|
|
|
|
Lactobacillus casei strain ShirotaLactobacillus casei strain Shirota was discovered by Japanese researcher Dr. Shirota in 1935. It has been used by the Japanese food company "Yakult Honsha" in commercial products in Japan since 1955. They now sell 26 million bottles of the fresh milk product "Yakult", which guarantees 6.5 billion cfu of the bacteria per 65 ml bottle. Sold in 17 countries, it is the world's largest functional brand1. It has been shown to implant
in the GI tract in human trials1. The lead
author was N. Yuki of the Yakult Central
Institute for Microbiological Research, Tokyo, Japan.
The abstract from the article reads:
"Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LCS) is a probiotic bacterium used in the production of fermented milk products and lactic acid bacteria preparations. To investigate the survival of LCS in the gastrointestinal tract, we have developed a selective medium and specific monoclonal antibodies to isolate and identify this strain. Selective LLV agar medium was prepared by modifying LBS medium, a selective medium for lactobacilli, through the replacement of glucose with lactitol as carbon source and vancomycin as a selective antibiotic. Culture in LLV agar medium followed by ELISA using monoclonal antibodies specific for LCS was able to detect the organism in faeces. Using this method, we studied the faecal recovery of LCS in individuals who drank 125 ml of fermented milk which contained 10(10) live LCS for 3 days. The mean recovery was about 10(7) live bacteria per gram of faeces, indicating that LCS survived transit through the gastrointestinal tract after ingestion of the fermented milk." Availability in the U.S.A.There is a high overhead involved in manufacture and (refrigerated)distribution of a fresh milk probiotic. This has prevented popular overseas products from attempting to enter the American market, where there isn't a significant demand for fermented milk products(how many people buy Keifer?). For example, Valio's "Gefilus", with LGG, and Probi Ab's "ProViva", with Lp299v, have been very successful in northern and eastern Europe and Japan, where there is an established demand for such products.However, As of 2000, the fresh milk product Yakult(with L.casei strain Shirota) is available in some parts of Southern California. This is because the product is available in Mexico, and cold distribution as far as southern California is possible. Below is a list of outlets in the Los Angeles and San Diego area which carry Yakult. These tend to be specialty markets that carry Asian foods. This list was provided to me by Shin Yamaguchi, Manager, Yakult International(U.S.A.) in May of 2001. California Market (Korean Store)
Hannam Super 1 - Market World (Korean Store)
HK Market (Korean Store)
Mitsuwa Marketplace (Japanese Store)
Nijiya Market (Japanese Store)
Nijiya Market (Japanese Store), northern California
Ranch 99 Market (Chinese Store)
Note: there are look-alike products; the genuine article has an large orange "Yakult" on the label, and reads "Contains 8 billion live Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota". If you try the product, consider posting your results on this site's patient database.
|
|
|
|
