A significant number of the world population is the victim of malnutrition. The perils of malnutrition has not made a distinction and has engulfed within it children and elderly alike. The children are the worst affected in the developing and under developed countries. Among the malnutrition cases, protein associated malnutrition is the most common. In the Indian subcontinent ~1/3 children suffer from the after affects of lack of protein in their diet which causes severe damage to the developmental progress in the age group. It is not that only the poorer section of the society suffers from such incomplete nutrition but a lack of knowledge about their diet makes the people from across society to face similar consequences. Lack of protein has been associated with the deficiency in innate immune responses like the ability to produce cytokines.
The traditional Indian fermented food curd (dahi) is formed by the coagulation of the milk protein casein through the activity of lactic acid producing bacteria. Through ages the general practice of curd preparation has involved the use of a batter with starter cultures containing strains of Lactobacillus. However, with the commercialization of the food product nowadays curd has even been prepared by the use of artificial compounds like rennet or other acidic compounds which reduces the beneficial effects as well as efficacy of the product. Nevertheless, with all its beneficial effects curd can definitely be used as a good probiotic food product with the application of knowledge based introduction of probiotic strains other than the ones which are already used as starter cultures. [Read more…]