Best yogurt for probiotics: Healthy guts for your family
Bacteria present in your body!! Does it scary to you? Wait! There is still something left for you. We need bacteria for a healthy gut. Now what? Getting exhausted to get understand? But it is true that bacteria have a lot of beneficial aspects. The thing is that a large number of bacterial species have harmful properties, but there are many bacterial species also and they are beneficial for us. These bacteria are probiotics.
Yogurt is one of the best food sources that contain a large number of probiotics that you need for your gut. Therefore, you need to choose the best yogurt for probiotics.
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What are probiotics?
Basically, probiotics are live microorganisms that are capable of aiding, defending and treating several illnesses. Enhancing a fine digestive tract and a better immune system are their most extensively studied helpful aspects. These microorganisms are generally termed as friendly, good, or healthy bacteria. Probiotics can be given as drinks (beverages), foods and dietary supplements.
Probiotics are generally present in our body. We can get them in several foods, food supplements as well. They (probiotics) normally live bacteria and yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) which are beneficial for health. Most of the people think of bacteria as something that cause diseases or illnesses. But, our body has a huge amount of both useful bacteria and harmful bacteria.
Our body generally has the things that we would say beneficial or helpful bacteria and harmful or bad bacteria. Sustaining the appropriate ratio into these bacteria is important for maintaining a good health. Diet, genetics and age can impact the constituents of the bacteria in our body (microbiota). On the other hand unsustainable condition of the ratio between these bacteria is called dysbiosis, and it has probable relationships to disease of the intestinal tract, including ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease, and Crohn’s disease and more systemic disease like obesity and type 1 and type 2diabetes.
From the beginning till now we have talked about the theory, discovery and several features of probiotics. Now let us focus on several practical issues about probiotics which mostly related to our daily life. They are as follows:
- Let us have a look to our daily life. We consume antibiotics to destroy infectious bacteria when we get infected by a specific variety of them. When we take antibiotics, we often loose helpful bacteria from our body. Probiotics help in that case as they take their place.
- Probiotics can help to sustain a balanced ratio of good and bad bacteria in order to keep our body healthy and working as it is.
- We use antibacterial soaps and lotions frequently.
Yogurt for Probiotics
There are two species of bacteria which are used in producing yogurt. They are (Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus). Along with that, other lactobacilli and bifidobacteria are also added after or during the time of culturing yogurt in some cases.
Fermentation of lactose by Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus generates lactic acid, which functions on the protein portion of milk to give the texture of the yogurt and its characteristically sour flavor.
Since we need probiotics for our health, we require foods that contain a large number of probiotics. As it has been said earlier that, yogurt is a probiotic food source, we need that particular type of yogurt where the level of the presence of probiotics is up to the mark.
There are several forms of probiotic yogurts. The probiotic yogurt drink is one of them. It can be made by mixing the milk and yogurt until it converts to a desired texture. Other ingredients can be added as required. It can be stored approximately for 7 days in refrigerator. The probiotic yogurt drink is also a good source of probiotics.
If a person is asked that whether he/she consumes probiotics or not, there be the probable answer is “yes, I eat yogurt”. There are a large number of people used to consume yogurt.
Since yogurt is consumed not only for its taste, but also the properties of having probiotics, people need to choose the best yogurt for the probiotics. In that case, a question may arise in your mind that, do all yogurt has probiotics? The answer is “NO”. All the brands of yogurt are available in the market do not contain probiotics even sometimes the home made yogurt as well.
Pasteurization refers to a high heat treatment that kill bacteria present in the milk. Pasteurization before adding probiotic results in killing of probiotics. Therefore pasteurization should be done before adding the probiotics to get some live cultures which are the best yogurt for the probiotics.
How to choose probiotic
For the consumers it is tough to choose the food that contains the desired amount of probiotic. For example, choosing the best yogurt for probiotics is important. Several tips of choosing probiotics are given below:
In order to choose probiotics, the colony forming units (CFU) contained by the probiotic should be counted. The optimum range of colony forming units containing by a probiotic is 5 to 10 billion.
Different strains should be observed. The microorganisms present in our gut has been classified into more than 10,000 different strains that function in combining to supply optimal health. A single variety can’t provide all the functions. Therefore, food with different probiotics should be associated with the diet.
