Fermented Milk

USAGE AND EFFECTIVENESS

Usage	Effectiveness
High Blood Pressure	Mild effectiveness (reduce systolic blood pressure) Several small clinical studies showed modest reduction of systolic blood pressure but not diastolic blood pressure; study on population also showed a modest reduction in incidence of high blood pressure after consuming Lactobacillus casei Shirota three times weekly or more More evidence is needed to support the above
Common Cold	Effective (reduce number of times of having cold in both adults and children & reduce duration of old in adults (by 59%)) Supported by some clinical studies
Diarrhoea caused by Antibiotics	Effective (reduce the risk of diarrhoea after taking antibiotics) oral use of a minimum of 100 million colony forming units (CFU)/mL of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, 5 10 million CFU/mL of Lactobacillus acidophilus La-, and 100 million of CFU/mL Bifidobacterium Bb-12 daily for 14 days may reduce risk of diarrhoea due to antibiotics by 79%, while another study shows a reduction of development of diarrhoea after taking antibiotics by 55%
Allergic Rhinitis	Mild effectiveness (May improve nasal symptoms in adults and reduce number of bouts of allergy in children) Some clinical studies showing improvement in allergic symptoms in adults (Lactobacillus acidophilus) and in children (Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, and Streptococcus thermophilus); but there are some other clinical studies using different strain of bacteria do not show clear benefit; more evidence is needed to support the above
Diarrhoea	Mild effective (reduce seriousness of diarrhoea in children) Most related clinical studies showed decrease in symptoms of diarrhoea while the ability of fermented milk to reduce incidence of diarrhoea has been demonstrated in some but not all clinical studies; more evidence is needed to support the above
Eczema	Mild effectiveness (reduce incidence of eczema) one study shows that when pregnant mothers who consumed Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Bifidobacterium animalis starting from week 36 of pregnancy till 3 months after birth, the probability of the child of having eczema by 6 years old is reduced by 52%; more evidence is needed to support the above
Helicobacter Pylori Infection	Mild effectiveness (Improve symptoms of stomach ulcer, reduce severity, increase eradication of Helicobacter pylori) 3 clinical studies showed benefits of using fermented milk as a supportive therapy in most of the parameters other than reduction of blood pepsinogen level – a test indicating Helicobacter pylori infection; more evidence is needed to support the above
Irritable Bowel Syndrome	Mild effectiveness (reduction of symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome) 2 studies showed benefits such as reducing stomach bloating, gas and stomach pain More evidence is needed to support the above
Lactose Intolerance	Mild effectiveness (reduction of symptoms of lactose intolerance) 2 studies showed benefits such as reducing bloatedness, diarrhoea, gas , pain More evidence is needed to support the above
Radiation Sickness	Mild effectiveness (reduction of symptoms after cancer radiotherapy) 2 studies showed benefits such as reducing diarrhoea and abdominal pain after cancer treatment More evidence is needed to support the above
Rotaviral Diarrhoea	Mild effectiveness (reduction of diarrhoea) 2 studies showed benefits such as reducing diarrhoea by about one day and increased in immunity More evidence is needed to support the above
Bladder Cancer	Unclear effectiveness (reduction of cancer incidence) A population studies showed 22% reduction of incidence of cancer when the individuals consumed larger amount More evidence is needed to support the above
Breast Cancer	Unclear effectiveness (reduction of cancer incidence) Observation study showed lower incidence of cancer when the individuals consumed 1.5 glass of cultured milk, compared to those who did not take any More evidence is needed to support the above
Constipation	Unclear effectiveness (increase bowel movement) A small study showed reduction of constipation while another study showed that it was not more effective than a milk preparation without beneficial bacteria More evidence is needed to support the above
Diabetes	Unclear effectiveness (reduce fasting blood sugar) A small study showed reduction of fasting blood sugar level while showing no effect on general blood sugar control, blood pressure, cholesterol More evidence is needed to support the above
High Cholesterol	Unclear effectiveness (reduce total and low density cholesterol) 1 study showed total and bad cholesterol but did not reduce good cholesterol and triglyceride while another study showed that it does not have any effect on any of the health indicators of cholesterol management More evidence is needed to support the above
Heart & Blood Vessel Diseases	Unclear effectiveness (reduce risk of heart diseases) A observation study showed higher consumption of fermented milk was associated with a 7% reduction of heart diseases More evidence is needed to support the above
Inflammatory Bowel Disease	Unclear effectiveness (reduce symptoms) A study showed reduction in symptoms such as abdominal pain, and involuntary loose stool; the study was hampered by poor design (no comparator group) More evidence is needed to support the above
Stomach Ulcer	Unclear effectiveness (reduction of incidence of stomach ulcer) A population study showed lower incidence of stomach ulcer More evidence is needed to support the above
Ulcerative Colitis	Unclear effectiveness Several studies showed conflicting results, ranging from showing reduction of symptoms in 1 study while showing no effect on symptoms and relapse rate in 2 other studies More evidence is needed to support the above
Upper Airway Infection	Unclear effectiveness A study on children showed reduction in the incidence of common cold but not the incidence of upper respiratory tract infection; another study on elderly showed no effect More evidence is needed to support the above
Asthma	Ineffective (in reducing asthma attacks or risk of developing asthma in children) Proven by 2 clinical studies for its ineffectiveness

General Safety

• Generally safe; can be taken safely as food; as a supplement, it can be taken safely for up to a year, unless specified by the manufacturer.

