Essum AB

Verum Strains

Probiotics are defined as living microorganisms which upon digestion in certain numbers, exert health benefits beyond basic nutrition. The dairy products VERUM HÄLSOFIL and VERUM® HÄLSOYOGHURT are examples of very succesful probiotics on the Swedish market. They contain the patented strains Lactococcus lactis L1A and Lactobacillus rhamnosus LB21, which have been isolated, studied and clinically documented in close collaboration between researchers at Umeå University and the dairy company Norrmejerier in Umeå.

LACTOCOCCUS LACTIS L1A

The probiotic strain Lactococcus lactis L1A originates from a traditional milk fermentation culture. The specific strain was isolated from one out of several hundreds of wild starter cultures that were collected from diffirent farms in the North of Sweden during the 1970's. In 1993 Lactococcus lactis L1A was patented because of it's unique in vitro inhibitory effect on potentially pathogenic enteric bacteria like Salmonella sp. and Shigella sp. TABLE 1 .

To be able to positively affect the gastrointestinal ecosystem, the probiotic strain has to survive the passage through the harsh enviroment in the upper part of the gut. When 13 healthy individuals consumed Lactococcus lactis L1A for three consecutive days, the strains could be recovered from stool samples in 12 out of 13 tested volunteers.

Another similar clinical study on 21 healthy volunteers showed that Lactococcus lactis L1A was present in faecal samples up to 15 days after the final dose of peroral bacteria, with a mean duration of eight days. FIGURE 1 .

LACTOBACILLUS RHAMNOSUS LB21

The probiotic strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus LB21 is of human origin. In 1993 it was isolated from the intestine of a 5-day old child. During the inital in vitro tests, Lactobacillus rhamnosus LB21 showed to be very good growth inhibitor of Gram-negative bacteria such as Salmonella sp. and Escherichia sp.

Furthermore, Lactobacillus rhamnosus LB21 inhibits the growth of Helicobacter pylorii in vitro.
Lactobacillus rhamnosus LB21, like Lactococcus lactis L1A, survives the passage through the gastrointestinal tract very well. When 13 healthy volunteers had a salline solution of the specific probiotic LB21 strain every day for five days, Lactobacillus rhamnosus LB21 could be isolated from faecal samples up to twelve days after the intake of the LB21 strain had stopped. FIGURE 2 .