PERSONAL HEALTH : It’s the Yeast Yogurt Can Outdo

Lactobacillus acidophilus. Remember that name.

It may not save your life, but if you’re a woman, it could save you some agony. According to a study in the March Annals of Internal Medicine, the bacteria with the imposing name can cure and prevent vaginal yeast infections.

For years now, old wives, alternative healers and open-minded physicians have prescribed yogurt for yeast infections. But most biomedical scientists were skeptical.

A report by New York researchers on the value of yogurt with L. acidophilus may reduce that skepticism. Dr. Eileen Hilton and colleagues at Long Island Jewish Medical Center divided 33 women into two groups: One group ate eight ounces of the bacteria-laced yogurt every day; the other ate none. After six months, the yogurt eaters were free of infection; the others were not.

The control group was then to take up the yogurt diet and the experimental group was to put away their spoons. But most of the infection-free--and very happy--yogurt-eaters refused and were dropped from the study.

Patient conspiracy aside, the study still represents “a needed first step” in explaining the value of yogurt to women with yeast infections, Annals editors say.

Consumers who want the same benefits should look for yogurt with the L. acidophilus . While the bacterium is not found in most commercial yogurts (even those boasting “live cultures”), it is found in some liquid yogurts and kefirs made by dairies.