Yogurt has long been touted as the ultimate health food, purportedly contributing to better digestion, improved nutrition, reduced cholesterol, and protection from cancer. The investigators report that those who received the bacteria-containing milk demonstrated enhanced immune activity on several measures, suggesting that the yogurt culture may enhance a subject's capacity to fight microbial infection, and possibly improve the immune system's ability to fight viruses and cancer cells.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2000;71:861-872
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2000;54:263-267
The problem with most all yogurt is that the starting material is pasteurized milk. There are many reasons why one should avoid this type of milk. If one had RAW, organic milk as the starting material it would most likely be highly beneficial. I have treated a number of patients who lived in India prior to coming to this country and actually ate that type of yogurt in India.
Yet when they came to this country and started consuming our adulterated yogurt they developed the severe abdominal complications of irritable bowl syndrome. As soon as I instructed them to stop the yogurt and change their diet, their symptoms resolved.
However, it is very important to recognize that one can obtain all the benefits of yogurt by consuming the straight good bacteria. Most high quality preparations have several different strains of bacteria and are in high enough concentrations to equal dozens, if not hundreds of containers of yogurt. These products can be miraculous. It is the ONLY supplement I recommend for all new patients.
If you ever develop diarrhea, you can take high doses of these preparations every hour and they nearly always resolve the diarrhea in hours. I recommend it for all those traveling to third world environments and it has saved the lives of many of my patients.