CONSUMERS INDIA

Report on Truth about probiotic drinks/yoghurts

Group 4

Topic: Truth about Probiotic Yoghurt/drink

Ms. Khushboo Saini, Eco Hons, 2nd year, LSR, DU (106) Group Leader

Ms. Aakansha Yadav, Eco Hons, 2nd year, LSR, DU (107)

Ms. Shefalika, Eco Hons, 2nd year, IP College for Women, DU (108)

Ms. Akula Mody, B Sc (H), Stats, 2nd year, LSR, DU (109)

Mr. Danish Eqbal, M Sc Zoology, BHU, Varanasi (127)

Mentor: Dr. Roopa Vajpeyi (roopa.vajpeyi@gmail.com

INTRODUCTIONWhat probiotic basically means?

Remember the ad starring Kajol, promoting the Japanese brand Yakult claiming to provide 6.5 billion good bacteria with the punch line ‘It’s my kiss of good health’.

Nowadays every other drink or yoghurt in the shop is probiotic with a huge market out there for probiotic supplementary products that expands from developed regions like U.S and E.U to Indian markets.

The concept of probiotics (which means, ‘for life’) was introduced in early 20th century by Ilya Netschnikoff.

According to WHO probiotics are live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amount confer a health benefit on the host.

- Probiotic companies claim that unlike most bacteria found in normal yoghurt, these probiotic bacteria are able to survive the acidic environment of the stomach

- In the intestine they change the environment to favor the growth of beneficial bacteria and suppress the growth of harmful bacteria.”

- Probiotic supplements, usually sold as yoghurts or dairy based drinks, claim to enhance our gut flora with well-known good bacteria which allegedly improve our digestion and enhance our gut's ‘natural defenses'.

But do they work and are they worth their outrageous price tag?  

Scope The purpose of the research is to study the need, composition and

different effects of probiotic yoghurts/drinks. We also try to analyze the

• marketing strategy of these probiotic supplementary products which includes:

• consumer and product profile

• brand analysis

• market share

• sales volume

• How segmentation and urban consumer aspiration has broadened the market of these products.

Finally we focus on:

• regulatory framework which establishes comprehensive guidelines and legislations for ensuring safety, efficacy and reliability as well as labeling of probiotic products being sold in India

• and analyze if their stringent implementation is taking place.

NATURAL PROBIOTICS

Natural Probiotics must be identified by their genus, species, and strain level. Here is a list of probiotics IN OUR BODY and how they are beneficial:

Lactobacillus more than 50 species of lactobacilli are naturally found in the

digestive, urinary, and genital systems Foods that are fermented, like yogurt and dietary supplements

also contain these bacteria.

Bifidobacteria approximately 30 species of bifidobacteria. The make up approximately 90% of the healthy bacteria in the

colon and appear in the intestinal tract within days of birth, especially in breastfed infants.

We have 100 trillion (100,000,000,000,000) bacteria in our bodies, mainly in the digestive system.

They’re so small that several hundred could fit on the full-stop at the end of this sentence.

Around 400 different species live in the gut, mainly to ward off pathogens - harmful bacteria.

They also help the digestive process and produce vitamins and minerals. There’s growing evidence that our probiotic population - the "good" bacteria - declines with age; there are even probiotics supplements targeted at the over-50s.

TYPES AND FORMS OF PROBIOTICS : Probiotics can be in :•Powder form•Liquid form •Gel or paste•Granules ,capsules, sachets

Probiotics can be bacteria, molds, yeast. But most probiotics are bacteria. Among bacteria, lactic acid bacteria are more popular.

Recent evidence suggests that probiotic effects are strain-specific which means a beneficial effect produced by one strain cannot be assumed to be provided by another strain, even when it belongs to the same species.

•NESTLE: Offers NESTLE ACTIPLUS D low fat DAHI enriched with the goodness of more than 100 CRORE special PROBIOTICS in every serving (100g), which work hard every day to ensure your digestive system is strong and healthy.

•AMUL: First to make a dent at National level with its probiotic ice creams prolife in February, 2007 and tasted success in the probiotics category with its ice cream introduced probiotic lassi.

