March 22, 2009 — A new yogurt, already on the shelves in some Asian
countries, may offer a tasty new way to prevent and treat stomach
.
Japanese researchers say the yogurt they developed fights bacteria that
cause
and stomach ulcers. Researchers presented the findings of a
clinical trial at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Salt
Lake City.
Yogurt, a fermented milk product containing live bacteria, is already known
as a healthy food, with plenty of calcium,
, and other nutrients.
“With this new yogurt, people can now enjoy the taste of yogurt while
preventing or eliminating the bacteria that cause stomach ulcers,” study
coordinator Hajime Hatta, a chemist at Kyoto Women’s University in Kyoto,
Japan, says in a written statement.
H. pylori
.
H. pylori
ulcers can be treated with antibiotics and acid suppressants. Researchers think
their yogurt may be another option.
H. pylori
uses an enzyme called urease to attach to and infect the
inside of the stomach. This latest yogurt, designed to fight stomach ulcers,
contains an antibody called IgY-urease. The yogurt is marketed as Dr. Piro in
Japan and as Gut in Korea. Researchers are hopeful that their clinical trial
will pave the way for approval in the United States.
H. pylori.
For the trial, scientists recruited 42 people who tested positive for
H.
pylori.
Some participants ate the yogurt with the antibody three times a
day for four weeks. Some participants ate the same amount of regular yogurt
that didn’t contain the antibody.
H. pylori
activity was significantly
reduced in the antibody yogurt group.

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