Food MArketing & Technology In India Food Marketing & Technology In India Vol 10 | Page 48

Interview
YAKULT
In an exclusive Interview, with Dr Neerja
Hajela, Head of Science and Regulatory
Affairs at Yakult Danone India Pvt. Ltd.,
Nedabia Ahilya Batra, Editor of Food
Marketing and Technology talks about
Yakult’s history and objective, and what
makes probiotics unique as compared
to fermented foods.
Most people confuse traditional
fermented foods for probiotic.
Are they the same or is there a
difference? Could you elaborate?
In
India
traditional
fermented
foods have often been confused for
probiotics. This is not surprising since
curd, lassi and such foods which
contain lactic acid bacteria and are an
inherent part of our culture and an
integral part of our diet. However,
these products are not standardized
for their probiotic content in terms of
the strain of bacteria, live number of
bacteria, viability of the bacteria at the
target site (intestine) and their ability
to impart scientifically proven strain
specific health benefits. Therefore,
while one cannot undermine the
nutritional benefit of traditional
fermented foods, they cannot be
classified as true probiotics.
According to the definition of
Probiotics given by Food Agricultural
Organization (FAO) and the World
Health
Organization
(WHO),
probiotics are scientifically tested
bacteria that reach the intestine live in
large numbers (more than 1 billion cell
forming units) to impart a scientifically
proven health benefit of better
intestinal health and immunity.
Therefore,
traditional
fermented
foods provide nutrition in the form
of calcium, proteins, vitamins and
minerals whereas scientifically proven
probiotics help to improve intestinal
Dr Neerja Hajela
health and ensure better digestion of
food and absorption of nutrients. They
also help build immunity and reduce
risk of diseases.
The two categories cannot be compared
but go hand-in-hand for better overall
health.
Please share a brief about Yakult.
The history of Yakult goes back to
the early 1900’s when Japan was
an economically weak country and
most people including children and
the elderly suffered from infectious
diseases like cholera, diarrhoea
and dysentery. Troubled by the
deteriorating health condition in
Japan, Dr. Minoru Shirota, a Japanese
Microbiologist at the Kyoto University
focused on identifying a way for
improving intestinal health of the
people in Japan. He firmly believed
that a healthy intestine was linked to
a long disease free life. He successfully
isolated the unique probiotic bacteria
– Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota
that could reach the intestine live
to improve intestinal health and
immunity. He used the probiotic to
make Yakult, a probiotic fermented
milk drink which was launched in
Japan in 1935. Being a firm believer
Food Marketing & Technology
48
August 2019
of preventive medicine his endeavour
was to improve the health of people
with thus functional food. In fact, the
launch of Yakult in 1935 heralded
the concept of Functional Foods in
Japan which cover the entire gamut of
nutrition and health.
What are the USPs of Yakult
and is it true that it cannot be
consumed if it reaches a certain
temperature? This is a question
many people have been asking
around on blogs.
Yakult is is a probiotic fermented milk
drink which was launched in Japan in
1935. Every small bottle contains 6.5
billion of the unique probiotic strain
- Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota.
It is backed by more than 80 years
of scientific research and more than
100 human studies across the globe
including India. The study that was
conducted in India at the National
Institute of Cholera and Enteric
Diseases (NICED), Kolkata on children
in the age group of 1–5 years showed
that consumption of Yakult for 12 weeks
reduced the incidence of diarrhoea
by 14 percent. This was significant
given that more than 3 lakh children
in this age group in India die due to
diarrhoea every year. Our studies