Lactobacillus produce lactic acids and occurs in two active forms, D (-)  Latic acid and L (+) Lactic acid.  The L (+) Lactic acid is completely metabolized by the body but D (-) Lactic acid used very slowly by the body and excess D (-) Lactic acid can introduce metabolic disturbances.

In 1979 the New England Medical Journal reported that tests reveled the Lactobacillus Acidophilus is a producer of D (-) Latic acid and that Lactobacillus Sporogenes produces L (+) Lactic acid.  Further, The World Health Organization has recommended restricted intake of products containing high concentrations of D (-) Lactic acid to prevent acidosis.  In the Infant Nutritional Program, such product should be avoided because of the inability of babies to transform D (-) lactic acid. Lactobacillus Sporogenes produces L (+) Lactic acid is an ideal choice in this situation and it fulfills the W.H.O. recommendation for Infant Nutrition Programs.

Hyperlipidemia?   In simplest terms, hyperlipidemia is an elevation of lipids (fats) in the bloodstream. These lipids include cholesterol, cholesterol esters (compounds), phospholipids and triglycerides. They're transported in the blood as part of large molecules called lipoproteins.

Avicenna’s -Medline Abstract report on the “Short term hypolipidemic effects of oral lactobacillus Sporogenes therapy in patients with primary dyslipidemias” reads as follows:

Abstract Date:   1990 Sep-Oct: 

Short term hypolipidemic effects of oral Lactobacillus sporogenes (360 million spores/day) were studied in 17 patients (mean age 45.6 years; males 15, females 2) with type II hyperlipidemia in an open label fixed dose trial. Over a period of 3 months, significant reductions were observed in total cholesterol (330 +/- 55mg to 226 +/- 46 mg%, p less than 0.001) and LDL- cholesterol (267 =/- 58 mg% to 173 =/- 54 mg%, p less than 0.001),   The HDL-cholesterol was marginally increased (43.6 =/- 7 mg% to 46.8 =/- 8.9 mg%, p less than 0.05).

There was no change in serum triglyceride concentration.  Total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratios were significantly reduced after treatments (p less than 0.001. No adverse effect was noted. While the change in serum lipid levels on treatment was consistent with regard to total and LDL –cholesterol, it was not so in case of serum triglycerides and HDL- cholesterol. Oral Lactobacillus Sporogenes therapy may prove to be an important hypolipidemic therapy after confirmation in larger trials.

Mohan JC; Arora R; Khalilulla M.
Department of Cardiology, G.B. Pant Hospital, New Delhi