Lifeway Kefir and Ulcerative Colitis - An Expose

[David]

The more I research IBD around the internet, the more I come across what I feel are underhanded marketing techniques. Companies and people are absolutely preying upon people with IBD. Is Lifeway Kefir, a rather large company AND a sponsor of the CCFA engaging in marketing techniques that are rather lacking? What did I find?

1. Lifeway Kefir sponsors the CCFA. Obviously they are targeting people with IBD. How does Kefir benefit people with Ulcerative Colitis or other forms of IBD?

2. http://www.lifeway.net/_ms/Default.asp is their webpage on Kefir and Ulcerative Colitis. What does it say?

A:

In addition to boosting immunity, improving lactose intolerance, fixing bad breath and fighting the flu, Lifeway kefir can also hold its own when it comes to Ulcerative Colitis.

Can hold it's own? What the heck does THAT mean?

B:

Once you're diagnosed, your physician will help you chart the best course of action for treatment. But have you ever considered kefir as an effective supplement to your medication and therapy? The probiotics can help quell diarrhea - this UC patient went from battling diarrhea 10 or more times per day to normal bowel function

THIS UC PATIENT?! Oooh! Must be good? Who IS this UC patient we ask? The "UC Patient" in the article is the mother of a son whose doctor THOUGHT he MIGHT have "COLITIS" (I hear there's more than one kind but what do I know) but before the colonoscopy, sent the son to the store for some LIFEWAY KEFIR. I see. Now, as someone who has done a ton of marketing in his life, this article sure smelled of marketing rather than a mother talking about her son. So I researched the author, "Published by Charlene Collins. Charlene Collins is a retired licensed practical nurse from Bethlehem, Georgia." A little research on Charlene Collins took me to this page which confirms that she is a Ghost Writer.

Moving along with the Lifeway Kefir page:

C:

And according to this Johns Hopkins article, probiotic therapy with Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacteria infantis has been shown to significantly improve symptoms and quality of life in patients with irritable bowel syndrome, which is similar to UC.

Good news everyone, everything we thought we knew is wrong. It turns out that IBS is similar to UC and IBD! Who woulda thunk it?

Is Lifeway Kefir preying upon people with IBD? Are they engaging in underhanded marketing techniques? Honest mistakes? A marketing department intern gone rogue?

What's your opinion?

What I know is that there are way too many people and companies out there preying upon those of us with IBD.

 

[DustyKat]

I would be hard pushed to believe that in the world of marketing that anything is an honest mistake.

From my perspective as a parent these type of companies and their claims clearly target the "guilt" we feel as a parent...

Our guilt at our inability to take this bloody disease away from our children.

Our guilt at seeing our children in pain and suffering and knowing all we can do is hold them, soothe them and hold their hearts in our hands.

Our guilt at having to make life changing decisions for our children.

Our guilt at putting drugs into our children that have the potential to produce horrendous side effects.

Our guilt that if we don't put these drugs into them they may well die.

Our guilt that our children take more medication now than we have in our entire lives

Our guilt that our children will never have a normal childhood or adulthood.

Our guilt at what their future holds and our inability to do anything about it.

Our guilt that perhaps we were responsible for passing this disease to our children.

How do I feel about companies that purport to offer hope to desperate people, that imply that by going with conventional medicine I am effectively killing my child and am akin to a monster?...

I hate the way they make me feel.

I hate that for a fleeting moment they have me doubting myself.

I hate that they imply I am a misinformed idiot.

Most of all I hope more than anything that they, whoever they are, never, ever have to experience what I have. That they have healthy children and they thank their bloody stars every F@#$ing day for the blessing they have.

Dusty. xxx

 

[handle]

It's hearsay and anecdotal information masquerading as scientific research. True scientific and medical research is bound by very strict rules and reviews for accuracy. They seem to get away with it because it is only marketing/advertising hype. Whether or not there is a case against them for deliberately misleading the public only a lawyer could determine. I believe it is incredibly misleading at the very least. They should be made to write "Advertisement" at the top of these kind of releases.(I don't think the CCFA would back their outrageous claims!)