BRANDS OF PROBIOTIC DRINKS AND YOGHURT AVAILABLE IN INDIA:

• YAKULT: A probiotic drink made from fermented milk, Lactobacillus and some sugar. The entry of Yakult is expected to increase the visibility and growth of probiotic category in India.

• PROBACTO: It contains digestive enzymes and use multiple strains. They are spore forming so that they can last while not refrigerated they use expensive bacteria like B. subtilis.

Major players in the probiotics drug market in India include companies like Ranbaxy, Mother Dairy,and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, which has four probiotic brands, Zydus Cadila, Unichem, JB Chem, and Glaxo SmithKline

YAKULTAs per DANONE Company their product Yakult contains :

•Skimmed milk powder •Water , Sugar, Glucose•Added natural identical flavors •Most importantly 6.5 billion of Lactobacillus caseistrain Shirota, a unique strain of bacteria.

Per 100ml Per bottle (65ml)Energy 280.0kJ / 66.0 kcal 182.0kJ / 42.9 kcalProtein 1.3g 0.9gCarbohydrate14.7 g 9.6 gSugars 14.2 g 9.2 gFat <0.1 g <0.1 gSaturates <0.1 g <0.1 gFiber 0 g 0 gSodium 0.02 g 0.01 g 

USP OF YAKULT•A unique delivery system where a Yakult lady does free Home Delivery.

•Its availability in more than 6000 retail stores, supermarkets, bakeries and chemists in Delhi, NCR, Punjab, Jaipur, etc.

•Using a very famous actress for their worldwide promotions.

•Provides job to millions of people

•Regular promotions through leading newspaper.

•Conducting social events

ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS OF YAKULT:

Reconstituted skimmed milk – Skimmed into little more than lactose water, and it has effectively been taken apart and put back together again in food processing. Not considered as a nourishable food by the body

Glucose-fructose syrup –Sugar broken down into different parts and formed into a syrup making it very quick to be absorbed and very high GI, meaning a blood sugar spike and fat storage.

Flavoring – Not reliable

The so called presence of 6.5 billion bacteria, while this sounds like a lot, it is actually only about half of the amount found in the quality probiotic supplements recommended by informed doctors and experts in the field. Most recommend a daily intake in the region of 12 billion bacteria, and at times of illness or stress, up to 25 billion per day is taken.

AMUL:USP OF AMUL

•A well-established Indian company.

•Conducts various social events like blood donation, tree plantation, rural sanitation campaign etc.

•Deals in milk, cookies, bread, ice-creams, jaljeera, pav, ghee, chocolates etc.

•Has won various awards at National level.

•Conducted thousands of advertisement for its every product worldwide using famous actresses.

•Provides job opportunity.

•Main Attraction: A unique cartoon which is famous among all age groups, depicting current issues.

BENEFITS OF PROBIOTIC DRINKS

-Improves urinary health

-Allergies(Women taking probiotics during pregnancy reduces childhood eczema in their infants by 30%)

-Improves women health

-Fights obesity

-Maintains health immune system

-Ward off infections

SIDE EFFECTS OF PROBIOTIC DRINKS

Probiotic side effects are mild and digestive.

-Infections

-Unhealthy metabolic activities

-Too much stimulation of the immune system

-Gene tranfer

-Slow growth of breast cancer cells

-Extreme immune system response

DIGESTIVE PROBLEMS: Probiotic adds more bacteria to digestive tracts which increases gas production.

SEPSIS: Lactobacilli and bifidobacteria (most common used probiotic strains) can be risky for those with low immunity.

Lactobacilli ingestion resulting in an extreme immune responses known as sepsis.

BACTEREMIA : It is is also called blood poisoning sometimes. People with reduced immunity are susceptible to it. Infants and elderly are more at risk.

HOW HOMEMADE DRINKS/YOGHURT BETTER THAN ARTIFICIAL PROBIOTICS?

Homemade yoghurts are rich

in proteins, calcium, riboflavin,

vitamin B6 and B12.It can be

made by us so it don't contain

any chemicals.

