Kefir For ME/CFS?- Study suggests promising results

[kolowesi]

kefir in Russia

Thanks for the awesome history lesson, Stuart.

I've been having a terrible kefir craving. I have just been buying the store brand. The last time they were out of unflavored and I got pomegranate (too sweet for me, wish I could send it to Angel).

I'm not hungry for yogurt any more. I did not understand what kefir was until this thread. Fascinating! (I believe it's helping my gut situation.)

Kelly

 

[aquariusgirl]

casein free?

Hmm. I tried to make kefir with rice milk ...and drank the horrible concoction I brewed until I read that you have to use milk, real milk, (sorry don't know the scientific explanation) to get any benefit from it.

I am trying to go lactose free per amy yasko, but I wonder if the benefits of kefir outweigh the disadvantages.

I'm not one of those people who can tell when they react badly to certain food groups or substances.. I just take it on face value that most of us are gluten and casein intolerant.

Any thoughts? Anyone gone casein-free, but still take kefir?

The cost of probiotics is just crazy.

thanks

 

[Min]

Hi, there is water based kefir for sale on ebay, but I'm in the UK so daon't know if you can buy it where you are.

this is the blurb:

"Water Kefir Grains (aka Tibi, Tibicos, Japanese water crystals) looks like small crystals which are smooth to touch. They produce a variety of flavorful/zesty and delicious carbonated probiotic/lacto-fermented beverage.The benefits of Water Kefir are similar to those of Milk Kefir and are a perfect alternative for people with lactose/milk intolerance or just want another tasty addition to their healthy probiotic diet!

Water Kefir is fun and easy to make - just sugar and fruit. You can create your own delicious healthy recipes with the organic version.

You will receive a generous 2 tablespoon of live Water Kefir which are active and take less time to balance. The sugar used in these Kefir Grains are Unrefined Light Golden/Brown sugar. These are preferable by the Kefir Grains than the white refine sugar.The colour of the crystals varies according to the sugar used. These will be off white - golden colour.

Easy recipe upon receiving it : 3 1/2 Tablespoon of organic unrefined sugar per 300ml dechlorinated water(boiled tap water, filtered water left overnight or spring water) into a 500ml-1 litre glass jar.
Add the Kefir grains.
Add 1 Dried Fig/apricot, 2 Dates or 2 Tablespoon Raisins (It is advisable to use organic as pesticide residue may damage the Kefir grains.)
Add half a lemon or lime do not squeeze juice until you completed the brewing and taken the grains out. This will produce lovely lemonade.
Loosely cover the jar and leave it to ferment at room temperature for 1 4 days. The longer the fermentation the less sugar will remain, but you get a bitter taste if it is left too long. If it is a warm room -24C above can be as quick as 8 hours! If it cool room 24 hours and above. Have fun tasting after 8 hours. it will be less sweet as you increase the time brewing (your choice). It is fun watching them go up and down after 24 hours!Free entertainment!

After the first batch, use the above recipe but you can reduce sugar to 1 1/2 to 3 tablespoon per 300ml.
Add 1/8 tsp sodium bicarbonate, 1/8 teaspoon of Eggshell (best from boiled eggs) This is beneficial for healthy strong teeth and bones, for healing process, for good nervous and immune function, and the prevention of Osteoporosis.
Store the finished kefir in the fridge. Squeeze lemon/lime to make lovely healthy lemonade or use it with other fruit/juice or cocktails. Enjoy your own delicious and healthy probiotic drinks! You can make your own healthy Ginger Beer too!


Only use plastic spoons and strainers. Metal can damage the grains. Look after them well and they can be reused for a very long time."

 

[MEKoan]

There's a place a half hour from me that sells organic produce and meat, and they also make kefir. It was on their website that I first heard that kefir could help ease cfs symptoms and possibly even help healing.

When I can afford to check it out I am going. I am quite intrigued.

I can't afford it either but can you share the website - can we do that here? If it's half an hour from you, I know it's in the same province as me

Thanks Yodi,
Koan

PS Hope you're feeling a little better!

 

[Jody]

Koan,

I will dig up that information for you in the next couple of days. It's in a huge pile of papers in a drawer. The prospect of going through them right now is a bit daunting. But I will get that info for you.

 

[MEKoan]

Thanks Jody

There is absolutely no hurry. I have found much online - there's an entire Kefir world!

I may not need it in the end.

Take care of you,
k

 

[mojoey]

Soya Kefit

So has anyone taken the soya kefir by KCLM? I take Progurt (1 trillion CFU human-strain probiotic from australia) but now I'm having doubts about the d-lactate.

Is the consensus now that Aligen (rec'd by Dr. Logan) and Kefir are the two best ways to go?

