Grumpy, thanks so much for the link to the very interesting article!! Gosh, it seems almost like a tease since it raises so many questions for than it answers. Well, it actually raises one very critical question: what was the dosage of B. infantis used? I wouldn't be surprised if they used something fairly hefty, like 20 billion units per dose. I think only homemade yogurt will get you anything like that, or else you'd have to spend a lot of money on probiotics. I also wonder if the precise strain of Bifidobacterium really matters? There are probably many thousands of known Bidobacterium strains out there. Upon reading The Probiotics Revolution (Huffnagle) it seems very little clinical testing has been done on any of them, and I get the impression that commercial vendors hype their own special strain when in fact there is relatively little difference (in terms of maintaining good colon flora).
I've been munching on sauerkraut for the past several weeks with very positive results (on my psoriasis, IBS and acid reflux). However fermented veggies seem to only have Lactobacillus bacteria. I believe this bacteria works the small intestine whereas Bidobacterium works the colon. Now the digestive tract is too complex for me to understand but I believe a very green diet, which is chock full of prebiotics, plus Lactobacillus somehow permits the colon flora to sort itself out.
Like I said, many questions. I certainly would look to making homemade yogurt if I wasn't casein sensitive. It's not quite as idiot proof to make like sauerkraut but with a yogurt maker, a rather cheap appliance, it becomes rather effortless.
_Lazza
