Yankult and other probiotic issues...

[Nimbus]

When I was a kid the popular brand was Vitacharm. It's also probiotic and uses the same container design, but it contains different strains of bacteria. Try and see if it suits you better. In any case I didn't drink more than a bottle a day.

[OomBen]

I've found that if I just stay away from probiotics I'm fine. My stomach is already working just fine, it's just tossing this stuff into my stomach is making it not function properly.

As for worms/parasites... yeah, I know this drink doesn't deal with those. I never had to worry about worms and stuff before... what the hell? I went swimming at Ocean Park in Serpong the other day. My nephew said something like "Look, i'm drinking the water!" and now my father in law is saying he needs to be "dewormed". Eck... how the hell do i check if "I" have worms?

Indonesia is a scary place in MANY ways...

[ricky_id]

Why repeat the post, Ben?

[kingwilly]

I think the point is that yakult has nothing to do with worms.

And despite the typo and your backflip and qualification, I think you understand that drinking one yakult is not going to cause someone to suddenly need surgery the next game!

[ricky_id]

I think the point is that yakult has nothing to do with worms.

And despite the typo and your backflip and qualification, I think you understand that drinking one yakult is not going to cause someone to suddenly need surgery the next game!

Ben said something about worms, hence the talk. And I was merely talking about somebody's experience following Yakult's ad saying devoutly.

[BBlacky]

There's many things that people enjoy eating or drinking that have some rather unpleasant side effects. I have a friend who is lactose intolerant, knew he was, but still would eat dairy products which would make him stink up a room or run off to the toilet... but he didn't care... he really enjoys cheese and milkshakes.Shortly after arriving here in September of 2011, my in-laws would give me some yankult and tell me that it would help my stomach adjust to the biological mix of whats in the food and water here. My...err... i guess he's my Uncle-in-law (it's complicated) who is a doctor, even told me to drink 2 yankult per day or take lactobacillus pills so I wouldn't get what most call "Indo gut". What can I say? I do enjoy these drinks... every once in a while I'll buy a pack and have one or two. I also do this to test and make sure it's the yankult that's causing me to have some issues.Without getting into great detail, I'll just say that these probiotics do almost the exact opposite for me than what they are supposed to do (or what I think they're supposed t. My Uncle-in-law says that it's possible that it's due to the probiotic drink becoming too warm thus causing the good bacteria to grow and become too abundant for consumption thus causing a negative effect on me. I'll argue against this for me as it happens each and every time... i wouldn't call it "indo gut", but it's definitely not normal.Am I lactose intolerant? No. There's quite a bit of milk in my diet.I'm curious if anyone else has had an experience like this.

The story of Yakult's amazing success and incredible popularity - first in Japan and now throughout much of the world - is probably more the result of its great sour / sweet taste than anything else. I have read that if you wanted to gain sufficient benefit from the bacteria you'd have to drink several liters of it. Which would probably make you puke. What's more, all that sugar is not good for you (particularly considering the overwhelming presence of sugar is practically every food in Java).

Lactose intolerance can easily be overcome in most people. Retired General Prabowo Subianto forced his Special Forces soldiers to drink milk, to upgrade their physical health. Many resisted, claiming it upset their stomachs, and lactose intolerance was clearly involved: they were village boys who had never become used to imbibing dairy products.Once they got used to the imposed milk regime they became so enthusiastic about it that they demanded more milk. If you want to see Yakult addiction in action, check out my monkeys on YouTube: GLORIA GORILLA YAKULTS IT UP.

[ReveurGAM]

I was enduring a really bad case of the runs - everything went through my system in just a couple of hours and the bad bacteria liquified it. After almost a week of this, my wife came across a reference to Vitacharm which said to drink two, wait a few hours, and drink two more.

I kid you not, I drank two while in the bathroom and my diarrhea stopped IMMEDIATELY. I did not have any more diarrhea after that, but I did drink two more later on just for good measure.

On another occasion, my son accidentally ingested some chicken poop, and he was ill for almost a week. Vitacharm fixed him up, too.

I have used Vitacharm on my family several times. It doesn't always work, but it seems to work better than Yakult - but I haven't tried many times. I've also found that the "original" (white) flavor seems to be more effective than the other flavors, although I've not tested that extensively either.