-joey

 

[Tony]

Good question Joey. Does anyone know what probiotic strains are in the various types of kefir?

 

[dannybex]

Just doing a quick google search I found multiple sources that said "a natural kefir grain contains 42 different strains of bacteria". Not sure how accurate that is, and also not sure if this bifidobacterium infantis 35624 could be grown in some sort of kefir culture?

I'm gonna give Align a try. A friend said she found it at Costco for $38 which is about $10-15 cheaper than most other places for the 49 capsule box (why 49 caps instead of 48 or 50???) so she's gonna pick some up.

Natren also makes a bifidobacterium infantis product which is a hell of a lot cheaper, but they call their strain "NLS", so not sure if that would make a difference or not...

Align is certainly a much lower strength than Progurt or VSL#3, but perhaps it's a 'quality (specific strain) over quantity' thing. Interesting that Logan and others have said that this bifidobacterium infantis 35624 has a unusual ability to adhere strongly to the intestinal wall, unlike some transitory strains.

 

[mojoey]

Align Ingredients

Microcrystalline Cellulose (for even dispersal of cultures), Hypromellose (Vegetarian Capsule Shell), Sugar, Magnesium Stearate (For even dispersal of cultures), Milk Protein (does not contain lactose, soy and gluten), Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Citrate Dihydrate, Propyl Gallate (anti-oxidant stabilizer), FD&C Blue 2

What in the world are FD&C Blue 2 & Sugar doing in there???

 

[jenbooks]

I've experimented with various probiotics. Progurt advertises human strains but many strains out there are human derived. The lactate issue is interesting. I just did a lot of research and writing on LGG (culterelle) and can say it's very very impressive. Many hundreds of studies. Isolated from a healthy human gut. No lactate. I'm taking it, one a day. It doesn't bother my system at all. I have tried custom probiotics which had fillers that bothered me and were expensive; VSL #3 which I didn't really notice anything so beneficial from; etc. Bifidus is good for the colon and I take natren in chickpea base (powder).

My only question about kefir grains is I suspect there is as discussed wide variety in what's in them, depending where they originated and how they were kept. Advocate, I'd like some of yours too if you're reading this.

For those who can't tolerate dairy, young coconut (green) water can be used.

By the way: quality over quantity. The gut is something like 29 feet and full of microbes. Probiotics are *not* displacing bad bacteria. They provide different signalling factors to the immune system. The information in them can for instance increase SIgA which you need. They can suppress baddies through anti inflammatory action etc. It's curious and complex but I don't think it matters that much about the zillions and billions of #'s (I used to think so but research suggests otherwise).

 

[Angel]

probiotics

Thank you Kolowesi for thinking of me. My refrigerator died this past weekend, and I could use a bottle of Pom Kefir.

Dannybex: Does the Align have a large amount of different probiotics, or what is the special interest in that product? I seem to have missed something here.

 

[dannybex]

Microcrystalline Cellulose (for even dispersal of cultures), Hypromellose (Vegetarian Capsule Shell), Sugar, Magnesium Stearate (For even dispersal of cultures), Milk Protein (does not contain lactose, soy and gluten), Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Citrate Dihydrate, Propyl Gallate (anti-oxidant stabilizer), FD&C Blue 2

What in the world are FD&C Blue 2 & Sugar doing in there???

That's exactly what I was thinking a week ago or so.

But I was somewhat relieved when I got the box last night, popped a capsule out of the foil blister packaging, to discover that the 'blue' is just used to put the tiny "Align" name on each capsule. Unnecessary of course, but at least the entire capsule is not a radiant, glowing blue to please the Dr. Oz crowd.

And the sugar is there as food for the probiotic...

They say to take only one a day! I'll do that for a few days, but then will up it to at least 2...maybe 10 (if I could afford it.)

 

[dannybex]

I've experimented with various probiotics. Progurt advertises human strains but many strains out there are human derived. The lactate issue is interesting. I just did a lot of research and writing on LGG (culterelle) and can say it's very very impressive. Many hundreds of studies. Isolated from a healthy human gut. No lactate. I'm taking it, one a day. It doesn't bother my system at all. I have tried custom probiotics which had fillers that bothered me and were expensive; VSL #3 which I didn't really notice anything so beneficial from; etc. Bifidus is good for the colon and I take natren in chickpea base (powder).

My only question about kefir grains is I suspect there is as discussed wide variety in what's in them, depending where they originated and how theywere kept. Advocate, I'd like some of yours too if you're reading this.

For those who can't tolerate dairy, young coconut (green) water can be used.

