What are Live Cultures?
What are they?
‘Live cultures’ or ‘active cultures’ refer to the microorganisms found in foods such as yoghurt, which may be beneficial for human health. The term ‘live cultures’ is sometimes used instead of the word ‘probiotics’, and it seems that there is currently some movement in favour of the term 'live cultures', perhaps due to recent European legislation (the Nutrition & Health Claims regulation) which suggests that the word ‘probiotics’ could be seen as a health claim. Examples of live cultures include microorganisms such as Lactobacillus acidophilus or Lactobacillus bulgaricus.
Are live cultures always bacterial?
They are often bacterial, but not always. It is also possible to have active cultures of beneficial yeasts, for example Saccharomyces boulardii.
Are they the same as probiotics?
It seems that probiotics are a type of live culture, but live cultures are not always probiotic. The World Health Organisation recognises probiotics as 'live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host.' Arguably, live cultures only fulful the first part of this statement; that is the 'live microorganisms' part. When a particular strain of a microorganism undergoes human clinical trials and shows to be of benefit to the human host, only then should it really be classified as a probiotic.
Find out more about probiotics, and probiotic strains.
Are live cultures the same thing as dairy or yoghurt?
Not quite. Yoghurts will always contain live cultures (to different extents, according to various factors including pasteurisation, whether or not live cultures have been added for nutritional value, and so on), and interestingly, it is the live bacterial cultures which help to convert milk into yoghurt in the first place. However live cultures can also be found in other foods such as sauerkraut, and they may be extracted from dairy and cultivated and multiplied to make a live cultures (or 'probiotic') supplement.
Does OptiBac Probiotics do live cultures?
Yes. All of our products contain various types of live or active cultures (better still, they contain live probiotic cultures!) For more information, browse our product pages or read about us.
Deana
It still doesnt say; What are live and active cultures???!!!
Im vegan, and now I dont want to eat my Silk soy yorgurts
until if so, finding out, that they are really vegan; meaning,
live, active, doesnt mean from animal anything.. what are live and
active cultures!!!
Deana, Corona, Ca
Response from OptiBac Probiotics
Hi Deana,
Thanks for taking the time to leave your comment.
This is an interesting point that you have raised - certainly any fermented product, whether food, drink or probiotic supplement - will contain micro-organisms. This is what we are referring to when we speak of the term 'live cultures' - in this case, they are bacteria or yeasts, but this term could also refer to viruses cultured in a laboratory for vaccination purposes!
If you are viewing the bacteria as 'animal' and are worried about consuming them, then we probably need to look at the implications of this in a little more detail. Firstly, we encounter millions - maybe billions or trillions - of microorganisms during the course of a normal day. They are not visible to the naked eye, and are present in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and pretty much everything we touch.
The other thing to consider is that, when we consume a probiotic supplement, or a yoghurt, the bacteria or yeasts these contain are not killed, but typically travel through the digestive system, and hopefully make a cosy home in our intestines or other nice, warm, moist areas of our body. Here, they receive bed and board from us, and in return they've evolved to offer us a wealth of health benefits. I'm sure you know that not bacteria are all friendly types, however, and so any nasties that enter the body should be kept under control by our resident armies of friendly flora if they are healthy and present in sufficient quantities.
We challenge their existence with the use of antibiotics, poor diet and a stressful lifestyle, so sometimes it's necessary to introduce fresh populations of good bacteria to 'keep the home fires burning!'
As for our range of products - some are cultured on a dairy medium as bacteria just love to feast on milk products, but some products in our product range are produced totally without any form of animal-derived medium. 'For every day EXTRA Strength', 'For those on antibiotics', 'Bifidobacteria & fibre', 'For women' and 'Saccharomyces boulardii' are completely dairy free and vegan. For more information, see our FAQ on the subject: https://www.optibacprobiotics.co.uk/faq/are-the-optibac-supplements-dairy-free-or-vegan
I hope that this helps to clarify the term a little for you, but don't forget that there's a wealth of info available on our very comprehensive FAQ page, or you can email me with any other questions you may have.
Wishing you (and your resident bacteria!) the very best of health,
Kerry
Dianne
Hey I am having a severe case of yeast infections. I eat yogurt with live culture but I keep getting a yeast infection. I want to know can a live proboitic help with this.
Response from OptiBac Probiotics
Hi Dianne,
Thanks for your question.
I'll reply to you directly with some suggestions that might help, but you may also wish to read this page about why you might choose probiotic supplements as well as yoghurts https://www.optibacprobiotics.co.uk/faq/why-choose-optibac-supplements-over-natural-bio-yoghurt
Warm wishes,
Kerry