REAL Yogurt is supposed to have real live good bacteria which is good for your digestive system (because it kills bad bacteria) and this good bacteria reproduces to "colonize" in your tummy.

Questions:

1) How much real live good bacteria does a cup of supermarket yogurt really have? Sometimes it says "with lactobacilli, etc." but it doesn't say how much?

2) How much of this bacteria is needed for you to reap any real health benefits?

Let me start by saying that I had a bad tummy last week, but I was able to "cure" it by eating yogurt alone (as I learned from the internet that yogurt is effective for this type of sickness)...

Brand was "Foremost" and its cup said it had "Pre-Pro Bio" balance (seemingly connoting "pro-biotic" good bacteria) and it was effective in curing me.

However, I was curious as to how much of this "pro-biotic" the cup actually had.

I also heard that some supermarket brands of yogurt are "fake"... meaning it's nothing more than cream flavored to taste like yogurt... with gelatin added to give it the same texture.

When I would buy pro-biotic "good bacteria" capsules from GNC (rare and expensive in thailand!), it would say something like "1.5 Billion live bacteria at the time of manufacture."

As for supermarket yogurt... any ideas?

There is a Thai brand called "Yolida" which is excellent. I don't know what the bacteria content is or should be, but it actually claims on the label to have live bacteria. I can personally testify that it is much, much more satisfying than the other stuff (the kind of brands that are generally available at 7-11, etc.). It's a little hard to find; some of the better Tops and Villa stores have it.

One small cup of that stuff and some cereal and I'm set until lunchtime.

got to say that the range of yogurt here is disapointing

I lived in Turkey for 1 year back in 1984. Yogurt was mandatory after any meal containing meat.

They believe it kills whatever might have gone wrong with the meat.

No science, just centuries of experience.

got to say that the range of yogurt here is disapointing

It depends where you are coming from. If you've been living in SE Asia for a while, you'd think the range of yogurt in Thailand is amazing.

Who would expect so much yogurt in a SE Asian country? The different choices of pro-biotic drinks (yakult and its copies) available is astounding. I've never seen so many brands available anywhere.

My number one choice in yogurts here is "Richesse" brand natural (sweetened) flavour. I have absolutely no idea what is in it because the is no English writting on the container.

I like the 'homemade' yoghurt at Continental Cafe near junction Tepparasit and Tappraya (Pattaya).

I used to like the yoghurt ice-creams you could buy in Malaysia. However the ice-cream shops that I have come across here in BKK are normal ice cream (not that I am a frequent consumer of ice cream). Are they out there?

got to say that the range of yogurt here is disapointing

It depends where you are coming from. If you've been living in SE Asia for a while, you'd think the range of yogurt in Thailand is amazing.

Who would expect so much yogurt in a SE Asian country? The different choices of pro-biotic drinks (yakult and its copies) available is astounding. I've never seen so many brands available anywhere.

My number one choice in yogurts here is "Richesse" brand natural (sweetened) flavour. I have absolutely no idea what is in it because the is no English writting on the container.

Richesse tastes GREAT and their drinking yogurt is on promo now at Siam Paragon supermarket. Only 27 Baht for the big 830ml bottle (instead of the usual 40 Baht).

But yeah, have no idea as to it's nutritional information written in Thai...

The problem with Thai yoghurts, even the plain ones, is that the beneficial effects of probiotic cultures are offset by the large quantities of sugar added. In the West plain yoghurt contains no added sugar, but this would be unacceptable to the sweet Thai tooth. Avoid the fruity ones: they only contain nutritionally-worthless, heated fruit pulp with their undesirable sugars. I'm sure even the 7-11 brands contain live bacteria as they cleared my traveller's diarrhoea up a treat! Best taken with Yakult and a drinking yoghurt (avoid the low-fat type, or ones with toxic artificial sweeteners) in order to provide the widest array of cultures. Tasty with 7-11's seaweed, sunflower and pumpkin seeds!