By the way: quality over quantity. The gut is something like 29 feet and full of microbes. Probiotics are *not* displacing bad bacteria. They provide different signalling factors to the immune system. The information in them can for instance increase SIgA which you need. They can suppress baddies through anti inflammatory action etc. It's curious and complex but I don't think it matters that much about the zillions and billions of #'s (I used to think so but research suggests otherwise).

Great points. Suppressing is a much better explanation than displacing. And totally forgot about Culturelle...I had tried that for a few months a couple of years ago, and was certainly doing better then.

Also, found a great interview a while back by a guy who has pointed out that PINWORMS, which we used to think are so bad for us, may actually be symbiotic and beneficial, and have been shown in studies to help even multiple sclerosis. Here's a brief overview of one of the studies...

http://www.bioedonline.org/news/news.cfm?art=3061

I'll try and find the link to the interview and post it later.

 

[dannybex]

Dannybex: Does the Align have a large amount of different probiotics, or what is the special interest in that product? I seem to have missed something here.

Nope...just the one strain. It's mentioned in this thread because of an interview Cort did on his blog with a Dr. Logan, who believes it to be the most helpful with his patients so far.

Joey lists the other ingredients in his post.

 

[Jody]

There is absolutely no hurry. I have found much online - there's an entire Kefir world!

I may not need it in the end.

Take care of you,
k

Thanks Koan,

I will still dig it up but maybe ... not just yet, then.

Have not seen you for awhile.

You okay?

 

[Cort]

I noticed in the prohealth Dr. Myhill piece she recommends keifer grains but she doesn't say which.

A recent New York Times piece suggested this for IBS:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/health/29well.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

After gathering at a Yale workshop to review the available evidence, a panel of 12 experts concluded that there was strong evidence that several probiotic strains could reduce diarrhea, including that associated with antibiotic use. Several studies have also suggested that certain probiotics may be useful for irritable bowel syndrome, with the strongest recommendation for Bifidobacterium infantis 35624, the probiotic in the Procter & Gamble supplement Align. (Two members of the panel had ties to Procter & Gamble; three others had ties to other companies that sell probiotics.)

there is still so much to learn:

Lactobacillus is just the bacterium, said Gregor Reid, director of the Canadian Research and Development Center for Probiotics. To say a product contains Lactobacillus is like saying youre bringing George Clooney to a party. It may be the actor, or it may be an 85-year-old guy from Atlanta who just happens to be named George Clooney. With probiotics, there are strain-to-strain differences.

 

[jenbooks]

Funny but I prefer that bifido bacterium of them all. And LGG is great. There's a ton of good research on LGG. That's culturelle. I get mine from Allergy Research Group as I trust the freshness. Vitamin Shoppe's version was discolored.

 

[_Kim_]

Kefir-making for past 8+ years

Hi, new to the forums here, but not new to CFS or Kefir. I've been making and drinking almost a quart a day for the past 8 years. Along with avoidance of grains, sugar, root veggies and legumes, Kefir helps keep my gut symptoms and hypoglycemia under control. Some people like to make smoothies out of it, but I crave it plain. Lately, though, I've been adding a Tablespoon of chia seeds to it before I drink it (good soluble fiber and energy food).

Just today, I parted with some extra kefir grains, but they grow all the time and in another month or so, I'll have more to share if anyone wants some.

My favorite Kefir story is about Hank, a friend I took in when he was going through Chemo and Radiation for Oral Cancer. One of the nasty side effects of his treatment was oral thrush - a really nasty carpet-like coating on his tongue. His docs had tried antifungals (both pills and oral rinse) without much success. I kept urging him to drink a little Kefir, but he kept resisting. One day, I came home and he met me at the door and stuck his tongue out. I didn't know what he was trying to show me, but when I looked closer, ALL of the thrush was gone. Secretly, he'd been sipping some Kefir during the week (probably not more than 4-6 ounces a day).

With all of my other health problems, I guess I don't have to worry about ever getting thrush - or other yeast infections for that matter - so long as I keep drinking my Kefir.

 

[_Kim_]

I noticed in the prohealth Dr. Myhill piece she recommends keifer grains but she doesn't say which.

Cort, everyone's Kefir grains are all a little different, because they become symbiotic with their environment. That includes both the culturing medium (meaning what kind of liquid they're fermented in: cow's milk, goat milk, soy, etc) as well as the kefir grower (my microbes which might get in there with handling). Presumably, all the kefir grains in the world are descendants from the Caucus mountains in Russia, but have there own "personality" as they move from one home to another. My grains came from a cow farmer in Connecticut, who got hers from a priest in Texas, who got his from a Russian who was living in Canada. I would love to compare his grains to mine now and see how they have evolved some ten years later.