history of soy yogurt, soy acidophilus milk and other ... - SoyInfo Center

secretary of the Nutrition Department of the American
Public Health Association of which I have been a member
for more than 50 years, asking me to prepare a paper for the
next meeting which is to be held in October. I have chosen
as my subject ‘Some of the Health Values of the Soy Bean.’
Thinking you might be interested in some of the facts which
I have embodied in the paper in relation to soy acidophilus
milk, I am enclosing a few sheets from a manuscript which I
am preparing which will be published later.
“I was much gratifi ed to learn from the unpublished data
recently sent me by Dr. Munsell of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture that soy acidophilus milk contains six times as
much vitamin G (anti-pellagra) and more than twenty times
as much vitamin B as does cow’s milk. The addition of a
thousand vitamin A units of plant origin to each half pint
gives it greater potency in vitamin A than the best dairy milk,
fully double, in fact. The addition of B-Lac or lactose gives it
a very close resemblance to mother’s milk in every particular
with a few points of slight superiority.”
124. Battle Creek Food Co. 1937. Soy acidophilus milk:
A highly potent culture of a new type of Lactobacillus
acidophilus for changing the intestinal fl ora. Battle Creek,
Michigan. 9 p. March. 28 cm.
• Summary: Contents: Introduction (Bouchard of
Paris, Herter of New York). Origin of the idea (Quinck,
Metchnikoff, Tissier). Why Bacillus Bulgaricus failed
(Rettger {of Yale} and others demonstrated “that this
organism could not be implanted in the colon and that it
rarely if ever survived in the alimentary tract at a level
lower than the duodenum”). Discovery of Lactobacillus
acidophilus: The natural protective organism of the
intestinal tract (Dr. Tissier). The fi rst therapeutic use of
Lactobacillus acidophilus in the United States (by J.H.
Kellogg using cultures obtained from the Pasteur Institute
through Dr. Tissier. “It has proved itself of very great service
in combatting colitis and various forms of intestinal and
digestive disorders... Our records show that between 1912
and the present time, our laboratories have supplied to
hospitals and private physicians more than 1,500,000 quarter
liters {250 ml}, the usual dose of whey milk cultures of
acidophilus. It was not, however, until publication of papers
by Rettger of Yale in 1922 and later that this remarkable was
brought to the attention of the profession in this country”).
Cruickshank’s demonstration of change of the fl ora in
vitro (“A few years later, Cruickshank of Aberdeen, Scotland,
demonstrated experimentally that under proper lactose
feeding, acidophilus will cause the rapid disappearance of...
all putrefactive and pathogenic organisms in vitro”).
The discovery of a new type of Lactobacillus
acidophilus–soy acidophilus (At the bacteriological
laboratory of Battle Creek College it was discovered “that
when grown in soy milk, a new and more vigorous type
of Lactobacillus acidophilus is produced. This new type
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 71
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has been studied by a number of able bacteriologists...
all noted with surprise the extraordinarily rapid growth,
the high count, and the very large size of the individual
organisms...”).
Soy acidophilus shows much higher counts than
acidophilus milk (Powell found “an average of fi ve times the
number of viable organisms...”).
The prophylactic and therapeutic value of soy
acidophilus is well established. Soy acidophilus contrasted
with dairy milk acidophilus (incl. two micro-photographs,
showing the bacilli are twice as long–16 vs. 8 microns–when
grown in milk prepared from the soy bean). Dairy milk not
a good culture medium for acidophilus (Note: Leo Frederick
Rettger, a bacteriologist at Yale from 1902 to 1942, was
lead author of a book titled Lactobacillus acidophilus and
Its Therapeutic Applications). Cow’s milk a poor culture
medium for acidophilus. The superior food value of soy
acidophilus milk (A table compares the composition of Soy
acidophilus milk, Cow’s milk, and human milk. The soy has
more protein, less fat, less carbohydrates than human milk,
same calcium as human milk, more iron, more minerals, and
fewer calories per ounce. The soy “is a basic ash product,
and combats acidosis”). Vitamin contents. The energy
value of soy acidophilus milk. Clinical results (“Since the
discovery of the soy type of acidophilus in 1933, its clinical
use has grown rapidly.” Example of Dr. Dafoe and the
Dionne quintuplets in Canada. Two roentgenogram photos of
the colon).
How much to take (“For a three year old child a half
glassful of soy acidophilus milk with a large spoonful of
Lacto Dextrin, taken three times a day, will effect a rapid
change of fl ora. A much larger amount may be taken without
injury. We understand that Dr. Dafoe keeps the quintuplets
in good health by giving them a glassful of soy acidophilus
milk every afternoon and another half pint at or between the
different meals. Very small doses, one or two teaspoonfuls,
mixed with the regular feeding, may give excellent results
in very young children. Dr. Dafoe began its use with the
quintuplets with teaspoonful doses”). Address: Battle Creek,
Michigan.
125. Kellogg, John Harvey. 1937. Re: Soy acidophilus milk.
Letter to Dr. G. Efremoff, Totleben 2, Sofi a VI, Bulgaria,
April 8. 4 p. Typed, without signature (carbon copy).
• Summary: “I spend my winters now here in Florida on
account of the more favorable weather. Here I do not take
cold as I do at Battle Creek and consequently am able
to do much more work. I do not stand the cold winters
well because of weak lungs on account of tuberculosis
which destroyed my left lung before I was 20 and left my
respiratory organs in a susceptible state.
“I assure you I am most happy to know of the success
which has attended your efforts to promulgate the ideals of
biologic living in your country [Bulgaria]. You have certainly