one of my soap boxes

While you may not hear a lot of buzz about fermented foods and drinks, you have probably heard all the buzz about probiotics.
In fact, Dannon has gone a long way to talk about probiotics with their Dannon Activa™ yogurt. Dannon Activa™ is a lowfat yogurt that claims to decrease intestinal transit time. But does it deliver the health benefits that will build your inner ecosystem?
In this article, I will cover the popular probiotic foods and drinks on the market, along with the best probiotic products for a healthy inner ecosystem that promotes inner energy and outer beauty.

Probiotic Product Problems
Probiotic means "for life" and they do indeed have some important life giving qualities. Probiotics are the healthy microflora (beneficial bacteria and yeast) that keep you healthy and strong. With enough of them in your intestines, they can boost your immunity, keep you looking beautiful and help you digest foods.
But not all probiotics are created equal. In fact, some studies have found that only half of all probiotic products actually have the healthy bacteria listed on their labels.¹

Here are 3 key problems with many probiotic products on the market:

• Not potent - 50% of products do not contain the healthy bacteria that they claim. Even those that do may not have the right mix of healthy microflora to repopulate your inner ecosystem.
• Not effective - Many probiotic products (including supplements) are not prepared in a way that allows the most beneficial bacteria and yeast to thrive in your digestive system. Harsh stomach acids can kill probiotics, and if they do survive stomach acid they may not be the kind of probiotics that recolonize your inner ecosystem.
• Not natural - Too many probiotic products are processed, removing much of the benefits of whole food. Additionally, they may contain ingredients that are harmful to your health, like sugar. While microflora use up sugar for fuel, too much sugar in any product has harmful affects to your health.

However, there are many GREAT choices for probiotic foods and beverages on the market! At Body Ecology, we have long promoted the benefits of all natural fermented foods and drinks. There are several very good options on the market, but unfortunately some very poor choices as well.

Choose Wisely: An Overview of Popular Fermented Foods and Drinks
Whenever I look at a probiotic product, I want to know whether it will build a healthy inner ecosystem thriving with friendly microflora without feeding pathogenic bacteria and yeast.
Here are some of the popularly known fermented foods and drinks, along with our Body Ecology comments:
Yogurt -The most popular fermented food in the US is best when it is made with "live active cultures." Some yogurts on the market are "heat treated after culturing," and this causes them to lose two major health benefits:

(1) The heat treated or pasteurization process kills the lactase, which would have made the diary more digestible
(2) Heat treating also kills the live active cultures.

Additionally, if the label shows less protein and more sugar or stabilizers, the yogurt is lower in nutritional value. Many brands of yogurt on the market today are more like processed desserts than beneficial yogurt.
Body Ecology Says: We are not big yogurt fans and really prefer that people drink kefir (see below for the reasons). The better-quality plain yogurt - the one with the fewer ingredients (e.g., just milk and live active cultures) has the most nutritional benefits (protein, calcium, live cultures, easier to digest than milk). Since most yogurts are pasteurized, we recommend making your own yogurt at home with organic raw milk from grass-fed, hormone-free cows. Add Stevia for a sweet taste that does not feed candida.
Dannon Activa, while containing live cultures, also has some pretty awful sugars including fructose, corn starch, and modified corn starch. There are other questionable ingredients added for flavor and consistency. Like most other yogurts sold in your store, it also is pasteurized. All of these things lower Dannon Activa's nutritional value and all that sugar will definitely feed pathogenic microorganisms, like candida.
Kefir - Kefir is still the leader in nutrition when compared to yogurt. While traditional recipes for yogurt contained live active cultures, the bacteria were transient beneficial bacteria (e.g., Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus). These do not colonize your colon. The bacteria and beneficial yeast in kefir can actually colonize the intestinal tract, and this makes all the difference in the world since it's one key reason you are eating this deliciously-sour fermented food.

• Kefir contains several major strains of friendly bacteria not commonly found in yogurt (e.g., Lactobacillus kefyr, Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris, and Lactococcus lactis subsp. diacetylactis).
• Kefir also contains beneficial yeasts, such as Saccharomyces kefir, which can dominate, control and eliminate destructive pathogenic yeasts in your body. They do so by protecting the mucosal lining where unhealthy yeast and bacteria reside, forming a virtual SWAT team that cleans up and strengthens your intestines. Therefore, your body becomes more efficient in resisting such pathogens as E. coli and intestinal parasites.
• The curd size of kefir is smaller than yogurt, making it easier to digest, which makes it a particularly excellent, nutritious food for babies, invalids and the elderly, as well as a remedy for digestive disorders.

Body Ecology Says - Making your own kefir at home with a fermented food and drink starter is the best way to get the most health benefits from kefir. We recommend adding kefir from cow or goat milk (raw is best) to your diet in stage 2 of Body Ecology.
Sauerkraut - Last year, BBC News reported that sauerkraut could cure the avian flu (bird flu) and other studies show it reduces the risk of breast cancer. Unfortunately, most commercially prepared sauerkrauts found on grocery shelves today are pasteurized (which destroys precious enzymes), contain vinegar and have added refined salt (mineral-depleted), which eliminates any health benefits.

Borrowed from: BodyEcology.com