 

[David]

It appears I'm not alone. I found the following from Dr. Rich Charlebois:

http://skepticemia.blogspot.com/2010/07/kefir-mythology.html

Another website, this one for Lifeway Foods, claims that Kefir helps with Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis (UC) because those diseases are "similar to Irritable Bowel Syndrome." In fact, Crohn's and UC are not related to Irritable Bowel Syndrome at all (other than the fact that they all affect the bowel). Without descending too deeply into technical details, Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis are inflammatory conditions of the gut that, when present, effectively rule out Irritable Bowel Syndrome as a cause of abdominal pain.

Two clicks more on my Mac took me to PubMed, the web portal of the National Library of Medicine, where I found absolutely no randomized, controlled trials supporting any of these claims. It appears, then, that Kefir is a yogurt-like food that may have some as yet poorly established benefits of a "probiotic" nature, now being promoted--with no reliable research support--as a cure-all for all sorts of symptoms and diseases.

What's the harm, one might ask. Well, in this case, Kefir is not being promoted simply as a nutritious food (which it might very well be), like cheese or yogurt. Purveyors are making health claims about this product. Some patients suffering from symptoms like chronic abdominal pain, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, nausea, fatigue, colon cancer, herpes, and ADHD are listening in, and buying it. This can cause unsafe delays in actually working up, diagnosing, and treating potentially dangerous illnesses. It can also foster a false sense of security in a patient who believes he is adequately protecting himself or others from the effects of a serious infection when in fact it isn't true.

In summary, there is no reliable evidence that Kefir is anything more than a (moderately disgusting) food. The patient with the Kefir turned out to have a Helicobacter pylori infection which I treated with antibiotics and an acid reducing medication.

 

[Entchen]

David, sounds like you've got a fire lit under you. If you're thinking that, as a group, we might take some action...I'm in! Also, I regularly review articles submitted for publication to conferences (including one conference in the medical field), and psychology journals, and occasionally (scholarly) books, and would be happy to use my training in research methodology and stats to join in picking apart "reports" and papers and finding out what (if any) scientific research has been done on particular topics, if you'd like.

 

[tiloah]

has been shown to significantly improve symptoms and quality of life in patients with irritable bowel syndrome, which is similar to UC.

:rof:

Sorry, I should be angry and take this seriously, but wow that is just a mind blowingly stupid thing to say.

 

[HANNELED]

Kefir

It is unfortunate that people write testimonials without disclosing the truth - Lifeway never should have stooped to such depths to "sell" their product. It only makes it harder for those who are honest. I copied most of the info below from pretty good sites on the internet and I trust the information because of my experience and what I learned from my mother. As a Scandinavian I was brought up with Kefir and recently used it in combination with BioK (a pharmaceutical grade probiotic 50 Billion per dose twice per day) to "cure" a bout of C.difficile colitis in my mother who is 90 years old. The physicians were surprised that their antibiotics got rid of it so quickly - in 4 days! They are now doubting that she even had c.difficle colitis! I didn't tell them about administering these products to her because they would have prohibited it. I just did what my mother who was a nurse in Finland told me to do to treat my daughter when she had a particularly virulent diarrhea as a young child and needed hospitalization.

Both Kefir and Yogurt are cultured milk products…but they contain different types of beneficial bacteria. Yogurt contains transient beneficial bacteria that keep the digestive system clean and provide food for the friendly bacteria that reside there. But kefir can actually colonize the intestinal tract, a feat that yogurt cannot match.

It also contains beneficial yeasts, such as Saccharomyces kefir and Torula kefir, which dominate, control and eliminate destructive and cancer causing pathogenic yeasts in the body. They do so by penetrating the mucosal lining where unhealthy yeast and bacteria reside, forming a virtual SWAT team that housecleans and strengthens the intestines. Hence, the body becomes more efficient in resisting such pathogens as E. coli, c.difficle and intestinal parasites. Kefir also "patches" holes in the intestinal wall caused by colitis. That being said Kefir is no panacea - it is only part of a good wholesome plan to recover from colitis along with what most people reading this site know and consuming quality foods and elminating allergens.