Alternative yoghurt contains corn starch, malic acid, sucralose, sodium citrate which are very harmful for our body.

ALTERNATIVES TO PROCESS PROBIOTIC DRINKS YOGHURT: It keeps a

healthy balance in our gut. It can be easily produced at home and helps tame gas, diarrhea and other digestive problems.

KANJI: It is a fermented

drink made with water,

carrots, beetroots and

mustard seeds

SOUP: Probiotic filled miso is used to make salty soup that is low in calories and high in vitamin B and protective antioxidants.

CURD: An excellent probiotic used in traditional Indian diet.

BUTTER MILK: It is generally milk that is cultured with lactic acid bacteria. By adding acidophilus milk in our diet, we can get probiotics.

SAUERKRAUT: It contains probiotics leuconostoc, pediococcus and lactobacillus. For sauerkraut, cut cabbage fine and allow it to ferment in brine made of its own juice with salt.

FERMENTED PICKELS: We must choose naturally fermented varieties of pickle where vinegar is not used in production process.

REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

The Indian market was regulated by extant food laws that regulated general food items that include:

The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1952 (“PFA Act”) and corresponding Rules of 1955 (“PFA Rules”) Certain food product specific orders under the Essential

Commodities Act, 1955 and The Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976 and

corresponding Rules of 1977.

The various authorities concerned include:

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, The Ministry of Food Processing Industries, The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution The Ministry of Agriculture.

The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 was enacted out of the need for a single regulatory body and consolidated food law. It was implemented in 2011 overriding all other food related laws leading to establishment of ‘Food Safety and Standard Authority of India’ (FSSAI)

Mushrooming of spurious products with multiple health benefits and therapeutic claims that are not proven.

False claims by various manufacturers about the ability of probiotics to cure a variety of disease.

Need to control quality of probiotics sold in the market.

Absence of separate regulations to address the use of probiotics in food products in the era of booming food market.

NECESSITY TO REGULATE PROBIOTICS:

ICMR-DBT GUIDELINES:Earlier there was no systematic approach for evaluation of probiotics in India.

Initiative taken by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) along with Department of Biotechnology (DBT) resulted in the formulation of guidelines for regulation of probiotic foods

REMARKS ON REGULATORY FRAMEWORK IN INDIAN SCENARIO:

Need for development of indigenous probiotic strains-

Poor colonization of commercial strains of western origins in Indian gut results in a need for development of indigenous probiotic strains.

Non availability of proven and well characterized Indian probiotic cultures leads to bombardment of foreign probiotics not suitable for Indian consumers.

Holistic Approach: A holistic approach is required for formulating guidelines and regulations for evaluating the efficacy of Indian probiotics in harmony with international standards international standards.

RECOMMENDATION:

Use and adoption of regulatory guidelines should be a prerequisite for calling a bacterial strain ‘probiotic’.

Regulatory framework to allow specific health claims on probiotic food labels only in cases where scientific evidence exists.

Good manufacturing practices (GMP) must be applied in manufacture of probiotic foods with quality assurance and shelf life conditions established.

Stringent regulations for Food supplements/bio therapeutics for ensured quality and safety ensured quality and safety.

Post market surveillance should be done by agencies.

All the stake holders should develop some form of system to monitor the health outcome of long term probiotic administration. Potential side effects and long term benefits to be recorded and documented.

TIPS FOR CONSUMERS:

Always look for the following before buying the probiotic product  Genus, Species as well as Strain of probiotic Only evidence based health claim(s) Serving size for efficacy claims Storage conditions Which strain or strains of probiotics do you

need? The expected shelf life of the drink The type of probiotics the beverage

contains

CONCLUSION:

Probiotics doesn’t bring any “wow” change in our body. We can say probiotics neither have any major benefits or side effects.

It’s better to stick to our homemade drinks only, as they are natural, chemical free and without any

artificial flavours.

There is need for harmonization of the regulations and guidelines on probiotics at the global level to ensure the quality and safety of probiotic foods