Lactic acid bacteria in fermented milk

2020-7

Lactic acid bacteria are named after the features of being able to live on saccharides (glucose, fructose, sugar, lactose etc.) and produce lactic acids. They have many different species and they are the major probiotics living in the guts of human bodies. As they can grow well in milk and give the gentle sour tastes and rich flavors, they have been widely used to produce yoghurts from long time ago.

There are many different kinds of lactic acid bacteria used to produce yoghurt drinks; as per the regulations of international dairy farmer association, both Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus can be used to produce yoghurt milk. However, we don’t have this kind of regulation so we can produce yoghurts with the following lactic acid bacteria︰

Streptococcus species is ball shaped and links together like a chain, i.e. Str. Thermophilus, Str. Lactis and Str. Cremoris etc.
Lactobacillus is long thin stick shaped and connected with a few others, I.e. L.bulgaricus, L.acidophilus, L. casel etc.
Lactobacillus is long thin stick shaped and connected with a few others, I.e. L.bulgaricus, L.acidophilus, L. casel etc.

Bifidobacterium profile

Bifidobacterium was firstly isolated from the infant stools. It’s the most famous probiotic inhabiting in the guts and plays an important indicating role of human health. After birth for 4-7 days, the bifidobacterium would become the most powerful species of human normal flora. The bacteria counts can reach to more than 10 billion in one gram of feces. But the bifidobacterium will diminish along with the aging and the bad bacteria will increase gradually. The bifidobacterium can maintain our health well through the following functions︰

And help at the bad bacteria to balance the normal flora in human guts.
Improve the digestion and absorption of proteins.
Synthesis of vitamin B complex.
Decrease the toxic materials produced by the bad bacteria to improve the function of liver.
Stimulate the immune system of human bodies and activate the immune functions.
Inhibit the carcinogenic agents transformed by the bad bacteria to prevent the carcinomas induced.

In order to increase the volume of bifidobacterium in guts, we should have balanced diets with more vegetables and fruits, various grains and fresh milk etc. as they contain plenty of natural oligosaccharides. Or some yoghurt milks with probiotics will help to increase the volume and activities of the bifidobacterium.。