left." My deep sigh and the remark that she had been cruelly deceived plunged the agitator into a stupor only for a minute. Then she shook her head and turned her attention to the "good" customers who were seriously interested in the novelty.
Readers, tell me honestly, do you also believe in the benefits of colonizing the intestines with probiotics? With the girl, everything is clear - she just learned the text well and honestly works out her promotional bread, not really thinking about the meaning of what is happening. But if disinterested people hold the same opinion, it's not funny.
To the supermarket for medicinesThe fact that our people love to self–medicate is an indisputable fact.
Food manufacturers have recently realized this and have begun to actively use it for their own good. The milkmen were especially excited. No, not those mustachioed guys from advertising, but companies that produce the corresponding products – yoghurts, kefirs and so on.
It is enough to walk past the dairy aisles in any more or less large store to understand the scale of what is happening. No, no one denies the beneficial properties of milk, fermented baked milk or cottage cheese. But to present them as medicines is already a blow below the belt, prohibited, by the way, by advertising legislation.
It seems that manufacturers are competing – who will come up with more ridiculous therapeutic properties for the next drinking yogurt. "We increase immunity," some say. "We are strengthening antiviral protection," others specify. "We populate the intestines with the right bacteria," suggest others. "Lowering the cholesterol level," the fourth take an ace out of the sleeve.
If you try, you can find edible medicines for almost all diseases in the supermarket. A paradise for the domestic consumer who believes that he is his own doctor. And a real hell for doctors, who then have to sort out the consequences.
Drink milk, childrenFirst, about the good.
Milk and dairy products, indeed, have a beneficial effect on our body. It has become very fashionable lately to refer to the World Health Organization (WHO). So: WHO is not at all against kefir-yoghurts. On the contrary, in the joint guidelines with UNICEF "Feeding and nutrition of infants and young children" it is said that it is not only possible to feed and water children with dairy products, but it is also necessary. The recommendations, by the way, are made not just for the European region, but specifically taking into account the specifics of the post-Soviet space.
Milk is an excellent product, it's just a pity that it is not stored for long. We don't talk about sterilized or powdered milk, it can be stored for years, but we can't call it real milk. Therefore, many thousands of years ago, mankind came up with the idea of processing milk in such a way that it does not spoil for a longer time and retains the maximum of its properties. In the language of modern biochemistry, this is called fermentation. Lactic acid bacteria convert milk sugar – lactose – into lactic acid, as well as short-chain fatty acids. Acidification of the medium occurs (pH drop), but in an acidic environment, most pathogenic bacteria either die or do not grow and do not multiply.
Fermented dairy products are an excellent source of nutrients such as calcium, proteins, phosphorus and riboflavin (aka vitamin B2). Kefir became the most widespread on the territory of the former Soviet Union, later yogurt was attached to it, which diligently survives its competitor. Although, according to the same WHO experts, kefir accounts for almost 70 percent of the total amount of fermented milk products consumed in the countries of the former USSR.
No one can say how old kefir is. But with the fact that kefir is a drink of Caucasian nationality, according to most experts. Kefir grain is a unique creation of nature, some sources claim that the inhabitants of the Caucasus received it from the Prophet. Perhaps this is the only clear explanation why it is not yet possible to artificially reproduce the "kefir fungus".
"Fungus" is a household name. If you look at it, kefir grain is a symbiosis of several types of microorganisms: lactic acid streptococci and bacilli, acetic acid bacteria and yeast. The whole zoo nests in a polysaccharide matrix.
Kefir contains alcohol (as a result of fermentation). It is in the drink from 0.12 to 0.88 volume percent. By the way, he has a lot of names, he is called differently by different peoples, but with some nuances in technology, the essence remains the same.
Yogurt, although it appeared in domestic stores only in the early 1990s, has a history no less rich than kefir. And its roots go to the Balkans, more precisely, to ancient Thrace. Yogurt is also obtained by fermenting whole milk, only a special "microbiological kit" is used for this – Lactobacillus bulgaricus (Bulgarian bacillus) and Streptococcus thermophilus (thermophilic streptococcus). Yogurt differs from kefir in consistency and the absence of ethanol.