Pregnant/Breastfeeding

• No direct study to demonstrate safety but it is generally safe and can be taken safely as food.

Children

• Generally safe; can be taken safely as food; as a supplement, it can be taken safely for up to 5 days, unless specified by the manufacturer.

Elderly

• No direct study to demonstrate safety but it is generally safe and can be taken safely as food.

Special to Note

• Nil

Contraindications

• May cause low blood pressure in individuals who already have low blood pressure
  May theoretical cause infection in patients with poor immune system

Side Effects

• Generally safe; side effects may include:
  Skin:
  May cause itch in rare cases
  Digestive Tract:
  May cause abdominal pain, diarrhoea, bloating, constipation, gas, nausea, and vomiting

• Medicines
  Medium severity interactions with medicines such as antibiotics (reduce the effectiveness of fermented milk), high blood pressure medicines (jointly reduce blood pressure) and immune system suppressing medicines (might reduce effect of the immune system suppressing medicines). Consult your doctor if you are on high blood pressure medicines and immune system suppressing medicines; otherwise, avoid using fermented milk
• Supplements
  Medium interactions with herbs and supplements with blood pressure-lowering effect; avoid taking concurrently May also increase iron absorption; avoid if taking iron supplement and is at risk of iron overload
• Food
  None known
• Lab Tests
  None known

• Allergic Rhinitis (Adult)
  Drink 100 ml of heat-treated fermented milk with probiotics (Lactobacillus acidophilus strain L-92) once daily for 8 weeks
• Allergic Rhinitis (Children)
  Drink 100 to 400 ml fermented milk with probiotics once daily for 1 to 12 months
• Diarrhoea caused by Antibiotics(Adult)
  Drink 250 mL of fermented milk with probiotics (Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (containing at least 100 million Colony Forming Unit per ml), Lactobacillus acidophilus (containing at least 10 million Colony Forming Unit per ml), and Bifidobacterium Bb-12 (containing at least 100 million Colony Forming Unit per ml)) daily for 14 days or 49 gramme of fermented milk with probiotics (Lactobacillus acidophilus CL1285 and Lactobacillus casei (containing at least 50 billion Colony Forming Unit per ml)) to be taken once daily for 2 days, then drink double the initial dose every day, until completion of the antibiotic treatment.
• Eczema(Adult)
  For reduction of risk of eczema: Drink 250 mL of fermented milk with probiotics (Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Bifidobacterium animalis) daily, starting from week 36 of pregnancy and stop 90 days after birth.
• Common Cold (Child)
  For reduction of risk of common cold (child): 200 grams daily for 3 months
• Common Cold (Adult)
  For reduction of risk of common cold and duration of common cold (if contracted): for 12 weeks
• Diarrhoea(Adult)
  Drink 125 to 250 grams of fermented milk with Lactobacillus casei once daily for 30 days
• Helicobacter Pylori Infection (Adult)
  Drink 100ml once daily for 12 weeks; preparation should ideally contain fermented milk with Bifidobacterium bifidum BF-1 and Streptococcus thermophiles YIT 2021 10 million colony-forming units (CFU) per ml.
• Helicobacter Pylori Infection (Adult)
  Drink once daily for 16 weeks; (using fermented milk with Staphylococcus thermophiles and Lactobacillus johnsonii Lj1, 1 to 10 million colony-forming units (CFU) per ml)
• High Blood Pressure(Adult)
  Drink 100ml of fermented milk with Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota and Lactococcus lactis YIT 2027 once daily for 12 weeks
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome(Adult)
  Drink twice daily for 4 to 6 weeks
• Lactose Intolerance(Adult)
  Drink 480 ml of fermented milk with fermented milk with Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus acidophilus or Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium or Lactobacillus bulgaricus, as one single dose
• Radiation Sickness(Adult)
  Drink 150 ml of fermented milk with Lactobacillus acidophilus once daily for 5 days before radiotherapy and continue for 10 days after radiotherapy
• Rotaviral Diarrhoea (Children)
  Drink 125 gramme of fermented milk with Lactobacillus GG twice daily for 5 days

• General Information
  • Fermented milk contains probiotics and has been used for a wide range of medical conditions.
• How does it work?
  • Due to its probiotics and nutrition profile, it exerts antiallergy, blood pressure and cholesterol lowering, antioxidant, digestive effect, immune system influencing effects.