Probiotic microorganisms can be killed by the emission of light, extreme temperature, gas and unusual state of the stomach. Therefore, while choosing probiotics, surviving and prevention capability of probiotics should be considered.
There are many types of bacteria which are probiotics. Each of the species has particular characteristics. Therefore, it is important to choose the best probiotic for you by consulting with the doctor.
Before buying a probiotic food, you should carefully read the label on that. While observing the label, you have to read the genus, species and the strain of the probiotic, the number of live cultures and their survival period, the dosage and the reputation of the company.
Guide to choose the best probiotic for you
As I mentioned earlier that all probiotic foods do not contain the adequate amount of probiotics, so you need to follow a guideline that will help you to choose the best probiotic for you. In order to understand the diverse benefits of probiotic strains, much research is required. Since certain bacterial strains are associated to treat certain diseases, you need to choose the specific strains of probiotics that will be suitable to get rid of the disease or keep the disease or illness away by balancing your body’s living microorganisms.
You should choose a probiotic food or food supplement by observing the species of live cultures or probiotics it contains. Several guidelines are as follows, which may be beneficial for you in order to choose the best probiotic for you.
There is a list of probiotics has given that shows the specific area of its function:
Lactobacillus species: This is one of the most commonly recognized probiotics. It has been shown that, this species has a better capacity of treating vaginal infections and minimizing the chance of having colon cancer. Moreover, it colonizes in the intestine and capable of treating eczema. Along with that, it also supports the gastrointestinal tract and the brain function.
Bifidobacterium species: Bifidobacterium species are the initial types of bacteria that colonize our bodies at birth. Its function involves producing lactic acid by fermentation, which aids to sustain the pH of the GI tract and restrict the development the growth of hostile bacteria. Moreover, it also prevents intestinal pathogens and balance the microorganisms for optimum digestion.
Streptococcus species: This probiotic species shows antibacterial function against hostile intestinal microorganisms and thus it can prevent diseases. This species also provides skin support by protecting the underlying tissue of the skin from infection, chemicals and getting dehydrated. Moreover, these microbes function as antioxidants of the body and protecting the skin from the form of oxygen that age, dehydrate, and harms the skin.
Why probiotic need for human?
The main function of probiotics (in food or supplement form) is to increase the amount of helpful bacteria in the gut. Consumption of processed foods or foods that contain a high amount of sugar, their expected functions will be upside down. In that case, they will feed the pathogenic bacteria of guts as the pathogenic bacteria can get a favorable condition of their own.
Various strains of Bifidobacterium, lactobacillus and Saccharomyces provide beneficial health aspects and different strains in the same supplement function together in a lot of probiotic supplements. So, you can get a higher chance to get better consequences by consuming probiotics that have been found to get particular impacts, such as controlling and preventing diseases.
Probiotics often help to get relief from constipation. Constipation is a common in adults. Moreover, people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), constipation emerge as their main symptom. The research found that, constipation in both adults and children can be reduced by supplementing with certain probiotic strains
Read more: What is effective against diarrhea?
Probiotic can be beneficial to lose body mass.
Probiotic yogurt side effects
Though probiotics are recognized as safe for the healthy people, there are also some negative short term effects. Now let’s see some probiotic yogurt side effects. There are several unusual consequences also. Probiotic yogurt side effects are as follows:
- Probiotic yogurt consumption can cause some side effects that involve upsetting stomach, bloating and producing mild gas after starting consumption.
- Probiotic yogurt should be consumed by pregnant women and infant with care.
Through the article I have tried to associate most of the aspects related to probiotics, probiotic foods and food supplements, their beneficial and hostile functions are included as well. The basic aspect of the article focuses on probiotic yogurt, its benefits and side effects, why you need best probiotic yogurt and the best probiotic Greek yogurt. All the aspects of probiotics are still not clear to the researchers, therefore, it confers a large field of research which can be helpful to reveal more useful criteria of probiotics and producing probiotic foods and food supplements with better health benefits. Hopefully the writing will be helpful to you as you can get required information from this. All the information contained in the article is based on published significant researches by the scientists and researchers.
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