About bioticsThe WHO recommendations about kefir and yogurt say that these two drinks contain probiotics.
A familiar word? These are the "good" bacteria according to the promoter girl.
Having tried to find a definition of the term, I encountered certain difficulties. First of all, this is definitely not a pharmaceutical group of drugs, because when searching in the Register of Medicines for the keyword "probiotics", only biologically active food additives (dietary supplements) are found.
Again, the UN, more precisely, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), helped out, on whose website there were many documents on probiotics. For example, the guide "Probiotics in food" (PDF, eng). It discusses the history of the issue in sufficient detail.
Interestingly, the actual founder of the doctrine of probiotics is none other than the Nobel laureate and brilliant Russian scientist Ilya Mechnikov, who worked at the Pasteur Institute on the problem of fighting "bad intestinal microbes" with "good ones". It was in 1907, but the term "probiotics" appeared only in 1965. Researchers Lilly and Stillwell called probiotics substances that are produced by some microorganisms and contribute to the vital activity of other organisms. In the future, the "useful" bacteria themselves began to be called probiotics.
And what is even more interesting, for a long time this term had only a veterinary registration. And only in 1992, Dutch scientists Havenaar and Huis in ’t Veld extended its habitat to humans. And, if you think about it carefully, they did it in vain.
The fact is that there are a lot of potential probiotics, several thousand types of bacteria. Theoretically, they are all safe for humans, theoretically, they should bring the benefits that high–quality, balanced and full-fledged food brings - maintaining the body within the functional norm.
If it were limited only to "kefir grain" or a Bulgarian stick, the situation would not cause any unrest, since these microorganisms have been tested for thousands of years and hundreds of generations of consumers. But first, one dairy company, in an effort to increase sales, tried to bring yogurt with its "own" probiotic to the market. Then competitors tightened up, marketing mechanisms started working, advertising brainwashers turned on, as a result of all this outrage, products with "living cultures" became wildly popular. After all, products with probiotics, thanks to the efforts of advertisers, have turned from just food into therapeutic and preventive food. Why do we need vaccinations, doctors and a healthy lifestyle? We have 7-10-14 magic bottles that will strengthen our immunity forever, no matter how much we move, how much and what we eat, how regularly we are interested in the state of our health.
And, meanwhile, in the already mentioned FAO manual there is a warning – the effects of probiotics are species-specific. And new bacterial compounds should be introduced into food products very, very carefully. This means that one kind of bacteria can actually be useful in some sense. But another, theoretically considered safe, can plant such a pig that it will not seem enough.
We will not stand for the priceA scandal broke out in prosperous Holland.
During clinical trials conducted by the University of Utrecht in several clinics in the country from 2004 to 2007, 24 people died in the experimental group. This was 2.5 times higher than the mortality rate in the control group. What is the killer experienced by the Dutch? Just biologically active supplements (dietary supplements) with probiotics provided by the local company Winclove.
In February 2008, in the largest medical scientific journal The Lancet, Dutch doctors published a detailed report on the study and tried to understand the causes of such high mortality. In order not to be unfounded, I give a link, but I apologize right away – the article is in premium content and is available only to subscribers of the magazine (what if there are such among our readers?).
The composition of the bacterial preparation, the effectiveness of which in pancreatitis was evaluated, included the following microorganisms: Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus salivarius, Lactococcus lactis, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Bifidobacterium lactis. It seems to be nothing unusual – lacto- and bifidobacteria mixed with maltodextrin (glucose + oligosaccharides + malt sugar) and corn starch.
Pancreatitis is a rather unpleasant thing, any doctor will tell you that. And fatal outcomes with various kinds of problems with the pancreas (aka pancreas) – unfortunately, are not uncommon. This mixture of probiotics has been studied for anti-inflammatory effects specifically in the pancreas.
Mortality in the "probiotic" group was higher, no matter what parameters were compared. Thus, in the subgroup of patients with parenchymal necrosis in the experimental group, 70 percent of patients died compared to 53 in the control group. Certain infectious complications resulted in death in 41 percent of patients in the first group versus 15 percent in the second. In 8 cases, the cause of death in the probiotic group was intestinal ischemia, which was not observed at all in the placebo group.