Kefir’s active yeast and bacteria provide more nutritive value than yogurt by helping digest the foods that you eat and by keeping the colon environment clean and healthy. Because the curd size of kefir is smaller than yogurt, it is also easier to digest, which makes it a particularly excellent, nutritious food for babies, the elderly and people experiencing chronic fatigue and digestive disorders.

Kefir contains several major strains of friendly bacteria not commonly found in yogurt, Lactobacillus Caucasus, Leuconostoc and Acetobacter species. Other microorganisms present in the grains include lactic acid bacteria, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lb delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, Lb helveticus, Lb casei subsp. pseudoplantarum and Lb brevis, a variety of yeasts, such as Kluyveromyces, Torulopsis, and Saccharomyces, acetic acid bacteria among others. They give kefir excellent keeping qualities by keeping putrifying bacteria that might otherwise colonise the milk at bay. They've been shown to inhibit both salmonella and E. Coli in laboratory tests.

There is much science behind Kefir but unfortunately I cannot translate it from Russian, French, Finnish, Polish, Norwegian, or Swedish et al. There is some science being done on Kefir in English speaking countries now though. The Vikings brought Kefir back to Scandinavia 1000 years ago when returning from their exploration (some call it rape and pillage) of Russia. It comes from the Caucuses in Georgia where the people eat it daily. They are the longest lived people on earth - somewhere between 105 to 130 years of age. The don't generally get cancer. Anyway Scandinavians have used and known about Kefir for centuries.

North America and PubMed aren't the only sources of scientific research being done on various illnesses and possibly helpful organisms. Our failure to acknowledge we can learn from other countries is shortsighted. Just because we don't understand or there isn't any research in English doesn't make it a quakery. Just because someone misdiagnosed a person and suggested they use Kefir to cure something doesn't mean Kefir is a bad thing to consume. A friend of mine had a highly contageous infection in her body and was told it was impossible to get rid of without a year or more of toxic drugs. She was originally from Slovakia so she called her doctors there - they told her to come back for treatment that it was easily treated (no doctor offered her Kefir in North America or Slovakia and she didn't take any). After 4 weeks she returned infection free yet her North American doctors told her she probably didn't have the infection after all because it was impossible to treat it so quickly (sound familiar - see above my mother). They also refused to treat her according to the follow-up treatment plan (written in English) given to her by the doctors in Slovakia. She had to fly back three more times over the next 6 months. I see this as an arrogant attitude that denies us all of more opportunities to learn and be healthy.

 

[Rebecca85]

You do know that 'colitis' is different from 'ulcerative colitis'? You give a couple of examples of Kefir treating colitis caused by bacteria. Presumably by the action of inhibiting organisms such as salmonella and e. coli. However, UC is different, in that it is the body attacking its own tissues.

 

[HANNELED]

Yes I do know that and should have addressed that issue as well. There is no harm at all in Kefir being used for people with UC. They just need to choose the right kind whether it be milk based or water-sugar based depending on their sensitivities. Kefir provides the right kind of bacteria to aid in disgestion and is very helpful if incorporated into the diet. In Scandinavia people with UC are recommended to incorporate fermented foods into their diets to make it easier to digest food.

 

[Ya noy]

I don't have Crohn's and honestly have no idea, but I've been drinking a glass of kefir, pretty much every morning for over 20 years. I just don't like milk much, and felt I should be consuming some kind of dairy product. I just love kefir. I also much prefer the Ludwig brand of kefir over Lifeway, but well, managed to get some grains and now we make our own.

My husband never drank kefir because he thought it was nasty, but he suffered from chronic colitis for many years. He took all kinds of meds and was even hospitalized for it a couple of times. It got so bad that he would say, that at first, he was terrified he was going to die, and then, he was even more terrified that he was going to have to live! We had an entire cabinet filled with both prescription and over the counter digestive medications.

Then, during an especially bad attack, he finally gave my kefir a shot. In fact, he drank the entire bottle, and the next morning, his colitis was gone. He's been drinking a glass of kefir every morning, ever since, for almost 10 years now, and hasn't had a single reoccurrence of colitis, or any digestive problems, whatsoever. Zero, none!

Thank God. Because some of those meds were making him act, well, insane and paranoid. Especially when his doctors kept trying to prescribe steroids, like prednisone, which aside from giving him hives, made him hyper and irrational. It got so bad there, I was thinking I would have to institutionalize him. His insanity left along with the meds.

