I had reservations about people younger than around age 40 or 45 consuming our powerful L. reuteri yogurt. My reservations arose from the fact that L. reuteri is a potent trigger for hypothalamic release of the hormone oxytocin that causes uterine contraction. Because of this effect, an injection of oxytocin is given to pregnant mothers at term to induce labor.
We can surmise from this that it is therefore not a good idea for a pregnant woman to consume the yogurt, as it may risk inadvertent uterine contractions. I also reasoned that, because women having normal menstrual cycles have painful uterine contractions, I was concerned that boosting oxytocin might cause worsening of uterine cramps, though there is no evidence for or against any such effect of oxytocin during menstrual cycles.
I’ve done a lot of thinking about these issues the last few months. While there are still gaps in our knowledge, we know several things with confidence that help us understand how to take advantage of the magnificent health benefits of L. reuteri. We know that:
- L. reuteri is meant to be delivered to babies via mother’s milk. It is therefore safe for infants. There are dozens of studies in which 100 million CFUs (bacterial counts) have been administer to infants resulting in less colic, less regurgitation, and other health benefits with not a single adverse effect reported. There are also numerous studies in children given doses as high as 10 billion CFUs with not a single adverse effect reported.
- According to the discoverer of this microorganism, Dr. Gerhard Reuter, the majority of people in Western countries harbored L. reuteri in their guts up until the mid-twentieth century. Now, the number of people still harboring this organism has dropped to less than 1 in 10, likely reflecting our modern exposure to factors that disrupt our microbiomes such as intermittent antibiotics, herbicides and pesticides in foods, GMOs, chlorinated water, etc. But it suggests that we are meant to have this microorganism in our intestines.
- L. reuteri has been administered in clinical trials to people from a wide range of ages in counts as high as 20 billion CFUs per day to reverse constipation, suppress or eradicate H. pylori, accelerate skin healing, avoid antibiotic-associated diarrhea, suppress the fungus, Candida, and a number of viruses, among other applications. No adverse side-effects have been reported.
But here is my lingering reservation: The counts we generate in our L. reuteri yogurt, because we ferment for an unusually extended period of 36 hours and add prebiotic fibers that act essentially as fertilizer to generate higher counts, are likely in the 100 billion CFUs per 1/2 cup serving range. (We are about to embark on obtaining formal bacterial counts to see whether my supposition is correct or whether we need to readjust.) This is the way we’ve been doing it that results in extravagant oxytocin-mediated benefits such as the anorexigenic effect (appetite suppression), hugely accelerated healing, faster hair growth, increased strength and muscle mass, increased dermal collagen and reduction of skin wrinkles. Is this dose of L. reuteri safe for younger people, especially menstruating women?
Anecdotally and unexpectedly, a handful of ladies younger than 45 years old have told me that the intensity of their menstrual cramps, as well as the emotional turbulence of their periods, have diminished dramatically on the yogurt. Could it be that uterine contraction is triggered only during pregnancy when the uterus becomes receptive to oxytocin? I don’t know. But I think that we should conduct a small clinical trial in menstruating non-pregnant females to formally validate and quantify any such effects. Imagine we could make that claim: the yogurt substantially reduces the intensity of menstrual cycles. That would be huge.
But until we have better quantification, here is what I suggest doing for young people, including menstruating females. Make yogurt but do not follow my recipe for the L. reuteri yogurt. Instead, start with a couple tablespoons of a commercial yogurt containing live cultures of, say, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus, Bifidobacteria bifidum and others typically used to make conventional yogurt. Add 2 tablespoons prebiotic fiber, e.g., unmodified potato starch or inulin, per quart of organic half-and-half. (Remember: Make a slurry first with just a couple of tablespoons of half-and-half, then add the remainder. This keeps the prebiotic fibers from clumping.) Then add either your starting 10 crushed tablets of L. reuteri from Biogaia or 1-2 tablespoon of previously-made L. reuteri yogurt. The ferment as usual, but cut fermentation time to 18-24 hours. Crudely estimated, this will likely yield no more than 10-20 billion CFUs of L. reuteri per 1/2 cup serving. (I shall likewise be validating these estimates with formal bacterial counts in future.) The yogurt won’t be as thick and rich as our regular yogurt, and the flavors are slightly different. But this way, children and menstruating women can obtain the health benefits of L. reuteri and recolonize their colons with this species that was supposed to be there all along without being exposed to the ultra-high bacterial counts that our conventional L. reuteri yogurt contains.
