False myths: yogurts with bifidus and L. Casei

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By pro_admin

If there is a really popular food, from small to old, and that is a basic in any diet that boasts, it is yogurt. Given this massive acceptance, trademarks have devoted much effort to finding differentiating elements of their products with respect to those of the competition. This is why some companies decided to launch products that added value to the traditional yogurt formula. This is where the well-known L. Casei and bifidus come into the picture.

Both lactobacillus casei and lactobacillus bifidus are bacteria naturally present in our body. They are used by the dairy industry to create so-called probiotic foods, with the belief that they provide a significant improvement in both the digestive and immune systems, protecting our bodies from various diseases.

The myth of probiotic foods

There are certainly numerous scientific studies that claim that there are very high beneficial effects in the regular consumption of probiotic foods. On the other hand, there is a parallel trend within the scientific community that questions the veracity of these conclusions. In other research, it has been discovered that some of these bacteria do not survive inside dairy and that others do not even reach the molecule where they should perform their function.

The European food safety authority, EFSA, published its own study in which it concluded that 80% of the nearly three thousand substances that the dairy industry uses or intends to use to advertise its food do not have a scientific proof to support them.

L. casei and bifidus

Lactobacillus casei makes up an important part of our intestinal flora. It is involved in processes such as lactose tolerance, digestion, protection against attacks by external organisms and regulation of diarrhea. For its part, lactobacillus bifidus arranges its functions in the intestinal environment, protecting it from the action of other bacteria, fungi or viruses harmful to our health.

The misunderstanding then results in the marketing campaigns developed to market probiotic products. They tend to enhance a supposed beneficial function on the immune system when, as we have seen, the action of these bacteria is limited to the intestinal flora.

Going a little further, the immune system of human beings involves a set of biological processes that try to protect the body from diseases by identifying and eliminating pathogenic cells. We find, in this case, that such a system is an excessively complex structure to make such a statement.

Current research reaffirms this theory by pointing out that dairy with lactobacillus casei or lactobacillus bifidus modulates the activity and metabolic composition of bacterial flora in a very similar sense to how traditional dairy does. In no case do they influence in any way the immune system of those who consume it. Therefore, it is up to us to assess whether the price increase involved in the acquisition of these products is justified or not.

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