We find it amusing that, all of a sudden, so many have been jumping on the band wagon, but also feel some of the claims made about kefir are ridiculous. I'm not seeing how kefir could possibly cure tuberculosis, cancer or ADHD, but it does ease the tummy, and benefits the entire digestive tract.

I don't sell my kefir grains and don't view the drinking of kefir as a religion in need of converts, so I don't really care what anyone thinks. I also believe that everyone's different, and what works for one, doesn't necessarily work for all.

But I wouldn't recommend bothering with the "Body Ecology" or any of the other so-called kefir starters. Those only contain a small handful of the many beneficial cultures and yeasts normally found in kefir. Even the Lifeway kefir contains a larger variety of live and active cultures.

However, while Lifeway claims to contain a variety of at least 10 different cultures, true kefir grains reportedly contain over 35 different beneficial cultures, and at least according to the claims made, is 100+ times more potent.

But you don't even necessarily have to buy the grains. Kefir grains double in size every 20 days. Start with one tablespoon, and within a couple of months, you've have more grains than you know what to do with. Many offer their excess grains on Craigslist for a couple of bucks, or even free of charge.

So, no need to buy your kefir from any company, and in fact, there's more health benefits in making your own.

Or not. Again, everyone's different.

If you'd rather buy kefir, I seriously recommend searching for the Ludwig brand, which, in my humble opinion, simply tastes better. The Ludwig brand is usually carried by smaller specialty groceries. We buy ours at our local polish deli.

 

[Ihurt]

I drink an organic kefir that is 100% lactose free. It is called Green Valley Organics kefir. I get it at whole foods.

I am not sure how well probitoics work, but I do think they have some benefits. I have been on antibitoics for a long while due to other health issus( chronic UTI's) and I take heavy doses of probitoics daily. I take 50 billion(2 caps a day) by renew life( cirtiical care). I also take 1 floragen 3 daily as well a florastor daily. I also drink like 8 ounces of the organic kefir daily. I still am having intestinal issues though and pain. Not sure what to think. I do however think that it does help somewhat. I mean I am certain that I would be much more of a mess if I was not doing the probitoics. Kefir is a good supplement, but I think the capsules( 50 billion or more) get more into your system. ( you have to get a good product though, ones with the enetric coating are better, they survive the gut acid until they reach the inetstines.)

 

[David]

I really don't have a problem with kefir. I drink it on occasion myself. My issue is with Lifeway kefir and how they're marketing it.

 

[Ya noy]

I drink an organic kefir that is 100% lactose free. It is called Green Valley Organics kefir. I get it at whole foods.

I am not sure how well probitoics work, but I do think they have some benefits. I have been on antibitoics for a long while due to other health issus( chronic UTI's) and I take heavy doses of probitoics daily. I take 50 billion(2 caps a day) by renew life( cirtiical care). I also take 1 floragen 3 daily as well a florastor daily. I also drink like 8 ounces of the organic kefir daily. I still am having intestinal issues though and pain. Not sure what to think. I do however think that it does help somewhat. I mean I am certain that I would be much more of a mess if I was not doing the probitoics. Kefir is a good supplement, but I think the capsules( 50 billion or more) get more into your system. ( you have to get a good product though, ones with the enetric coating are better, they survive the gut acid until they reach the inetstines.)

The problem with taking antibiotics is they kill the good bacteria along with the bad, which may be why the probiotics aren't having as much as an effect as desired.

It's not like I won't take antibiotics, but only as the last resort. I worked for a major medical association, where I developed a fear of meds. But also just finished an antibiotic regiment for a serious ear infection, so I don't always have a choice either.

I've tried the Green Valley organic kefir, and like Lifeway, also has only 10 kefir cultures, not the 35+ cultures found in homemade kefir. I don't believe any of the commercially made kefirs can offer the full spectrum.

@Dave, I have a problem with the deceptive marketing tactics being used to promote these types of products as well. Again, some of the claims made are ridiculous.

