Xinhua News Agency Beijing, March 19 (Zhou Tingyu, Yu Jing) — In recent years, domestic and international clinical trials have confirmed that probiotic yogurt can improve symptoms such as gastrointestinal discomfort. However, relevant experts remind that when consuming probiotic yogurt, one should be aware of the "three don'ts": heating, consuming on an empty stomach, and excessive intake.
Probiotics need to be kept at a certain temperature to maintain their activity, so they generally require refrigeration. Yang Yuexin, a professor at the National Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and vice-chairman of the Chinese Nutrition Society, pointed out that heating yogurt affects the efficacy of the probiotics.
At the same time, she noted that if you are using yogurt to address issues like constipation or poor digestion, you should not consume it on an empty stomach. When consumed on an empty stomach, the yogurt comes into direct contact with stomach acid, which kills the probiotics, making it difficult to play a role in regulating the intestinal flora.
Regarding whether consuming more probiotic yogurt is always better, experts stated that it is not a case of "the more, the better." On one hand, consuming too many probiotics means they cannot survive in the intestine. On the other hand, one must also consider the physiological function and capacity of the stomach.
Although the effects of probiotics have been recognized by the scientific community, Luo Xueyun, a professor at the National Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, pointed out that China still lacks standards for probiotic yogurt. The labeling, packaging, and market for probiotic yogurt urgently need to be regulated. "If a yogurt claims to contain probiotics, it must first be proven by clinical trials that it contains live, sufficient, and beneficial strains for human health."