In order not to spread my thoughts along the tree, I will give the conclusion of scientists:
In patients with predicted severe acute pancreatitis, probiotic prophylaxis with this combination of probiotic strains did not reduce the risk of infectious complications and was associated with an increased risk of mortality. Probiotic prophylaxis should therefore not be administered in this category of patients.
That is, in patients with a preliminary diagnosis of severe acute pancreatitis, prevention with probiotics of the proposed composition does not reduce the risk of infectious complications (30 percent in the experimental group versus 28 in the control group – my clarification, A.V.) and is associated with an increased risk of death. Therefore, this category of patients should not be prescribed probiotics for preventive purposes.
And this case is not the only one.
From the editorial office of "Eternal Youth":
Pay attention: these were probiotics, but by no means yogurts. And clinical studies (sometimes, alas, with similar results) are carried out precisely so that effective drugs appear in pharmacies and do not give unintended side effects. In theory, anyway.
Here is an excerpt from the article "Leave yoghurts alone! The patients did not die from them!", which explains exactly this:
«...Incorrect associations with innocent dairy producers were suppressed on February 14 by an official press release issued by the doctors of the Utrecht University Clinic (UMC Utrecht): "With a high degree of probability, it can be argued that probiotics became the cause of death of the patients participating in the clinical trial," the press release says, "but yoghurts have nothing to do with it. Volunteers were injected with a mixture of different strains of probiotic bacteria through a probe. The mixture was developed specifically for this study and is not available on the dairy market or in pharmacies. The concentration of bacteria in this experimental mixture was much higher than the usual probiotic dose."
Well, are there still those who want to test on themselves or on their child the ultramodern probiotic "drugs" (or rather, dietary supplements) that are actively advertised on the Internet? Can their sellers guarantee that this particular recipe will be at least safe (not to mention effective) for you specifically? You ask, but how to treat dysbiosis?
What is notBut nothing.
There is no it, dysbiosis. Not su-shest-vu-et. Further – concisely, because the topic has already been chewed-chewed.
In a newborn baby, the lumen of the intestine is sterile like a disposable syringe in a package. Colonization of the intestine has been going on for some time – microorganisms enter it from the external environment, with food, air and water. That is why there is a problem of colic: until the intestinal community settles down, until everyone gets acquainted with the neighbors and repairs are carried out, until they buy furniture and settle down, until they find out who is in charge here – there will be so-called dyspeptic phenomena.
This process flows by itself. And as a result, each person will form his own individual and unique set of intestinal residents. You can at least feed super-useful bacteria aka probiotics to a child by kilograms, this will absolutely not affect the final result in any way. Although no, I'm lying, the process may be delayed from outside interference, because the "newcomers" will try to set their own rules of the game and mess up the community. Well, at least the turnover of intestinal migrant workers is large – in the literal and figurative sense of the word.
Further, if suddenly you were tested "for dysbiosis" and announced this terrible verdict, change the doctor. The quantitative and qualitative composition of the intestinal microflora is not regulated by any international norms or standards. Simply because it is impossible to do this – such a number of factors affect each individual person. And the imperfection of diagnostic methods does its dirty work – the wall flora living in the intestine is one thing, and what came out with the evening horse, sorry, with the evening chair, is quite another.
You will laugh, but even the use of antibiotics does not require subsequent correction of the microflora with probiotics. Even if some phenomena occur (for example, diarrhea when using the extremely popular amoxiclav-augmentin), they pass on their own. The intestinal community is self-regulating and self-healing, and it is better for us, with our, frankly, shallow knowledge in this complex area, not to interfere in microbial affairs at all. Of course, if it's not cholera, typhus or dysentery, then doctors will quickly calculate the alien, determine its sensitivity to antibiotics and expel the brat from the body. And the residents will eliminate the consequences of the pogrom in the intestinal dormitory themselves.
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So, in order for your intestines not to cause you any special problems, it needs to be pleased with healthy and full-fledged food. At the same time, it is better to give preference to natural and proven products, this also applies to fermented milk rivers.
Fashion is, of course, good. Microbiological innovations, too. Just think a hundred times before conducting another food experiment on yourself or your loved ones. Maybe you shouldn't, huh?
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru16.07.2008