Yakult touts benefits of probiotics with educational broadcast

TORRANCE, Calif. Yakult USA on Thursday announced that it will broadcast an educational segment entitled “Friendly bacteria improve health,” via the National Medical Report on U.S. public television. Hosted by television journalist Hugh Downs, the 4-minute interstitial program explains to viewers that bacteria, which are traditionally thought to be bad, are able to be beneficial to human health.

“It has been demonstrated that Yakult’s exclusive probiotic strain, Lactobacillus casei Shirota, can survive the passage through the gastrointestinal tract and keep a healthy balance of gut microbiota,” said Tomoyuki Sako, senior research scientist at the Yakult Central Institute for Microbiological Research. “This is believed to be the reason why L. casei Shirota may help regulate the digestive tract and modulate the immune system.”

Last year, the company did a major launch in the United States of its consumer product beverage Yakult, which contains around 8 billion probiotics. This public television broadcast is intended to reach 40 million households and help educate Americans who may not know about the health benefits of probiotics.

The National Medical Report segment will air for the duration of next year on more than 150 public television stations in 200 regions across the United States. A shorter version without Downs aired November 12 on Discovery Health.