On Tue, 2 Feb 1999 D Jacobs <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

As was mentioned, yogurt is a good source of acidophilus and some milk
is sold with acidophilus but on a non-dairy diet
you wouldn't be getting these sources.

A lot of people on this list have such trust in commerical products
that they don't question them and obviously are failing to see and
taste what they are eating.   I usually don't say anything about a
person's dietary choices, but this yogurt misinformation has gone on
too long, so I have to step in and say that most store bought yogurt
is usually not true yogurt, but a pathetic substitute and you are not
getting what you pay for.  So for those of you who have never made
your own yogurt and may not have tasted real yogurt, you likely would
not be able to tell the difference.

From 1969-79 yogurt consumption in the US rose 500%, a trend which
took the volume of yogurt sales into the billions.  But with
commercial success came greed and corner cutting.  "Research into
consumer attitudes shows that yogurt has an image of being'wholesome,
high protein, convenient,  healthy and low in fat."...All this is true
of real 'live'yogurt....but.... "Most commercial manufacturers
pasteurize their product after the culturing process, killing all
friendly bacteria (if any have been used) so that the product will
have a longer shelf life."  And unfortunately, "in manufacturing
yogurt, there is no legislation as to which cultures should be used as
starter organisms."

In order to short cut the natural yogurt making process (to save time,
make a creamier looking product and increase shelf life and therefore
increase profits at the expense of the consumer), major yogurt
manufacturers have interfered with nature and often use "Pima"
culture, which is a voluminous producer of slime with no know health
producing qualities.  And in order to mask this slime, processed fruit
and sugar is usually added, in addition to stabilizers, coloring,
flavoring and other chemicals, making the resulting product a health
hazard rather than a benefit.  Note that the addition of fruits and
sugars interferes with live yogurt cultures, thus showing that
manufacturers can take advantage of the public's gulibility, trust and
lack of knowledge to get them to spend money on crap that looks like
yogurt, is called yogurt, but that is not really yogurt.

The question is, if people knew the difference, would they still be
spending their money on it?  NO.  The way to get people to buy the
stuff is to lie to them and tell them it is really yogurt .  (These
manufactures are never brought up on fraud charges though, but if
someone got caught stealing a pint of this yogurt in the store, they
would be put in jail and prosecuted as a criminal-----sorry to get off
the track).

In other words, most commercial yogurt products, and also more than
half of pharmacy bacteria supplements, contain little or no viable
yogurt organisms.  The best thing to do is MAKE YOUR OWN, or find out
how to tell if the product you are buying contains live cultures.

To see if you are getting a live culture:

Put 2-3 tablespoons of the yogurt into a cup of warm milk and let it
sit overnight in a warm place.  In the morning, if it has thickened,
then you have a live cultured product, but of course, you do not know
which bacteria it is or if the one stated by the manufacturer is the
one present.

Read:  "Probiotics" by Leon Chaitow, ND, DO and Natasha Trenev
(Chapter 15).


Hope this sheds some light on the issue.
Explorer