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Original poster

Do you have friendly bacteria?

33 replies

lilibet · 03/02/2004 12:18

I've got some free samples of Yakult this morning from my milkman, along with some very convincing blurb.
Does anyone use this or anything similar and do you think that it does you any good?

I've mananged for 40 years without having friendly bacteria, why do i need it now?

OP posts:
Blu · 03/02/2004 12:23

I can't bring myself to swallow it, although happily eat live yogurt.
I always understood that swallowing this stuff wasn't necessarily that effective as the stomach acids kill most off before they get into your colon where they live and work. Scientists / biologists?

zebra · 03/02/2004 12:25

Everyone has friendly bacteria already, Lilibet, but some things we commonly do can wipe out all the bacteria and the 'bad' bacteria can multiply faster than the good ones...

If you eat a diet high in fruit & veg (friendly to the friendly bact) and rarely or never have antibiotics, odds are rather unlikely that the probiotic stuff will make any difference for you.

StressyHead · 03/02/2004 12:26

message withdrawn

Original poster
lilibet · 03/02/2004 12:30

so as a veggie who hasn't had any antibiotics for years, I would be wasting my money?

What about children? My ds1 won't touch fruit and veg?

OP posts:
M2T · 03/02/2004 12:32

lilibet - I was told by my GP to give ds yakult after he had a sickness bug for 5 days. So if they'll drink it then it can only do them good. Ds loves love yoghurt.

zebra · 03/02/2004 12:33

Does he produce lots of whiffies?
Apparently, no matter how unsociable we consider it, this is actually a sign of a healthy gut.

M2T · 03/02/2004 12:33

love yoghurt??? That sounds disgusting!!!! Sorry fols I meant LIVE yoghurt. LOL.

Original poster
lilibet · 03/02/2004 12:34

Zebra, thats a sign of a healthy gut!!??!!
Yippee - I must have the healthiest gut in the world

OP posts:
Original poster
lilibet · 03/02/2004 12:35

M2T, it is really sweet, isn't it? May try him with it, if I could get him to taste it I know he would like it.

OP posts:
M2T · 03/02/2004 12:37

Live yoghurt is just as good BTW. It contains the same strain of bacteria. So it might be easier to give him if he already eats normal yoghurt.

zebra · 03/02/2004 12:42

You can buy unsweetened live yogurt, no problem. The Rachel's Dairy brand and Sainsbury's own, many of these are live. We use it instead of things like sour cream on nachos, or instead of cream on crumble. I don't buy it particularly because it's live, but reckon it's a bonus for no extra cost.

Original poster
lilibet · 03/02/2004 12:44

does'n't eat yoghurt - he is the junk food king!
I meant he is likely to drink it as it is so sweet.

OP posts:
zebra · 03/02/2004 12:58

My kids gobbled the free samples of Yakult down (I wouldn't, I thought it was sickly).

pie · 03/02/2004 13:02

Funny there should be this thread today on the benefits of Live yoghurt...The benefits of "live" yoghurt containing helpful strains of bacteria persist - even when the bacteria it contains are dead

Janh · 03/02/2004 13:21

My milkman didn't give me any free samples

Health Which this month could have been designed for mumsnet - it has 4 pages on probiotics, another 4 on anti-depressants, 2 pages on eating leftovers and 4 pages on skin products (what does "dermatologically tested" mean, etc). I'm not sure if you can get it on a free 3-month trial like ordinary Which but libraries probably have it.

There are different strains of probiotics which do different things - Actimel and Yakult have different ones. The probiotic section is a Q & A, if anyone has a specific question I'll see if it's there and give you their answer!

There is also a VERY useful snippet about sugars in food: "the sugars in fruit, vegetables and grains - called "intrinsic sugars" -aren't usually a problem for teeth as they're locked into the cellular structure of the food. Lactose has a negligible effect on teeth because of other protective factors in milk....extracting juice from fruit or veg releases the natural sugar that can damage teeth, especially if you drink juice frequently. This is one reason why juices and fruit smoothies can only be counted as one of your 5-a-day portions, no matter how much you drink - the govt. wants us to increase the amount of fruit and veg we eat but not to the detriment of dental health".

SenoraPostrophe · 03/02/2004 13:25

So my glass a day of fizzy pop with 8% fruit juice doesn't count?

What does it say about eating leftovers? They are at least half of my diet!

Janh · 03/02/2004 13:41

Worst news for us is that you shouldn't eat last night's curry for breakfast! (Won't stop us doing it though)

Cooked meat dishes eg bolognaise sauce should be used or frozen within 2 days. (Oh really?)

Mouldy cheese should be diskarded uterly. (I just cut the mouldy side off.)

Bottled water should be poured into a cup if you don't drink it all at once - get bacteria in the bottle otherwise.

Eggs should not be eaten after their best before date.

I should get food poisoning every week from one of the above!

zebra · 03/02/2004 13:48

LOL, Janh, I do all the "wrong" things, too.
What's wrong with just trimming the mould off cheese? I even eat the mould, sometimes (if it's an expensive, very tasty cheese) I can't bear to waste...

SenoraPostrophe · 03/02/2004 13:55

best chuck all that Stilton in the fridge then

Janh · 03/02/2004 14:00

I believe eating unfriendly bacteria increases your resistance to them! (My motto )

"Green spots on Cheddar cheese" (I assume they mean all hard cheeses here)" are a sign of spoilage. Moulds produce enzymes, and sometimes toxins that could be harmful if you eat them repeatedly. The spoilage may go beyond the area of visible mould growth, so it's safer to throw away food with any sign of mould."

The moulds in eg Stilton are cultivated and safe to eat, apparently.

Coddy · 03/02/2004 14:01

But Liilbet you may end up like the bloke on the adverts!

starry · 03/02/2004 17:43

I also use a probiotic powder (Lactobacillus Acidobifidus & bifidus)which is supposed to be better than the live yogurts and drinks as you cannot be sure how much is actually contained in the product, whereas with the powder, the recommended amount (ie quarter of a teaspoon) is sure to contain the right amount of friendly bacteria.
I also use a prebiotic powder (Fructo-oligosaccharides or FOS for short) that can be added to drinks or sprinkled on food (it is naturally sweet). A prebiotic feeds the good bacteria already present in your gut and encourages it to grow.

I get these from Higher Nature on the internet. It is cheaper to buy these preperations as opposed to the yogurts and drinks. I got all the info on pre and probiotics from a book called 'What Really Works for Kids' by Susan Clark who is the health and fitness editor for the Sunday Times. I refer to her book regularly as I find it great for natural health info for kids and myself. My ds1 has both the pre and probiotic in a drink everyday as he suffers with food allergies and I am hoping that by topping up his good bacteria it will lessen the allergic reactions. Both my Ds's suffered woth a stomach virus a few months back which resulted in a temporary intolerance to diary products. Aswell as being advised to omit diary from their diets for 3 weeks, my Doctor suggested pre and probiotics as they had a history of 'runny tummies' and both had, had antibiotics for ear infections and tonsillitus previously.
Hope this helps.

bobthebaby · 03/02/2004 18:38

I am a fan, but the yogurts and the drinks you have to have every single day to get the health benefits. They are also no good for me because I don't have dairy.

lydialemon · 03/02/2004 23:00

I started washing my medication down with Strawberry probiotics, after someone on one of these threads suggested it would be good for a colicy BF baby. It does seem to have worked, but DD has also just hit 3 months which is when colic tends to diminish anyway.

I'll keep taking it just in case, it does taste nice!

misdee · 03/02/2004 23:10

my bacteria i assume are friendly/good. they havent beaten me up lately!!

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