Lactobacillus reuteri is an endlessly fascinating microorganism that can inhabit the human intestinal tract. This is the bacterial species we have been cultivating in our L. reuteri yogurt using the two strains, ATCC PTA 6475 and DSM 17938, that boost hypothalamic release of oxytocin and thereby smooths skin wrinkles, accelerates healing, turns off appetite, builds muscle, preserves bone density, and yields other spectacularly beneficial effects.
Animals such as pigs, mice, dogs, sheep, cows, and birds have abundant quantities of L. reuteri (of various strains) in their guts, but only 4% of modern humans have it, i.e., less than 1 in 20 people have L. reuteri among the thousands of species in their intestinal tracts and have them in small numbers. In other words, most modern people do not have this wonderfully beneficial microorganism and, if they do, have them in relatively small numbers.
Curiously, the discoverer of L. reuteri, Dr. Gerhard Reuter, observed that this species was much more common in humans during the mid-twentieth century, its prevalence in humans having dwindled over the last 50 years for unclear reasons. (You and I can easily speculate, however, that the onslaught of microbiome-disrupting factors in modern life have likely played a role.) L reuteri must therefore be among the species more susceptible to the disruptions of modern life.
Recall that, not only is L. reuteri a potent provocateur of vagal nerve-mediated hypothalamic release of oxytocin, but it also plays an important probiotic role in the upper gastrointestinal tract, unlike nearly all other microorganisms that preferentially colonize the colon, i.e., the lower gastrointestinal tract. L. reuteri may therefore play an important role in preventing or suppressing small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, as well as H. pylori that causes stomach and duodenal ulcers along with a long list of other health conditions. SIBO, in which unhealthy bacterial species have ascended up the length of the gastrointestinal tract, a situation associated with fibromyalgia, restless leg syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, and other common conditions, is now an epidemic on a par with that of obesity and overweight.
How much has this and other shifts in microbial populations played a role in encouraging type 2 diabetes, obesity, overeating, autoimmune conditions, etc., i.e., health conditions that are wildly out-of-control in the U.S.? Given the oxytocin-stimulating effects of L. reuteri that cultivate empathy and connectedness to the people around you, now largely gone in 96% of people, could the disappearance of L. reuteri underlie some of the social changes we have witnessed in modern times such as isolation and gun violence? We can only speculate, as there is no way to confidently connect a cause-effect relationship.
Bottom line: Make the L. reuteri yogurt and enjoy all the age-reversing, health-restoring benefits it provides. Then share with others, show them how to make it themselves. Maybe you and I will help make this world a better, safer place, too.
I started doing a starter batch of the yogurt using 2 BioGaia Gastrus tablets in a single serving 6 oz. jar with a teaspoon of inulin. Then use this with a full batch (1/2 gal) of half and half. Ferment for around 18 hours or until it firms up. Do this after 4-5 full batches. Keeps the strain stronger I would think. Also saves on the tablets that are rather expensive.
Vaughn wrote: «I started doing a starter batch of the yogurt using 2 BioGaia Gastrus tablets in a single serving 6 oz. jar with a teaspoon of inulin. Then use this with a full batch (1/2 gal) of half and half. Ferment for around 18 hours…»
How long did you let the starter batch run?
I’m also doing starter batches, rather than generational starter. The starter was made from (10) tablets, but I unintentionally let it run 39-40 hours. I made just enough to fill two ice cube trays. Those cubes (one per quart) are then used as starter for subsequent consumption batches.
I plan to use the last two cubes to make more starter. I don’t expect to need to use more tablets for a year or more, perhaps indefinitely.
re: «Ferment for around 18 hours…»
What is left for 18? Starter or consumption batches? I let my consumption batches run 36.
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I have been making BioGaia Gastrus L-R “coconut cream” yogurt.
I simply use 4 – 13.5 Oz cans of pure organic Coconut milk. Open the can, scoop off ALL the cream, leaving a few OZ of coconut water in the bottom of the can. (Reserve the water and add it later to a drink or another fabulous recipe.)
Scoop all the cream, from all four cans, into a Ball Jar, crush 10 probiotic tablets, mix crushed probiotics into the coconut cream, making sure that the probiotic is MIXED WELL!
