Viability of Lactobacillus Acidophilus and Lactobacillus Bulgaricus Cultures Stored at Various Temperatures

Investigators have found that a large number of living acidophilus organisms must be ingested in order to secure beneficial results from the consumption of acidophilus preparations.According to Kopeloff (1), about 1000 cc. of milk containing 200 million viable acidophilus organisms per cubic centimeter should be ingested daily.The therapeutic effect was found to decrease when the number of riving organisms was less than 100 million per cubic centimeter and only 1000 cc. of the milk was ingested each day.It is desirable therefore, that acidophflus preparations should originally contain a large number of living bacteria, and that the product should be used before there is a decided decrease in numbers.The majority of commercial products that have been offered to the public have been unsatisfactory.Analysis (2) (3) of such commercial products has suggested that the preparations either do not originally contain a sufficiently large number of the organisms or else too long a time has elapsed between production and consumption.Since a comparatively small amount of the commercial culture is consumed daily, the presence of large numbers of acidophilus organisms is essential.Milk cultures of Lactobacillus acidophilus are desirable, in that the organisms grow readily in milk and the resulting product is usually more palatable and nutritious than other forms of acidophilus products.The necessary numbers of acidophilus organisms are present in a properly prepared fresh milk culture.