 

[Ihurt]

I agree, the antibiotics likely are why the probiotics are not working as well for me. I have had no choice in terms of taking them though. I get chronic Urinary tract infections and antibitoics were the only thing that helped. I hate taking them! I have tried every natural product out there trying to prevent and treat the bladder and nothing has worked for me.

I also take a probiotic called florastor. This is a yeast type good bacteria that is suppose to help support the GI tract. Antibiotics cannot kill it off since it is not a bacteria, it is a form of yeast. Not sure if it works or not. I was taking it as I was told it can prevent getting intestinal infections when taking antibitoics( c-diff).

How do you even make homemade kefir? How do you get the good bacteria in it???

 

[Ya noy]

To make kefir, you just take a bowl of milk, warm it to room temperature, add kefir grains, cover and leave out on the shelf for around 24 to 36 hours. The good bacterias are in the kefir grains, and they colonize entire bowl of milk. As long as you take care of your kefir grains, you can use and reuse them indefinitely-- and they grow and multiply, doubling in size around every 20 days.

In addition to the healthy bacterial, kefir grains also contain several yeasts, probably similar to the florastor you've been taking. I think it probably helps somewhat, but again, it's not full spectrum.

I got my grains locally, from a lady who offered them for free on Craigslist, but you can buy them on other Internet sites, including eBay and Amazon. I think it's better though if you can get them locally, fresher that way. You only need a very small quantity to start, again, they grow and multiply, quickly.

Again though, everyone's body chemistry is different, and there's really no "one size fits all" solution, so results are bound to vary.

 

[Ihurt]

Wow, sounds like a process. The thing I am a bit uncomfortable with is the leaving the milk out for hours at room temperature. That sounds very dangerous to me. Milk is an absorber and it can turn bad quickly. My dad worked in a dairy for years. He said that as soon a milk goes above 40 degrees, any bacteria in it begins to grow and if you ingest it, you can get very very sick. He said samonella is the biggie you have to worry about.

Also, how do you even obtain kefirs and how can you tell if they are live or not?? I am a bit confused about it.

 

[Ya noy]

You're right, milk left out on the counter will normally go bad quickly, which is exactly how and why kefir and yogurt came to be in the first place.

In the days before refrigeration, the fermentation process of adding kefir and yogurt cultures to their milk was originally discovered as the only method possible to prevent milk from quickly turning rancid. In nomadic desert tribes they would (and still do) dip their turbans into a cultured batch of kefir or yogurt, and then wrap it around their heads, then redipping it into the next batch of milk to get it started. This is often the responsibility of the tribe's leader.

Kefir grains look kind of like cauliflower, and when added to milk, they feed and grow, colonizing the entire batch with beneficial bacterial. Yogurt cultures are very similar.

The beneficial bacteria cultures in kefir actually destroy the E. coli and salmonella bacterias, along with other harmful bacterial. Those bacterias don't come from the air, but rather from direct contact with infected feces, so leaving milk sit on your counter wouldn't "infect" it with those particular types of bacteria anyway. You should always wash your hands and utensils thoroughly before handling any food, because those bacterias are transmitted, again, by direct contact with infected feces that can be picked up on your hands almost anywhere. Consuming raw veggies and undercooked meat products carry a much greater risk of bacterial contamination--because harmful bacterias can not survive for more than 15 seconds at temperatures over 160 degrees, which is why they pasteurize milk.

To pasteurize milk, you simply heat it, for a few seconds, which kills all the bacteria. That's all pasteurization is, but it also kills all the good bacteria, along with the bad, so you don't want to heat your finished cultured kefir.

You'll know your kefir done when the top becomes the consistency of yogurt or pudding, and the taste is a little "tart", not sour. You can leave it out between 24-48 hours safely, but longer may have a constipating effect. So if you're suffering from diarrheaha, leaving it out for up to 70 hours before consuming may help cure.

If you are not comfortable leavng it out on the counter, you can culture/ferment your kefir in the refrigerator, but it will take 5-6 days, or more. (depending on how cold your fridge is).

How do you know if the kefir grains are live? Well, if you put them in your milk and leave it on the counter for 24 hours or more, if your grains are dead, then instead of thickening into kefir, the milk will go sour--and providing you know what sour milk smells like, you should be able to tell, both by the smell and consistency. Kefir doesn't require any stirring while culturing, so just cover it and set on an unused shelf.

