The Probiotic Confusion

·      At lunch today, the ladies were talking about yogurt and how confusing it can be when approaching the dairy case. There is regular full fat, low fat and no-fat. Full sugar, low sugar and yogurt with sugar substitutes like aspartame (rat poison?) or Sucralose. Personally, I have been using the no fat, sucralose sweetened fruit- added Source. The problem is I felt like I was missing something as the Source does not say it has "added probiotics" like some of the other yogurts do. 


Is that something I need?
After doing a bit of research this is what I discovered:

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IP Probiotics are the “good” bacteria that help promote a healthy digestive system. Two such bacteria cultures, Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus are used to make all yogurts. The National Yogurt Association (NYA) developed a “Live and Active Cultures” seal to identify a yogurt that contains 100 million cultures per gram at the time of manufacturing. Yogurt companies must pay several thousand dollars each year to use this seal on their products. Smaller yogurt companies may not participate due to the high cost of using the seal, even though they may contain live and active cultures. These days, several yogurt companies are now putting additional probiotics and cultures (such as Bifidobacterium BB-12) into their yogurts and making claims regarding immunity and digestive health. These cultures are safe for consumption and some research shows that they may improve the health of the immune and digestive systems. Keep in mind that eating a yogurt with added probiotics could be one of many ways to enhance your immune system or improve digestive function. Research has shown that regular yogurt (without additional probiotics) can enhance the immune and digestive systems, too.


Now I don't feel like I'm missing out anymore and will stick with my Source. I think between it and my healthy diet, I don't really need any more insurance that I am doing what I can for my body. Moderation is still the key to life!