Something in Your Food is Moving

Dekortage writes "The New York Times has a report on probiotic food: food that has live bacteria in it. From the article: "[for Dannon's] Activia, a line of yogurt with special live bacteria that are marketed as aiding regularity, sales in United States stores have soared well past the $100 million mark.... Probiotics in food are part of a larger trend toward 'functional foods,' which stress their ability to deliver benefits that have traditionally been the realm of medicine or dietary supplements.""

living 'brew' has been available for 2000+ years

[Anonymous Coward]

that would be kombucha tea.

Live bacteria

[pubjames]

food that has live bacteria in it

What, like normal yogurt and cheese?

Although perhaps in the USA everything is sterilized? Seems a bit nuts to kill all the bateria (yogurt is essentially a culture of bateria) and then add them back in again.

Re:Testing

[Silver Sloth]

It's food, not a drug, so it doesn't require testing anymore than prunes would do if marketed as a cure for constipation (which they're rather good at!) From TFA

The Food and Drug Administration takes a neutral position, policing food packages to make sure that companies do not try to equate probiotic products with disease-curing drugs (unless they have scientific evidence to back up a claim). One scholarly group that has addressed the topic recently, the American Academy of Microbiology, said in a 2006 report that "at present, the quality of probiotics available to consumers in food products around the world is unreliable."

New to the US

[Sciros]

There have been probiotic yogurts for sale in Europe (or at least in the UK) for quite some time now. I lived there 2005-2006 and ate this stuff daily (yogurt tastes better there on average anyway).

If you ask me, the US has a long way to go before reaching the standards in terms of taste and healthiness (is that a word?) that grocery food has set in the UK, Belgium, Netherlands, etc.

Re:Live bacteria

[operagost]

All yogurt contains some live cultures, and one of the consumers interviewed in the article even said so. It's just that the author of the article is too brain-damaged to comprehend what they have written, apparently.

Re:Live bacteria

[hjames]

We used to be able to buy milk with Acidopholis culture at Giant food - but they phased it out over the last year or so and Safeway doesn't sell it. Thats the "live culture" that lives in your stomac and aids in digestion, but gets killed when you take antibiotics like penicillin.

Re:Testing

[oohshiny]

Yes, they are common bacteria, known to be not harmful. Also, you eat lots of bacteria in many other foods anyway.

Keep in mind that there are a huge number of bacteria living in you and on you, most of them completely uncharacterized, and many of them probably essential for your health and well being.

Re:New to the US

[Empty Threats]

"Healthiness" is a word, but not the word you want. People are "healthy." Food is "healthful."

WTF is this stuff doing on SlashDot?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

WTF is this stuff doing on SlashDot?

Yogurt contains live cultures? No shit. Thanks for the fourth-grade science lesson.

Let's get a couple stories for the IQ > 60 set out here today, please.

Re:Testing

[kfg]

Jesus Christ, are we really that disconnected from our food these days?

Dude, bacteria is what yogurt is. It's milk, spoiled under controled conditions. Conditions that promote the growth of . . .bacteria.

For the past few decades commercial yogurt has been pastuerized, i.e, put under controlled conditions that kill bacteria. Don't do that and your yogurt remains live. That's all there is to it.

KFG

Slashvertisement (this is 1930 technology)

[knightmad]

Brazilian people (and people from other countries) have been drinking Yakult [wikipedia.org] since ever, and this kind of yogurt was (and I quote) "invented by Kyoto University pediatrics doctor Minoru Shirota in 1930". Here in Europe there is the Danone's Actimel [actimel.com], that is basically the same (I tasted both, I know) but with a new brand and a massive advertisement.

I'm mentioning that because IMHO this article is nothing but advertisement, passing something as a technological evolution but in fact, unless 30s technology counts as one, its nothing but another way slashdot got to sell your eyeballs.

Re:Let's not make this a "craze" for marketing's s

[pryonic]

Do you know what food marketing fad I hate at the moment? All this organic nonsense that is being sold in the UK.