Should children have this mixture 1x daily or more? I have a daughter with Epilepsy and I want to help her with this.
Melody wrote: «I have a daughter with Epilepsy and I want to help her with this.»
I posted some information on another blog post where you asked about this.
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I have been making the yogurt from organic half & half starting with the Biogaia tablets for a few weeks now, fermenting no less than 24 hours. I have about a cup every other day approximately. This is the first yogurt I have ever had that doesn’t upset my stomach and give me liver irritation under my right ribs. Even when I have made yogurt with organic everything from scratch in the past. I am also under 40 and haven’t experienced worsened menstrual cramps either. I think largely we just have to listen to our bodies and eat/not eat when and what they say to when it comes to generally healthy foods. If I feel adverse to eating it when I think about doing so or go to get some, I just don’t do it. Otherwise I think it is fantastic stuff. Still waiting for more visible benefits though.
Somebody mentioned to me that strains in commercial yogurt might be selected because they multiply quickly. If this is the case, your l. reuteri proportion would diminish with each batch. So, I would suggest keeping a stock of pure l. reuteri for seeding purposes, unless you want to spend a lot on the tablets.
John Es wrote: «Somebody mentioned to me that strains in commercial yogurt might be selected because they multiply quickly.»
That, plus there may be national regulations on precisely what bacteria are required for something sold as “yogurt”. In the US, for example, the FDA restricts retail yogurt to Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus.
re: «If this is the case, your l. reuteri proportion would diminish with each batch.»
{original reply deleted, as it confused the regular L.reut yogurt with the blend.}
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John Es wrote: «If this is the case, your l. reuteri proportion would diminish with each batch.»
I’ve made an inquiry about that. It’s not clear that the L.reuts would diminish. They also compete with other species by being somewhat antibacterial.
re: «So, I would suggest keeping a stock of pure l. reuteri for seeding purposes, unless you want to spend a lot on the tablets.»
Actually, if you do it the way I make the straight L.reut yogurt, that’s not a problem. Make a batch of L.r. that’s intended solely for use as starter, rather than using generational starter.
A further consideration in making blended batches is temperature. All of these species have their own preferences, and Bifido‘s range is pretty narrow — but based on what I could quickly discover, the ranges all overlap. 102°F (39°C) might be ideal for the mix.
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I turned 48 in May and am perimenopausal. I started making the original recipe of this yogurt in the spring and had been having it for about a 4-6 weeks when I experienced the worst abdominal cramps. It is not common for me to experience much cramping at all before my period. A couple of days later I started bleeding heavily. Very heavily. I’m sorry for the graphic description but I used the heaviest available products and within an hour I completely bled through. I must have changed my clothes several times that day. I called my obgyn and was told I would need a uterine ultrasound. Went to the hospital and had a uterine biopsy done at the same time. I don’t have PCOS and the tests came back fine. Nothing unusual in the ultrasound. I was given Progesterone pills to stop the bleeding and that worked. I couldn’t figure out what could have caused it other than possibly a hormone imbalance. I believe it was June of this year that Dr Davis came out with the recommendation for menstruating or pregnant women to avoid the i reuteri yogurt. I immediately stopped making the yogurt and since then my periods went back to normal. I would be reluctant to try it again until menopause.
Michelle V. wrote: «I believe it was June of this year that Dr Davis came out with the recommendation for menstruating or pregnant women to avoid the i reuteri yogurt. »
That’s correct. On this blog, it was: Who should NOT do the L. reuteri yogurt?
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Is there any chance that BioGaia’s reason for selling low-CFU tablets is because they are concerned about possible overgrowth of L. Reuteri?
Especially given that L.R. grows in places that other probiotic strains do not grow?
