Fermented Dairy Basics #1

There are many fermented dairy that can help you if you have intestinal lymphangiectasia, mainly:

(a) kefir
(b) buttermilk
(c) sour cream
(d) kefirized sour cream
(e) creme fraiche

Kefir is the simplest in terms of what you have to do to make it.

What you need is:
*whole organic milk
*1 tablespoon of kefir grains
*2 Mason jars with lids
*a plastic strainer
*a funnel
*a wooden spoon

What you do is:

put 15gr grains (1 tablespoon) in a Mason jar
put 450 ml whole organic milk (1 pint) in that same Mason jar
put the lid on without tightening
put in the cupboard for 22-24 hours, till curd and whey separate
put the funnel in the second Mason jar
set the strainer in top of it
pour the first Mason jar content into the strainer
stir with the wooden spoon
retrieve the grains from the strainer for your next batch
drink the kefir from the second Mason jar or store it in the fridge for later consumption

Variants:
50/50 coconut milk/organic milk (total 800ml) plus the juice of half lime

Bacteria in kefir:
A mix of homofermentative and heterofermentative bacteria (the former convert lactose into lactic acid without producing gas, the latter convert lactose into lactic acid and CO2 and ethanol aka alcohol), and yeasts.
Main bacteria:
Lactobacillus acidophilus (like in creme fraiche and acidophilus milk)
Lactobacillus bulgaricus (like in yogurt)
Lactobacillus spp
Streptococcus lactis var diacetylactis (like in buttermilk and sour cream)
Leuconostoc cremoris
Leuconostoc mesenteroides
Sacchoromyces cerevisiae (like in beer)
Acetobacter aceti (like in vinegar).
On top of that, kefir has a whole range of bacteria that only grow in kefir, such as Lactobacillus kefiri, Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens, Lactobacillus kefirgranum, Lactobacillus parakefir, and Candida kefir.

Tastes like:
acidic (lactic acid), sour (ethanol) and frizzy (CO2).

Uses:
anti-hearburn (it's like taking milk, with alcaselzer and bicarbonate... it does work wonders!), anti-constipation (young kefir), anti-diarrhea (old kefir), immune boosting (because of the probiotics), anti-UTI and anti vaginal infections (does change intestinal pH!).

Cautions:
when baking with it, beware of the fact that baking powder, baking soda, cremor tartar doses need to be adjusted because of kefir's pH or else the batter either won't leaven or will become twice as big as expected.

Experimenting Probiotics and Prebiotics on Myself #4

At the moment I am on:
FOSs: 7 grams/day
VSL#3: 1 envelope a day
Yomoplus: Bifidobacterium longum BB46, Bifidobacterium bifidum BB02, Bifidobacterium BBR8, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG
Saccharomyces boulardii (1 pill/day - 5 days)
In Forma (Continente): Bifidobacterium lactis BB12

I've tried both milk kefir and coconut milk kefir. They both tend to constipate me (hoooray!) meanwhile I can go out for dinner, and even have meat (I only tried the raw one).

Daring Ro' also had french fries at McDonald's without problems (small portion). Tonight I tried 15 grams (1/2 oz) fritos... we'll see how it goes. I'd say kefir has occupied my fridge and dislodged most food but hey so far it's all worth it!

Bowel Bacteria and Obesity

Next time somebody tells me I'm offbase with all this bacteria stuff I'll rage.

Here's why.

Experimenting Probiotics and Prebiotics on Myself #3

At the moment I am on:
FOSs: 7 grams/day
VSL#3: 1 envelope a day
Yomoplus: Bifidobacterium longum BB46, Bifidobacterium bifidum BB02, Bifidobacterium BBR8, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG
Saccharomyces boulardii (1 pill/day - 5 days)

I still am not back on Bifidobacterium lactis BB12, but it's in my fridge. Lactobacillus johnsoni La1 was discontinued and I fully recovered.

I tried 90 ml Aptimil 1 powdered milk for babies (with galactooligosaccharydes) and had a bad run today, but it could have been yesterday's gorgonzola cheese (can you tell I'm daring more and more?).

I drank my first 100 ml of coconut kefir today. We'll see how it goes.