Organic potatoes, apples, milk... I thought these were organic products by definition, along with beef, chicken and orange juice. Maybe I'm wrong and they're made in a lab from nylon and plastic... I'm sure it is better for us that they're not covered in quite as many pesticides but quite a few dangerous chemicals are allowed to be used and the product called organic so it's all marketing ****shit. And the stuff is about twice the price...

Want bacteria with that?

[TheMohel]

Probiotics in food are part of a larger trend toward 'functional foods,' which stress their ability to deliver benefits that have traditionally been the realm of medicine or dietary supplements.

And so slouches the Baby Boom generation toward their inevitable mortality, scrambling and clutching madly at every huckster's promise to improve "health" and "longevity." This is a minor example of the sort, of course, but it is just as well documented and proven as the others. Which is to say, not.
 
The primary "benefit" delivered by Activa is indeed that of the dietary supplements (and not a few medicines), which is to separate the victim from their available cash and deliver fuzzy science and placebo effect in return.
 
There is limited data that active culture supplementation can reduce diarrhea duration in acute gastroenteritis, although the studies are small. The effect in irritable bowel syndrome is contentious, but then virtually everything in irritable bowel syndrome is contentious, including the existence of the syndrome as such. In already-healthy people, Activa has no well-supported benefit of which I am aware.
 
For myself (and as a practicing physician), I don't have a problem with it - if you like your flavored spoiled milk with extra bacteria, by all means, partake. Nearly all food is nonsterile. Much of it has quite a lot of bacteria, and most of them (Taco Bell notwithstanding) are relatively harmless. Personally, I rather prefer Pop-Tarts.

Re:Testing

[OmniChamp]

Oddly enough I happened to check the ingredients on the side of a container of Activa yoghurt and in Canada, the particular strain of probiotic bacteria has a DIN (Drug Identification Number) beside it. Due to my strobe light attention span, I didn't check it out on the Drug Product Database, but I figured it should be mentioned here. I'll probably go and follow up on that at lunch. Hey, pretty lights! (*wanders away aimlessly*)

Re:Live bacteria

[Aqua_boy17]

Seems a bit nuts to kill all the bateria (yogurt is essentially a culture of bateria) and then add them back in again.

I used to work in a hospital pharmacy and we stocked several products for doing that very thing. Some patients who had severe infections and aggressive antibioitic therapy would have their natually occuring intestinal bacteria wiped out. These products were given to the patients to help restore the bacterial flora and the ability to digest food without discomfort. IIRC, most of the products were essentially just cultured lactobacillus strains but an MD or pharmacist could elaborate.

Re:New to the US

[nomadic]

If you ask me, the US has a long way to go before reaching the standards in terms of taste and healthiness (is that a word?) that grocery food has set in the UK, Belgium, Netherlands, etc.

Eh, I wasn't especially impressed by UK groceries. Prepared food, especially, is significantly better in upscale US supermarkets than in anything I found in England.

Re:I support probiotic foods

[brother_b]

Not necessarily. Different strains of brewer's yeast have varying alcohol tolerences; some can survive in a solution that is over 10% alcohol. Champagne yeast is incredibly tolerant and neutral, and is used sometimes to bottle condition high ABV beers.

Re:Let's not make this a "craze" for marketing's s

[DrSkwid]

Perhaps you should shut your yapping and do some reading.

The Soil Association [soilassociation.org].

Organic standards are the rules and regulations that define how an organic product must be made. Organic standards are laid down in European Union (EU) law. Anything labelled 'organic' that is for human consumption must meet these standards as a minimum. The standards cover all aspects of food production, for example, animal welfare and wildlife conservation, and banning unnecessary and harmful food additives in organic processed foods.

Organic farming and processing are legally defined. Any product sold as organic must comply with strict rules set at UK, European and international levels. These rules ensure that consumers can be certain that they are buying a genuine organic product. Imported organic foods must have been produced and inspected to equivalent standards. There must also be full traceabiliy of organic ingredients back to the farmer.