To prevent bad bacteria from entering your kefir while culturing, always use clean glass bowl and cover it. We use Saran Wrap,but many feel cloth is better--we're not comfortable with that.

I have mixed feelings about raw milk, but less than a mile from our house, there's a pick-up site, where you can get raw milk from organic grass fed cows for $10/gallon. They also test their milk daily for harmful bacterias, so yes, I use raw milk, but I'm personally still not comfortable with the lack of pasteurization. So I pasteurize it myself by heating to 180 degrees, and then letting it cool to room temp. Kind of negates the entire point of buying raw milk, but I don't care, because the kefir grains recolonizes with beneficial bacterias. Raw milk is also not subjected to the chemical process of homogenization, where they suspend and/or remove the fat globules, which prevents the cream from rising to the top. I prefer my milk whole and not subjected to chemicals.

Making kefir is pretty simple. Takes a couple minutes, Once or twice a week. After the 24-36 hour period, the finished kefir is strained and then stored in the fridge.

Obtaining real kefir grains? They multiply so fast that it's pretty easy to find someone willing to give away their excess, or sell them for a nominal fee, around $10 to $20. If you can't find any locally or aren't comfortable using Craigslist, then I understand the "kefir lady.com" is a good, reputable source, recommended by many. She only accepts cash, but I'd never heard of any complaints about her or her products, and understand she also provides excellent customer support. She sells fresh, live kefir grains for $20, while freeze dried grains (for those in foreign countries) are only $10. Freeze-dried grains have to be reconstituted, which can take a couple of weeks before they're viable, so fresh, live grains are better. In my personal opinion.

We also use kefir in place of yeast to make bread, pancakes, and all kinds of other things, but we also grow, can, and freeze our own fruits, preserves and veggies, and make most of our meals from scratch. My husband has a heart condition that makes a low sodium diet a necessity, which we discovered is virtually impossible using pre-prepared foods. So the kefir is just part of our overall dietary regiment.

 

[Ihurt]

Thanks for explaining all that for me. I also have heard that raw milk is suppose to be more beneficial, but I am also too scared to try it. My dad who use to work in the dairy business for years said it is very dangerous to drink raw milk. He said that the problem lies in the transportation( which is how it can get contaminated). You also have to know the cow it is coming from. He said it is way to dangerous when you have more than one cow or the milk is coming from different farms and is being handled by many people. He said all it takes is maybe a dirty bucket ( even maybe one with a little crack in it where some bacteria was able to grow) well then the milk will be contaminated and then the bugs will grow and that is the danger with raw milk. My dad said that the government was Extremely stirct with the whole pasteurization process. Even temperature time charts that record the time and temperature of the milk when it was pasteurizied had to be kept and were examined during the fedral inspection.

I myself have a good friend who does drink only raw milk. She said she gets it from a reputible source. I thought about it, but my dad was so adamant and against it. He said people have died from drinking contaminated raw milk. So he scared me in that respect. He said it is sooo easy to contaminate the milk. I know my dad said that there were many times where they would get a load of milk in( like 6000 gallons) that had to be rejected due to a high acidity count( bateria in it). He also said that any milk that had ANY traces of antibiotics in it, the milk all had to be destroyed.

I myself do not even drink milk, never really liked it But I have been drinking the plain organic kefir. I am interested in making my own though, I just want to do it safely with no risk of getting sick. Thanks again for all the info, I really appreciate it..

 

[Ya noy]

I basically agree with your dad, but while the pickup site where we buy the raw milk from is only 1 mile from our home, it all comes from one farm, located about 20 miles from our house. The farm is fully open to the public, who are welcome to visit at any time, and wander at will to inspect the facilities. We've visited the farm because in addition to cleanliness, we prefer to support farms where humane treatment of animals is made a priority. All the animals there are free range, fed organic grains and grasses, and well treated.

So we buy eggs, chickens and turkeys from them as well. It's a little more expensive, but cooking from scratch and growing/canning/freezing our own veggies helps keep the cost down. We pay more for the milk, but then save money by making most of our own kefir.