Cover Jar loosely with cheesecloth. Place in 110-degree oven. TURN OFF oven, and just let the probiotics do their job!!!! I let mine sit for 48 hours, with a thorough mixing, while the oven reheats to 110. Turn the oven back off, place the yogurt back in, and leave it there until your 48 hours is up!! No need for gelatin to thicken it!!!! THIS STUFF IS SO THICK it is CRAZYYYYYYYYYYYY I am better than DQ with this. I can turn my jar of yogurt upside down and the stuff does not move!!! haha
It’s fantastic frozen too. We add monk-fruit and blueberries when ready to eat <3
AMAZING! ENJOY
Vicki wrote: «I simply use 4 — 13.5 Oz cans of pure organic Coconut milk. Open the can, scoop off ALL the cream,…»
Thanks for the report. So you’re not adding any carbohydrate substrate at all? No sugar, no starches, no inulin?
I ask because coconut cream contains nil carbs. Some NF panels report zero. What are the L.reuts metabolizing?
For anyone else interested in a non-diary Biogaia® Gastrus® yogurt, a member of the subscription site posted this recipe:
Daphne’s L-reuteri coconut milk yogurt UPDATED-no muss, no fuss, NOT vegan
which is visible to non-subscribers. I haven’t tried it myself. Notice that it includes 3 carbs: inulin, tapioca and maple syrup.
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And you know, you are right! No carbs. However, the assumption is that it would not thicken without any additional carbohydrates, and it is MORE than THICK!!!
I am going to add inulin and a tbs of sugar to it this next time.
However, I am still overjoyed by the outcome, even if it is JUST from the probiotics! To have a child who is feeling like a normal kiddo for the first time in his life! THAT is a miracle to this mama!
Vicki Bowman wrote: «I am still overjoyed by the outcome, even if it is JUST from the probiotics!»
well the Biogaia® Gastrus® is an evidence-based probiotic, and the concentrated coconut milk is a source of great fats. So even, as is likely, there has been no material colony growth, you’ve hit on something that provides real benefit.
re: «And you know, you are right! No carbs.»
I’m tempted to say: don’t mess with success. But, at some point you might try a batch that has some net or prebiotic carb added to it. Even if effects are merely the same, a bonus is that you can save some off for use as starter, and save a bunch on B® G® tabs going forward.
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I gained weight doing the protocol. Regular greek yogurt and other dairy products were never a problem for me so I was surprised when I put on weight. While looking for an explanation, found this study:
https://www.nature.com/articles/ijo2011153
Barbara wrote: «I gained weight doing the protocol.»
What protocol, and in the context of what nutritional program?
I ask because the Undoctored program has several Protocols on the subscription site, but L.reut yogurt is not one of them. It’s an experiment (and it presumes that people are otherwise following the Undoctored or 2014+ Wheat Belly program).
In particular, the gut flora cultivation aspect of the program needs to have been engaged: daily mixed and varied prebiotic fiber, courses of high potency multi-strain probiotics as might be indicated, and no issues with the presumptive test for SIBO.
re: «…found this study…»
Thanks for the link. That paper is frustrating in that it doesn’t get down to strains of Lactobacillus Reuteri. And specific strains matter.
re: «…so I was surprised when I put on weight.»
It’s the first such report that I recall. Let’s see if we can puzzle out what’s happening.
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I probably should have said program instead of protocol. I have been following the wheatbelly lifestyle for 3 years now with great success. I did the l. reteuri challenge last summer. 1/2 cup per day for a month. I fell under all the requirements to participate. It was the first time in those 3 years that I gained weight. Normally I would lose or stall…gaining was never a problem till I did the yogurt challenge. I am still trying to get rid of those 2 kilos. And its now november 🙁
Barbara wrote: «I have been following the wheatbelly lifestyle for 3 years now with great success.»
Any particular issues with the 20 grams/day of mixed and varied prebiotic fiber?
re: «It was the first time in those 3 years that I gained weight.»
Have you any metabolic markers from that period, such as FBG, post-meal BGs, HbA1c and/or TG?
re: «I am still trying to get rid of those 2 kilos.»
There’s a checklist, if you haven’t already checked it all off.
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What protocol are you referring to?
I like many others find the Biogaia® Gastrus yogurt to be appetite suppressing.
Weight gain requires a dietary caloric surplus.
Gregory wrote: «I like many others find the Biogaia® Gastrus yogurt to be appetite suppressing.»
Which is one of the reasons why we don’t very much care about calories in the programs, and specifically discount CICO. The type and source of the calories completely trumps the number of calories.
re: «Weight gain requires a dietary caloric surplus.»
True, but that can be a shockingly small number in various scenarios and pathologies. As Eric Westman puts it: calories count, but don’t need to be counted.