There a number of different certification bodies in the UK, which carry out the inspections and paperwork to ensure that the standards are being met. Soil Association Certification Limited (SA Certification) is one of only a very few of these bodies that have chosen to set standards higher than the EU minimum in areas of animal welfare and nature conservation.

Re:WTF is this stuff doing on SlashDot?

[Den_onda_kotten]

It is if you're living in Europe. (At least in sweden, I've never seen yogurt without live bacteria anywhere over here)

Re:Activia

[value_added]

Perhaps someone here can tell me, what is the real difference between this fancy 'Activia' brand, and normal live culture yogurt (such as the Yoplait custard style I've been eating for 20 years when I want yogurt)?

Check the ingredients, lately?

Yoplait, etc. are marketed as yoghurts in the same way colourful beverages are sold as juice: there might be some juice in there somewhere, and it may look like juice, but all in all, it's mostly something else.

Don't recall off-hand, but Yoplait, etc. are predominantly milk and milk solids with a healthy (pun intended) dose of various gums and emulsifiers added to give it the texture of real yoghurt.

To take this a step further, what's the difference between real cheese, and the waxy pasteurised stuff sold as cheese in the typical supermarket? Easy -- one is cheese; the other is something else. Anyone that has even once tasted either will agree this.

Real yoghurt (and real cheese) are available in the U.S., but typically only at high-priced cheese shops, specialty stores, or similar venues that escape notice from regulators. IIRC, it's illegal (as much so as Cuban cigars), but the market for the stuff is alive and well (again, pun intended), and the customers are loyal and happy to pay. Not too many people make real yoghurt locally, but it's not uncommon to find raw cheeses available at better farmers markets.

Re:Trouble stomachs

[foniksonik]

Rule of thumb as in general rule for a lot of stuff. But yes.. typical flour you get has been processed to the point where it gives you nothing but calories when you eat something made with it. It's been broken down beyond nutritional value, bleached of all the remaining vitamins, irradiated to remove any trace organisms and then "refortified" with lab made vitamins that your body doesn't react to, much less use.

Refined sugar is the same. Nothing but empty calories. Refined white rice, same story.

Oats... oats won't last long out in the open... they'll go stale first (absorbing moisture, then re-drying) then they'll start to rot like they should. I wouldn't advise storing your oats in open air containers. Lentils are also good. This type of food is typically freeze-dried which is not too much of a problem but try to find grains and seeds that haven't been irradiated... they'll taste much better, though they will go bad (a few weeks later) as soon as you expose them to air and the little micros reactivate...

we used bacteria to preserve food for generations

[nido]

Sterile food is a 20th century historical curiosity, and look at how chronic disease has taken off. Antibiotics may have diminished the danger of a bacterial infections, but new health syndromes have risen with a vengeance (cancer, heart disease, IBS, tooth decay, etc).

Lots of traditional foods were fermented. Nourishing Traditions [newtrendspublishing.com] (best cookbook evar!) has a couple chapters on using lacto-bacteria to predigest and preserve foods - cultured dairy products, fermented fruits & vegetables (chutney, Sauerkraut, pickled vegetables, etc), lacto-fermented beverages (made some "grape cooler" last fall - Mmmm.... ), etc.

It may seem strange to us that, in earlier times, people knew how to preserve vegetables for long periods without the use of freezers or canning machines. This was done through the process of lacto-fermentation. Lactic acid is a natural preservative that inhibits putrefying bacteria. Starches and sugars in vegetables and fruits are converted into lactic acid by the many species of lactic-acid-producing bacteria. These lactobacilli are ubiquitous, present on the surface of all living things and especially numerous on leaves and roots of plants growing in or near the ground. Man needs only to learn the techniques for controlling and encouraging their proliferation to put them to his own use, just as he has learned to put certain yeasts to use in converting the sugars in grape juice to alcohol in wine.