The idea, as with kombucha, kefir, yogurt and other probiotics, is that your adding good bacteria to your digestive system. This may be a great idea if you're using antibiotics - although you should consult a doctor, of course!

There is one caveat to the usage of probiotics - scientists have learned that there are three major types of bacterial ecosystems (I forgot the specific word they use) that are found in the human gut. I would suppose that if you ingest a probiotic that contains bacteria that aren't friendly with your ecosystem, you might end up having a war on your hands - which could be dangerous. If you're not lactose intolerant but a probiotic gives you problems, then you need to think about trying a different one, or just avoid them without the help of an expert.

I hope this information has proven useful for someone.

Namaste, peace & love,
Glenn

[mrtessster]

Probiotics, and in particular Yakult, is a huge con designed to get people to buy something that is very cheap to produce, in very small amounts, for a proportionately large amount of money. The only exception is if you are in danger of super-infection because of an antibiotic regime.

[ReveurGAM]

Hey Mr. T, how does one produce something like Yakult or Vitacharm at home cheaply?

Recently, I ate something that didn't agree with me. Within minutes of consuming it, my stomach felt like it had pins and needles in it. I downed one bottle of Vitacharm and I could literally feel relief spread through my stomach wherever it touched. A second bottle wiped out the remaining spots of pain. After that, I was fine.

Namaste, peace & love,
Glenn

[ReveurGAM]

I guess Mr. T isn't going to answer, so I'll share this info.

1) Buy your choice of a probiotic product that states it has live culture in it (it's not probiotic if it doesn't have a live culture!). Unflavored is best for reasons of taste only. It is best to let it sit out and reach room temperature, but not required.
2) Take a liter of fresh milk and bring it to a soft boil (that's where you start to see a bit of foam forming on the surface, but the milk isn't turbulent) in a double boiler.
If you don't have a double boiler, you can do it in a regular pan but you'll need to stir it often so you don't scald it.
3) Turn off the heat. You can add a spoon of sugar or two, or a spoon of powdered milk if you like, and stir it in. The bacteria that make yogurt eat sugar, usually lactose.
4) Allow the temperature to drop to 40 C. If the probiotic is still cold, however, you should do this when it's a little bit warmer than that. You can speed the cooling process up by placing the pan of milk inside another pan of cold water, or just patiently (!) wait.
5) Put the milk into a sterilized container that has a lid that can keep it safe.
6) If you've purchased a probiotic drink, you'll need to use approximately the amount that equals 4 bottles of Vitacharm or Yakult. If it's thicker than those products, but still a drink, then perhaps half that amount. If you're using yogurt, 1-2 tablespoons is enough. Add it to the milk and stir.
7) Put the cover on tightly.
8) You're going to need to keep the probiotic in a place where it'll stay around 40 C. There are special appliances you may be able to get in the store, but there are alternatives you can try out, for example, a rice cooker on warm, a baby bottle warmer, your oven (if you even have one with an incandescent light in it) with the light left on for heat and the oven off, an incubator, a glass/metal cabinet with a heat source in it (such as a water heater or a candle), or, if you're not in a cold climate, wrap it up with a towel (top and sides) and place it in the warmest part of your house (usually on top of the fridge is pretty warm). Do not stir.
9) Wait until you can see that it has thickened. Under ideal circumstances, this may take 7 hours, but it may be faster or, as in my case, significantly longer. The longer it sits, the sourer it becomes. You may noticed that there seems to be a clear liquid forming - that is whey and it is normal. Yogurt (and other milk-based probiotics) is made from the curds (ie: the fat, lactose and other stuff).
10) Place it in the fridge, still closed.
11) When you're ready to enjoy some, take out as much as you want to eat and flavor and sweeten it to your taste. Be sure to save some for the next batch so you don't have to go buy more. Depending on what the manufacturer of the brand you chose uses, you may only be able to do this a small number of times, or for as long as you live without buying more probiotic.

Note: Real yogurt is not as thin and consistent as what you get in the store. Store-bought stuff has thickener and emulsifier added, for example, to keep curds and whey from separating, to thicken it up, and to improve the consistency. If you want it to be like that, you'll need to figure out for yourself what to use - I don't know.

FYI, these instructions do not apply to things like milk Kefir, nor kombucha, which have their own needs.

I'm told that freshly set yogurt has a slightly sweet flavor - let me know if it's true! Good luck!

Namaste, peace & love,
Glenn