I am working on my third batch now. So far, so good. No noticeable changes in health, but I like the taste. Just wondering why BioGaia is so shy about delivering more CFUs?
Bill wrote: «Is there any chance that BioGaia’s reason for selling low-CFU tablets is because they are concerned about possible overgrowth of L. Reuteri?»
Well, a cynic might opine that the motivation is repeat sales, but other considerations strike me as more likely.
They may have wanted specifically to avoid the scenarios that gave rise to the cautions that Dr. Davis made in June (linked in the article above).
They would have tested the strain, and the product, on people consuming standard diets. People in this program aren’t on standard diets. Reactions and benefits might vary, considerably.
The tablets offer a modest set of specific benefits, and Biogaia might have been satisfied with delivering those.
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OK; all possible.
Since L. Reuteri grows in places that other probiotic strains do not, should we be concerned about the possibility of overgrowth?
Bill wrote: «…should we be concerned about the possibility of overgrowth?»
I personally can’t say with any certainty, but it seems not. On the contrary, it may have a role in correcting overgrowths of other species, such as H.pylori and SIBO generally.
As L.reut is a bacterium, anyone who wants to track it can use any of the microbiome sequencing tests. It wouldn’t require the full spectrum of Viome.
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I think I read somewhere that Dr. Davis doesn’t recommend if you have had estrogen positive cancer. Is this correct?
Terri wrote: «I think I read somewhere that Dr. Davis doesn’t recommend if you have had estrogen positive cancer. Is this correct?»
This would be the article you recall. The present article only partly shortens that list.
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Love this thread!!!!
Was so excited to see the title that I simply could not get my son in bed soon enough so that I could read it!!!
My kiddo is 11, special medical needs, Chromosome 6p25 deletion and a 7q21 duplication. Fars2 Mitochondrial Disease, Retractible Epilepsy, Gastroparesis and malabsorption, has palliative care following him and is in respiratory failure! (*J (Jejunal- mid intestines, bypassing the stomach) -Tube fed ; Keto-Cal formula-1.5 calorie/cc. ) Asperger’s, and a few other diagnoses that I won’t even bother typing out. You get the picture!
So, although I had read your warnings about children and younger folks (*Yes, those kids under 50 🙂 ) using the L. reuteri, I knew we had NOTHING TO LOSE and I wanted to try it. I wanted to see if my son would gain any benefit from the LR.
He is deficient in Lactase, so I have been making it with Coconut Milk.
Nothing more than 10 crushed tabs, to start the yogurt, the cream off the top of 2 – 13.5 oz cans of Coconut milk (*Reserve the coconut water in the bottom of the can. It is great for cooking. ) MIX THOROUGHLY, making sure you have incorporated ALL the crushed tablets. I tbsp Sugar completely mixed in. heat oven to 110 and then shut off. Every hour for 6 hours I pull it out, mix it, and then while it is out of the oven, I heat the oven back up to 110. Overnight, I just allow it to stay in oven, and breathe…………… Upon arising in the morning I remove from oven, reheat and continue doing so until I have met my 24 – 36 hours of fermentation.
I then G (*Feed it into his stomach, through a G port ) twice a day *60ml)
And here is the exciting part;
Three plus months into my LR experiment with my GI issue kid, his gut has calmed itself to a CRAZY WONDERFUL AMAZING LEVEL!!!!
He no longer runs to the bathroom every 5 seconds. He does not complain of a stomach ache nonstop. He is a happy, spirited, energized (Kids with mito are not energized) talkative, friendly, outgoing, NON-CONVULSING kid, who is suddenly growing an appetite and actually asking for foods, and gaining weight!!! He was below the 1st percentile in height and weight a year ago, at 49 in tall and 54 pounds! He is now an astounding 73 pounds and 4’11 in tall!!!
I have him completely weaned off of his GI meds, anticonvulsants, and pain medication. He is currently only using Clonidine and LR yogurt!!!!!!!
You may have said in the past that this is NOT FOR the YOUNG FOLKS, but I am OVERJOYED to see that you have called yourself out on that, because I am in total agreement with you that this stuff is AMAZING!!!