Experimenting Probiotics and Prebiotics on Myself #2

I played here and there :)

At the moment I am on:
FOSs: 7 grams/day (prebiotic - 15 days)
VSL#3: 1 envelope a day (probiotic - 12 days)
Yomoplus: Bifidobacterium longum BB46, Bifidobacterium bifidum BB02, Bifidobacterium BBR8, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (probiotic - 5 days)

I have tried for 6 days Bifidobacterium lactis BB12, then I ran out of it and didn't replace it (bad mistake, tomorrow I will re-start it). I have taken Lactobacillus johnsoni La1 for 3 days during which I had increasing number of runs to the toilet. It has the same impact on my healthy mate (Pat). I am unresolved on whether to stop it now or give it some more time. I also had a couple of painful bowel air colics. I don't know whether it's due to the lack of BB12 or the introduction of La1....

I started Saccharomyces boulardii today.

In any case, I tolerate the fat a lot better, as I thought I would. I still see lots of it in my stools, but I have fewer episodes of diarrhea (like 2 a day) even when I eat without weighting everything (and possibly above 3%).

More experiments tomorrow (when I'll get my kefir grains)....

Probiotic Strains in Fermented Milks Available in Italy

Product name: In forma
Manufacturer: Continente
Probiotics: Bifidobacterium lactis BB12

Product name: LC1
Manufacturer: Nestlé
Probiotics: Lactobacillus johnsoni La1

Product name: Bella vita
Manufacturer: Meran
Probiotics: Lactobacillus acidophilus L5

Product name: AC Active
Manufacturer: Meran
Probiotics: Lactobacillus acidophilus L5, Lactobacillus casei 431

Product name: Yomo Plus
Manufacturer: Yomo
Probiotics: Bifidobacterium longum BB46, Bifidobacterium bifidum BB02, Bifidobacterium BBR8, Lactobacillus rhamnosus.
Notes: Fructo-oligosaccharydes

Product name: Fibrya
Manufacturer: Yomo
Probiotics: Bifidobacterium brevis BR03, Lactobacillus plantarum LP01
Notes: Fructo-oligosaccharydes

Product name: Actimel
Manufacturer: Danone
Probiotics: Lactobacillus casei immunitas

Product name: Vita Attiva
Manufacturer: Tesori dell'Arca
Probiotics: Lactobacillus acidophilus La-5, Lactobacillus casei 431.

Product name: Mila
Manufacturer: Benessere Rinforzo
Probiotics: Bifidobacterium lactis BB12

Characterized probiotic strains

This is only a partial list, taken from Yeung et al., 1999.

Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM® Rhodia, Inc. (Madison, Wis.)
L. acidophilus DDS-1 Nebraska Cultures, Inc. (Lincoln, Neb.)
L. acidophilus SBT-2062a Snow Brand Milk Products Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan)
L. acidophilus LA-1 Chr. Hansen, Inc. (Milwaukee, Wis.)
Lactobacillus casei Shirota Yakult (Tokyo, Japan)
L. casei Immunitas Danone (Paris, France)
Lactobacillus fermentum RC-14 Urex Biotech (London, Ontario, Canada)
Lactobacillus johnsonii La1 Nestlé (Lausanne, Switzerland)
Lactobacillus paracasei CRL 431 Chr. Hansen, Inc. (Milwaukee, Wis.)
Lactobacillus plantarum 299V Probi AB (Lund, Sweden)
Lactobacillus reuteri SD2112 Biogaia (Raleigh, N.C.)
Lactobacillus rhamnosus GGa Valio Dairy (Helsinki, Finland)
L. rhamnosus GR-1 Urex Biotech (London, Ontario, Canada)
L. rhamnosus 271 Probi AB (Lund, Sweden)
L. rhamnosus LB21 Essum AB (Umeå, Sweden)
Lactobacillus salivarius UCC118 University College (Cork, Ireland)
Lactobacillus lactis L1A Essum AB (Umeå , Sweden)
Bifidobacterium lactis Bb-12 Chr. Hansen, Inc. (Milwaukee, Wis.)
Bifidobacterium longum BB536a Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd. (Zama-City, Japan)
B. longum SBT-2928a Snow Brand Milk Products Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan)
Bifidobacterium breve str. Yakult Yakult (Tokyo, Japan)

Experimenting Probiotics and Prebiotics on Myself #1

From all the previous entries, one can detect how I did my homework. Reason for that is, I got a bowel bug that impaired my life for sixteen days, delaying my dental surgery and creating a lot of malnutrition (and consequent muscular pain and edema).

I presently am on:

FOSs: 7 grams/day (prebiotic - have used it for a week)
VSL#3: 1 envelope a day (probiotic - have used it for 4 days). VSL#3 is composed of:
Streptococcus thermophilus
Bifidobacterium breve
Bifidobacterium longum
Bifidobacterium infantis
Lactobacillus acidophilus
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus casei
Lactobacillus bulgaricus

I have tried fructose (diabetic sugar) for 4 days but would get me bloated, so I discontinued it yesterday (and am already improving).

