The Japanese beverage known as Yakult is a sweetened probiotic milk drink that is fermented with a strain of bacteria known as Lactobacillus casei Shirota. Yakult Honsha, which has its headquarters in Tokyo, is in charge of sales. It is sold in single-serving containers of either 65 mL (2.3 imp fl oz; 2.2 US fl oz) or 100 mL (3.5 imp fl oz; 3.4 US fl oz), depending on the manufacturer, and is typically sold in single-row packs of five or ten. These containers are distributed through convenience stores and supermarkets.
The components that go into making yakult yogurt are as follows: water, skim milk, glucose-fructose syrup, sucrose, and live Lactobacillus casei Shirota bacteria. The strain was at one point thought to belong to Lactobacillus casei, however in 2008 it was determined that it actually belonged to L. paracasei instead. To make Yakult, glucose is added to skim milk, and then the combination is heated between 90 and 95 degrees Celsius for around 30 minutes. After allowing it to reach 45 degrees Celsius, the mixture is then injected with lactobacillus and incubated for six to seven days at temperatures ranging from 37 to 38 degrees Celsius. After the fermentation process is complete, other ingredients like as water, sugar, gums, and lactic acid are added.
In 2006, a panel that was appointed by the Netherlands Nutrition Center (Voedingscentrum) to evaluate a marketing request by Yakult found sufficient evidence to justify claims that drinking at least one bottle of Yakult per day might help improve bowel movements for people who tend to be constipated and might help maintain a healthy population of gut flora. The panel also found sufficient evidence to justify claims that drinking at least one bottle of Yakult per day might help maintain a healthy population of gut
The request by the company to market Yakult as protecting the upper respiratory tract against pathogens (in other words, defense against diseases like the common cold) was turned down in 2010 by a panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which found that the claim was not supported by the evidence. A fermented dairy beverage known as akult has probiotic cultures rather than yogurt cultures as its active ingredient. The primary distinction between yogurt cultures and probiotic cultures is that the latter are required to have scientifically proved health benefits, while the former do not have to meet this need.
Minoru Shirota is credited with inventing Yakult in 1935 in Japan. Shirota also contributed to the establishment of Yakult Honsha in order to assist in the product's eventual commercialization. Women who sell Yakult door-to-door throughout Asia and Latin America are commonly referred to as "Yakult ladies." Yakult is sold at supermarkets and convenience stores in Japan, but Yakult ladies also sell it door-to-door in those regions.
In 2013, the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority responded to a complaint by denying permission for a Yakult advertising to run. It was determined that while there was sufficient evidence to support the claim that "significant numbers of viable [Lactobacillus] survived transit to the gut [after consumption of Yakult]," the advertisement had made claims of general health benefits without providing a specific, referenced claim, as is required. This was found to be in violation of the law. keep reading...