The ancient Greeks understood that important chemical changes took place during this type of fermentation. Their name for this change was "alchemy." Like the fermentation of dairy products, preservation of vegetables and fruits by the process of lacto-fermentation has numerous advantages beyond those of simple preservation. The proliferation of lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels.These beneficial organisms produce numerous helpful enzymes as well as antibiotic and anticarcinogenic substances. Their main by-product, lactic acid, not only keeps vegetables and fruits in a state of perfect preservation but also promotes the growth of healthy flora throughout the intestine. Other alchemical by-products include hydrogen peroxide and small amounts of benzoic acid.

-Nourishing Traditions, pg. 89

One insight that I think is particularly useful is how the book says that grains/nuts/beans/legumes should be soaked in water (depending on what's being soaked, with salt/whey/lemon juice) to de-activate enzyme-inhibitors. This makes said grains/nuts/beans/legumes easier to digest, which might be important for you Irritable Bowel Syndrome sufferers... If I'm making pancakes, I take my freshly ground whole wheat flour and mix in the raw milk and a little probiotics the night before. Leave it out on the counter overnight, and by morning all those nasty enzyme inhibitors have broken down.

Sample chapters at the page linked above. Check it out. More info if desired...

patents on life.

[kneel]

I tried the Activa yogurt and it didn't do anything to my digestive tract that regular yogurt doesn't already help with (I get the IBS pretty often).

I think the 'bifidus digestivus' and 'bifidus regularus' bacteria are a bunch of marketing bullshit. As noted by previous posters, they basically took some Bulgarian bacteria, renamed and trademarked it, and marketed it.

I do believe in the benefits of probiotics, although I think they are pretty low unless your body is under specific conditions that might kill all or most of the flora in your intestine. Like if you took antibiotics. Intestinal bacteria are very important, and you gotta replace it somehow if it dies off. In fact, some doctors are seriously suggesting that shit is an organ, just like your lungs and heart and whatnot. They think it is necessary for human life and if your intestinal flora is damaged, in some cases they are seriously suggesting poop transplants [washingtonpost.com]. Seriously, some doctors are cramming other peopless shit into their patient's colons.

So I did some poking around and i found that the Stonyfield Organic Yogurt is the best. It has 1-3 grams of fiber (depending on the flavor) in the form of inulin, which helps your body ingest the calcium. It also has 6 live cultures, which is the most of any yogurt I've seen. Combine that with the fact that it is organic, so won't be filled with hormones and (ironically) antibiotics, and a great taste (particularly the chocolate) and its a damn healthy snack.

Re:Live bacteria

[RexRhino]

Although perhaps in the USA everything is sterilized? Seems a bit nuts to kill all the bateria (yogurt is essentially a culture of bateria) and then add them back in again.

It is a weird coalition of capitalists and reactionary leftists at work in America.

The big corporations like Kraft realize that it is much more expensive to sell foods with live cultures and bacteria in it, as they have a shorter shelf life and are more expensive to manifacture. The trouble is, the stuff with live cultures tastes better and is healthier.

So what the companies like Kraft did is push for legislation that sets "Safety Standards", that require all dairy products to be pasterized, that set strict limits on the live bacteria that is allowed in food, and essentially have made real foods illegal or prohibitively expensive.

And since the left almost universally love big government and regulations, then jump in to support the regulations. "GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS ARE HERE TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN FROM BEING POISONED BY EVIL BIG CORPORATIONS!!! IF WE DON'T REQUIRE ALL FOOD TO BE PASTURIZED, OUR CHILDREN WILL DIE!!!". They accuse anyone who doesn't support the regulation of being "evil capitalists" Since the left are pretty much incapable of looking at any law or regulation on industry with any degree of skeptism, they play right into the hands of the big corporations who push for self-serving regulations.