Just today I added a functional yogurt having Bifidobacterium lactis BB12. The rationale behind that is, I seem to do great on FOSs, which feeds bifidobacteria. So, I gathered I lack bifidobacteria more than lactobacilli and Bifidobacterium lactis BB12 is not encompassed in the VSL#3 mix, thus I added it.

I might be adding Lactobacillus johnsoni La1 and Lactobacillus casei immunitas later on. I also plan to add Saccharomyces boulardi and see how it goes.

I keep my diet religious about:
1. drinking at least one cup of skim milk a day (lactose feeds bifidobacteria and lactobacilli! If we don't drink milk, or drink lactose-free one, chances are we aren't helping them help us!);
2. eat a little salad twice a day (I empirically noticed that some kind of greens are better for me than others.. radicchio and lettuce are dangerous to some degrees, but rocket, baby spinach, baby mix, spring mix are not);
3. try not to have "carb meals" alternated with "protein meals". On the contrary, I try to always eat balanced: some bread/focaccia, together with some proteins (fish, eggs, or cheese) and some greens at every meal.

Prebiotics and IL

If probiotic comes from the ancient Greek and means "in favour of life", prebiotic still comes from Greek and means "before life".

Prebiotics are substances (not microorganisms!) that pass un-modified through the bowel. This means that our body does not modify them, while bacteria in the bowel do .

Basically, prebiotics are substances that our bodies don't eat but that our bacteria do eat. Plus, intestinal bacteria get their energy from sugars that are “leftover” because we can not digest them and from our own mucus.

Prebiotics selectively feed the growth of healthy intestinal bacteria (such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli) at the expense of the less friendly putrefactive bacteria (such as bacteroides, clostridia, and other coliforms).

If we don't feed probiotics with prebiotics, even if we supplement our diet with probiotics, it will not be enough. This is the basic reason for functional food industry is going toward the commercialization of synbiotic food, having both pre- and probiotics.

Prebiotics are oligosaccharides, that is sugars "bigger" than normal sugar but "smaller" than starch.

The main prebiotics are:

*fructooligosaccharides (FOS), normally found in Jerusalem artichoke tubers, dandelion root, burdock root, onions, leeks, some grains, garlic, wheat, bananas, asparagus, tomatoes, yacon, raisins, prunes and honey;
*galattooligosaccharides (GOS), normally found in human milk (and some humanized baby formula, especially in the EU);
*inulin, normally found in dahlia tubers, burdock roots, chicory roots and greens.

Interestingly, bacterial species differ in the types of sugars required for growth. Bifidobacteria grew well on FOSs and inulin, while lactobacilli grow poorly on these sugars.

The by-products of the metabolism of these sugars are primarily short-chain fatty acids, which are considered to be "food" for the bowel cells in the colon.

Coming to IL, why is it all so interesting?

Because among the several aspects affecting the gut microflora, high levels of fat in the stool as well as high level of proteins can negatively affect the level of Bifidobacteria.

What Probiotics Are

Probiotics are bacteria and/or yeasts that help our body by helping a healthy balance of our bowel flora.

They do not have to be confused with yogurts, because:

* they are alive, like some yogurts
* they are administered by mouth, like any other food
* they reach the bowel alive, and this is the big difference they have with respect to yogurts!

So, actually, probiotic foods are more similar to kefir, which verifies these properties and is a dairy product fermented with bacteria and some yeasts.

When we go to the market and browse the yogurt section, we happen to find dairy products that claim to have probiotics in them. Some do, some do not. The rule of the thumb is to check the list of probiotic strains before buying a "probiotic" product.

This being said, probiotics can be classified as either bacteria (such as some Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium, Lactococcus, Streptococcus and Enterococcus strains) or yeasts (such as Saccharomyces boulardii).

Different probiotic strains have been tested and proven effective in different kind of disorders. The most striking examples are the use of VSL#3 for IBD.

The way their presence in the bowel works is very simple. By being there and being alive, they produce lactic acid. Lactic acid diminishes the pH of the lumen, making it more acid. Enhanced acidity inhibits the growth of "bad" bacteria, which causes intestinal infections (mainly rotavirus diarrhea - the "usual" summer bugs, and antibiotic induced diarrhea - due to Clostridium difficile), UTI (through Escherichia coli overgrowth) and vaginal infections (both vaginosis and Candida's).