The farm is about as reputable as it gets and they do test their milk daily for harmful bacterias, so their raw milk is probably as safe as possible. But they started pasteurizing milk for a good reason, and I'd rather be safe than sorry too.

 

[mbishop]

There are two very relevant probiotic review studies:

(1) (Probiotics for maintenance of remission in ulcerative colitis, Naidoo K, Gordon M, Fagbemi AO, Thomas AG, Akobeng AK, Cochrane Review 2011 and Probiotics for maintenance of remission in Crohn's disease, Rolfe VE, Fortun PJ, Hawkey CJ, Bath-Hextall FJ, Cochrane Review 2008


They conclude no evidence of long term effect of any probiotic tested on Crohns or UC. While Pubmed doesn't index everything, they are pretty comprehensive about hitting the major medical journals. Any evidence needs to be peer-reviewed and based on strong research protocols - anecdotal evidence may be the basis for further review if there is enough present, but it is never a substitute for the scientific method. Quoting unrelated studies (IBS v. IBD) isn't evidence either.

It is quite unusual that the postings above that look similar to marketing material were done by someone who joined slightly after the Kefir thread was put on and haven't commented on other threads.

David's assessment seems on the mark - there is no evidence to support the claims made by Kefir and they are dangerously close to being in violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in the US.

That said, I happen to like drinking Kefir as well. Drink it for the taste, though, or for the vitamin content, not based on unsupported and dubious medical claims.

 

[Ya noy]

bishop, I've only been here a couple of days, and have commented on other threads. Apparently you just haven't run across them. I only commented a number of times on this thread to respond to questions directed at me.

If you imagine that I am someone else who was here before? Well, David is apparently an administrator and should be able to tell from my IP address where I am posting from, so I recommend you ask him.

Once more time, I make my own kefir, using grains I got for free from a local woman I found on Craigslist. if anything, that's what I recommend.

As I said before, I developed a fear of meds. while working for a major medical association, probably the biggest, and most well known, where I became a secret member of the underground lunchtime yoga group. I was thrilled to learn about the group because it was organized and led by a woman who worked there--who was also a well know yoga instructor, training celebrities, who offered personalized instruction for fellow employees during lunch for free! We had to hide though, changing rooms to practice in almost every day, because upper management did not approve of our "alternative practices" and actually referred to us as "heathens."

Yeah well, most of them were overweight, on tons of meds, always on edge, and kind of looked and acted like heart attacks just waiting to happen. While we "heathens" were calm, slim and for the most part, pretty healthy.

How is my story relevant to your post? Who do you think approves and publishes all those "peer reviewed" studies?

Strangely enough, I don't recall quoting any studies, much less "unrelated studies" in any of my posts, and I agree that antidotal evidence" is not a substitute for the scientific method, however, neither is politics or religion.

Namaste

 

[mbishop]

Hi ya noy,

Sorry for the confusion. I wasn't referencing your post, but HANNELED up top.

Best wishes.

M Bishop

 

[Ya noy]

No worries. Hannel's post actually confused me, because kefir is believed to have originated in the Causian mountains of Russia, not Scandinavian countries. My grandmother was a Russian immigrant, and I was raised on kefir. School children in Russian still each receive a cup of kefir every day.

But the Vikings are actually attributed with bringing fermented products called villi and Langford to Scandinavian countries, which both more closely resemble yogurt, and differ from kefir in a number of ways. The legends regarding kefir are completely different. Most have to do with a Russian prince who was infatuated with a beautiful woman named Irina, and even those vary.

I could continue with the discrepancies, but why bother?

I think it's far more important to realize that no doctor or pharmaceutical company on this planet is ever going to be as concerned about your health as you should be. They care about their own families, their own paychecks, careers, and their own personal agendas.

My husband's mom suffered from chronic colitis, dying young from stomach cancer, and back then, they didn't distinguish between the various causes--IBS, crohn's, ulcerated or not, was all just called colitis.

At that highly respected, well known, medical association? We used to find it amusing that improperly prescribed medication was listed as either the 6th or 7th leading cause of death, while PROPERLY prescribed medication was listed at number 8!

Try to remember that a medical opinion is still just an opinion, so be careful who you trust.

Better yet, do your own research.