Cooking & EatingIf three topics dominated the year 2021 in terms of health, it was the microbiome, probiotics and poop. Jars of probiotics are sold at extortionate prices. That should be possible. Go into the kitchen yourself and save a lot of money, argues health journalist Tijn Elferink.
Few health topics are as hot as the microbiome; one and a half kilos of mainly bacteria in our intestines. Our gut and brain are connected by a highway. That explains why stress leads to diarrhea. And why what we eat affects how we feel.
A disturbed gut-brain connection can have all kinds of nasty consequences. And that’s where probiotics come in. These bacteria have a health-promoting effect and are found in yoghurt and sauerkraut, among other things, but are also sold in capsules. Researchers saw the effect of use on MRI scans: improvements in brain function.
But in our gut are billions and billions of bacteria. According to Robert Jan Brummer, MDL doctor and professor of stomach, intestinal and liver diseases and clinical nutrition, the question is whether one added bacterium in 10,000 existing bacteria is sufficient. For effect, you should eat many liters of yogurt, drink hundreds of bottles of Yakult or swallow a handful of capsules.
“You feel the only side effect in your wallet,” Brummer said jokingly. You have a liter of good yogurt for a fat euro, for a liter of Yakult you put down 3.50 euros. And you pay 80 euros for a jar of pills. There’s another way, I thought.
How to make your own yogurt: Making your own yogurt is really easy. All you need is a carton of long-life milk, a splash of store-bought yogurt, and a thermos. I asked food writer Mr. Wateetons for advice: “Put it away overnight at a temperature of 40 degrees and you have your own yogurt.” Store-bought yogurt is boring. The foodwriter therefore sells yogurt starters with which you can make the craziest varieties, such as slimy Finnish Viili.
This is how you make your own Vifit: Mr. Finnish indulgent yogurt is delicious, but I can’t get rid of liters. That’s why I replaced the yogurt with Yakult. Indeed, one night later I had my own probiotic drink. Advantage: less sugar, so healthier and the taste is more neutral. Of course, the latter is personal and there may be people who like liquid wine gum drink. One of the experts whispered to me that it’s best to use Vifit, rather than Yakult or Activia. Vifit contains the oh-so-respected bacterial strain LGG.
How to make a homemade probiotic: That LGG is also in the capsules of Vitals. I chose this brand because they come from the Danish probiotic specialist Chr. Using Hansen. TNO and Artis Micropia named Vitals the best probiotic. Instead of yogurt or Yakult, I opened a capsule, stirred it into the milk and indeed: overnight the water-thin milk had turned into a thick, lumpy drink. And it’s delicious too.
This gives you a dirt-cheap probiotic drink to start your day. If you don’t drink ten percent, you can make a new batch with it. The life hack: you buy an expensive jar of probiotics once and with one capsule you can make your own drink for the rest of your life. ,,Funny, right?” says fermentation specialist Christian Weij. ,,You have jars that contain nine bacterial strains. Not every tribe participates and you do not always know which one is participating, but you do get a nice drink from it.”
Good bacteria: all better than bad
According to Professor Brummer, a tribal struggle can arise with several tribes and that is why he advises one tribe. But Weij also has a good point: “Probiotic bacteria are all good bacteria and they are all better than bad bacteria.”
The bacteria partly convert the sugar present in milk (lactose) into lactic acid; fermentation. Is it possible to add too many hungry LGG bacteria? According to Weij, it is rather the other way around: bacteria will multiply first.
“So if you start with more bacteria, you’ll have a thick drink faster.” It really can’t go wrong, says the founder of the Smaakpark in Ede. As long as it gets sour, because bad bacteria don’t like an acidic environment. And milk becomes sour due to fermentation. So: taste it well, or buy a Ph-meter with which you can measure the acidity.
Critical word in order
To be fair, a critical word from Brummer is in order. The conditions in a factory like that of Chr. Hansen are different from the ones in your and my kitchen. That can affect how bacteria multiply. Indeed, my dirt-cheap probiotic drink has not been tested and I cannot say that my drink is as effective as a capsule.
But yogurt and sauerkraut have not been studied either. Eddy Smid (professor of Food Microbiology at Wageningen University) suspects that yogurt and sauerkraut have a similar probiotic effect. According to Brummer, the following also applies to probiotic drinks and pills: the proof of the pudding is in the eating. So there is only one thing to do to find out: with long-life milk, a capsule and a thermos flask into the kitchen.
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