The benefits of 24 hr fermented Yoghurt

I’ve been making my own yogurt for years, with 3 yogurt loving kids it seemed like a great way to save money, and avoid the sugar or sweetener loaded yogurts you find in the shops.

Whilst searching for ways to improve my daughter’s health in 2009 I came across the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD).  Whilst we didn’t adopt the whole diet, I did take on board the recommendation to ferment my yogurt for 24 hours instead of the standard 8 hours.

According to Breaking the Vicious Cycle (a site about the SCD diet) the benefits of 24 hour fermented yogurt are:

1. Introducing 24 hour fermented yoghurt helps correct the balance of bacteria types in the gut as it repopulates the gut with beneficial bacteria which displaces the harmful bacterial.
2. S24 hour fermented yoghurt is also very nutritious and contains proteins vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fats, and much more!
3. As the yogurt bacterial culture breaks down the lactose into simpler forms, we will absorb the simpler carbohydrate molecules instead of their feeding overgrowth of bacteria in the lower intestine.
4. Its is often claimed that we can get more good bacteria from taking commercial probiotics. This is not the case and yoghurt is a very low cost source of probiotics. 24hr SCD™ yoghurt has a concentration of 3 billion cfu/ml which means that in just a cup of Yoghurt (236ml) you’ll get 708 Billion beneficial bacteria and that’s about 50 times more than that claimed for a typical 15 billion capsule.
5. 24hr yoghurt also has a higher probiotic count than commercial yoghurt because it is fermented longer.
6. The bacteria in yoghurt are fresh and in the environment they grew in, contrast this to the bacteria in a capsule which will be dormant.
7. Because the cultures produce lactic acid from the lactose in the milk, many people who are lactose intolerant are able to tolerate yoghurt.

I carried on making 24 hour fermented yogurt until my ME crash at the beginning of 2012.  For quite a long time I was incapable of making yogurt, and the rest of my family were too busy coping with the basics to do it themselves (I don’t think they realised how easy it is to make).  So for a while we made do with shop bought yogurts.  However, when my strength began returning I started making yogurt again.

Recently my son has gone on a lactose free diet, but he is able to tolerate my homemade yogurt.  He has a bowl full most days with some honey or jam.

If you’re interested in learning how I make my yoghurt (it’s very easy, but not if you have no energy for cooking) then please see How to make 24 hour fermented yogurt.