Experts say live yogurts are not all they seem

Scientists say dairy producers in Germany are selling probiotic yogurts which do not contain enough positive organisms to have a beneficial effect. Products are also being sold which feature organisms other than those claimed on the label.
The Federal Research Institute for Nutrition in Karlsruhe has just completed tests on eight different so-called probiotic yogurts claimed to feature the organism Lactobacillus acidophilus. The institute reports that some products were found to have no traces of the bacteria. Instead, other, related Lactobacilli bacteria were isolated.
Those yogurts that did contain the claimed probiotic bacteria proved not to contain sufficient numbers to do any appreciable good in the human digestion system. Institute scientists point out that in order to have a therapeutic effect, one gramme of yogurt should contain at least 100,000 living cells of the probiotic strain. Nearly all the yogurts tested had less than this.