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I follow the wheatbelly program. Only thing I changed was subbing the l. reteuri yogurt for the store bought greek yogurt I was using before. Before adding the sekf made yogurt, I would stall or lose. Never gained in the 3 years I have followed this lifestyle.
No disagreement here.
I am aware of the fundamental problems with CICO, and certainly aware it
needs little if any consideration within the context of being ” UnDoctorted ” .
But when all is said and done, you have to add mass, to gain mass. ( and vice versa )
As with doctors who are reluctant to advise their patients they are overweight ( .. many of the
doctors being overweight themselves ) , I think there is a reluctance within more forward reaching programs like ours, to bring up CICO, as if it somehow violates the party line.
We sometimes dance around the ” weight loss stall “, by reiterating the need to adhere to ALL the protocols, and side issues like gut flora correction, while ignoring the reality of CICO.
GDG
Gregory wrote: «I think there is a reluctance within more forward reaching programs like ours, to bring up CICO, as if it somehow violates the party line.»
Nah. It’s in there. (#5)
But when the issue really is excess calories, it is almost certainly net carbs, and not net fat or net protein.
re: «…and side issues like gut flora correction…»
It’s looking less and less like a side show all the time. The problem is, we are in the dark ages of understanding what eubiosis might be.
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In calling it a side issue, I had no intention to minimize it. In my experience it seems to be self correcting as are other health issues being addressed by Undoctored.
I realize there are exceptions to be dealt with on a case by case basis..
Gregory wrote: «In calling it a side issue, I had no intention to minimize it.»
Well, it only entered the program in 2014, so none of the WB books prior to that even mention it. But now under the spotlight, it appears that dysbiosis is a pervasive public health problem.
re: «In my experience it seems to be self correcting as are other health issues being addressed by Undoctored.»
It would be nice if that were true, but in a non-trivial fraction of cases, it appears not, which is why, for example, the program has since developed a SIBO Protocol, and is laying the groundwork for an H.pylori protocol.
CICO is worth discussing from time to time just to remind the readership of why we ignore it. CICO is a consequence of the underlying provocations, and not the cause. Most advocates harping on CICO (not you) are using it as a not-so-subtle form of carb shaming, if not fat shaming (which we don’t do here, because, as Tom Naughton puts it — it’s a matter of chemistry, not character). Plus, {anything}-shaming usually just doesn’t work.
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I’ve been making this yogurt for awhile now. I’ve tried heavy cream, half and half, making it in small jars in my yogurt maker etc … It has always come out thick and heavy on top and thin and liquid on the bottom. Twice now I have tried making it in my instant pot going 24 to 30 hours and it’s coming out more like curds and whey rather than yogurt. Crumbly solids with separated whey. I am trying to blend it together and drink 1/2 a cup a day, I season it with salt and pepper and it reminds me of buttermilk, yum. I’m just puzzled as to why it’s turning out like this. Any thought? Am I the only one experiencing this? Thanks
Teri Garcia wrote: «It has always come out thick and heavy on top and thin and liquid on the bottom.»
Mine is usually thick on top, creamy in the middle, and thick on the bottom. I think I understand the thick-on-the-bottom bit, because the potato starch has a tendency to sediment all by itself (but if the whole thing is well mixed when adding the starter, that strata is fermented).
Anyway, some things to ponder … what are you using for starter in continuing batches? Generational (batch-to-batch), portions of a dedicated starter batch (what I do), or new tablets each time (expensive)?
re: «…instant pot…»
What temperature does it hold? If much over 105°F, growth rate is probably slower than at 97.
re: «…24 to 30 hours…»
Recipe is 36 (and what I use).
re: «Crumbly solids with separated whey.»
If you want to separate the whey, you can freeze it for use as starter (which is what I used to do).
re: «…blend it together…»
Ditto. I no longer fret about the layers, and just mix it all up before transfer to jars in the fridge.
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I heat my milk to 180 degrees, then let it cool to about 110 degrees, then gradually adding the last pot of yoghurt from the previous batch and stirring it all in. Occasionally I add extra inunlin. Then I use my yoghurt maker. It comes out very thick and creamy.
Is there a simple way to make this 🙂
Ken wrote: «Is there a simple way to make this?»
Once you have figured out an incubator/reactor, it’s pretty straightforward, which may not be what you had in mind for simple.
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I added some spare single cream to a batch of yogurt, it came out like heavy whipped cream. The next batch I used some as the starter – its fizzy at the bottom & very tangy – have I taken it too far