This week, Nutrition Diva is tackling new developments in fatty liver disease, but she had time for a quick answer to a listener question, that we thought we'd share here:
“I have been listening to your podcast for decades and thank you for your unbiased information. I have heard that milk kefir has many more beneficial probiotics than yogurt made from the same whole milk. Has there been any research to confirm this claim?”
The main difference between these two fermented dairy products is that kefir is fermented with a combination of lactobacillus bacteria and yeasts, while yogurt contains only lactobacillus bacteria.
As they grow and divide, lactobacillus bacteria digest the lactose in milk and produce lactic acid, which gives yogurt and kefir their characteristic tartness.
In kefir, the fermenting yeast also produces carbon dioxide, which makes the kefir slightly effervescent (fizzy), and small amounts of alcohol.
(Most of the commercially produced kefir in the U.S. contains little to no alcohol so it doesn’t have to be labeled or sold as an alcoholic drink. Homemade kefir can contain up to 2% alcohol. By comparison, wine contains between 8 and 12% alcohol.)
Because it’s made with both bacteria and yeast, kefir does have a greater variety of microorganisms. I don’t believe there’s enough research to declare that one is more beneficial to human health than the other, however. I’d go with whichever you prefer—or both!
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