So now, Kraft doesn't have to compete with real traditional foods... all foods are required by law to be as cheap, tastless, and unhealthy as Kraft products, and if anyone complains about not being able to buy unpasturized cheese from France, the leftist do their part for Kraft by accuse the people of being "evil capitalists" and "industry shills" and whatnot.

It is brilliant, actually. You have to admire the capitalists for turning a group of people whose raison d'être is to destroy capitalism into being political tools of big corporations.

So, in the United States, you have things like Stevia (a natural and safe plant ingredient that is a low calorie sweetner) being banned as a food additive because the FDA recieved one single annonmous complaint (YES! That is right, they banned the substance because on one single anonymous complaint of a stomach ache!)... while corn syrup (which is causing an epidemic of obesity), and sacharine (which has been shown to cause cancer) are all totally legal! (You can guess which products are manufactured by large American corporations! :) )... and the great thing is if anyone complains about the situation, THEY get accused of being a "shill for the corporations". (Like that big, powerful, uh, Stevia lobby, you know!).

Re:Activia

[Obyron]

The GP is being a food snob, and mostly (s)he's right. It has to do with how the FDA requires milk to be pasteurized. Rather than being pasteurized for a longer amount of time at slightly lower temperatures (allowing more "good" bacteria to survive), the FDA requires that milk be pretty much nuked at "critical mass" temperatures for a shorter amount of time, because it's cheaper and generally results in a bacterial holocaust.

Milk in other countries isn't pasteurized to the FDA "Chernobyl" Standard, and because of that the cheeses and other products made from it can't be sold in the United States. Whether or not this somehow means that all cheese sold in the US is inferior is up for argument. I'm of the opinion that it's not all bad.

Re:Patent infringement?

[Anonymous Coward]

Bullshit. We are designed to eat whatever food we can get. We didn't make it thousands of years by eating soybeans. If you've ever taken an anthropology class, it's pretty clear that meat has been part of our diet from day one. Community, migration patterns, and technology were all driven, in large part, by our quest for meat... precisely because we can't chase down and eat animals barehanded. Our nature was to develop tools to help feed us. The vegan propaganda machine would like to remind you that all nature is beautiful, except our own. Killing and eating animals is one of the most "normal" things we do. The milk argument might have some merit, but again, we are designed to be omnivores, to survive. You can argue against industrial farming, slaughterhouse conditions, bioengineering, etc... but the notion that we aren't meant to eat meat is so far from true that it borders on the hilarious.

Re:Activia

[jmrives]

In addition to that excellent explanation, I would like to add that making yogurt at home is very simple. Here is a site that gives the details: http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/yogurt _making/YOGURT2000.htm [uc.edu]. Here is another informative article: http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/bldai ry9.htm [about.com]

Re:Cheese

[DragonWriter]

It's funny that you would mention cheese, since the cheese that most Americans and Canadians are familiar with is Cheddar -- the one and only cheese (to my knowledge) that is NOT pasteurized here.

I would bet that the "cheese" most Americans are familiar with is American cheese (or the even viler Velveeta-style 'Pasteurized Processed American Cheese Food'.

But Cheddar is certainly not the only kind of nonpasteurized cheese available in America.

Re:Activia

[Gadgetfreak]

Oh, it definitely makes a difference. For me, not a good one either. I've had IBS for a while now (something a 26 yr old really shouldn't have.) I eat Columbo yogurts, mostly 'cause I like 'em and they're good protein/calcium and easy on my stomach.

I tried Activia for a week instead of the Columbo, and all I could think of were the commercials for "foaming pipe snake" drain cleaner/clog remover. Because there was some definite foaming and snake like action coming from my rear end for 3 days afterwords.

I'm not going to eat it again, unless the Fleet enema is the only other alternative.

real yogurt can also be bought at supermarket

[pikine]

You are right that most yogurt packaged in a small cup with fruit flavors are diluted. However, supermarkets also carry "plain" yogurt in a pint sized container. It's mostly solid, have strong odor, and is very sour.