A new study published in Frontiers in Nutrition today demonstrates how a probiotic yogurt can be created that doesn’t have any artificial preservatives but still lasts a long time and may be good for your health.

For the first time, scientists have successfully incorporated a highly refined form of curcumin into yogurt, ensuring its solubility and preservation while maintaining a pleasant taste.

Their finding, which is published in Frontiers in Nutrition today, makes it possible to make a probiotic yogurt that doesn’t have any artificial preservatives but still lasts a long time and may be good for your health.

Turmeric gets its yellow color from curcumin, a naturally occurring molecule. In addition to perhaps boosting immunity, it has been found in studies to have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative characteristics and to limit the development of bacteria and fungus.

Curcumin is widely recognized for its antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and immunity-enhancing properties. However, its water-insolubility presents a challenge for adequate absorption in our bodies to achieve biological effects.

“We wanted to see,” adds first author Dr. Magdalena Buniowska-Olejnik, “if it was possible to create a dairy product containing curcumin in a bioavailable form that would also appeal to the consumer.”

The researchers made a probiotic yogurt called NOMICU L-100® that had a form of curcumin that dissolved well in water and was easy for the body to use. To determine how well it prevented the development of yeast, fungus, and bacteria over the course of 28 days, they compared it to yogurt which contained a typical turmeric extract. They assessed the yogurts’ color and tasted them in front of a panel of taste experts.

They “found that NOMICU L-100 was better at inhibiting the growth of yeast , fungi and bacteria than the standard turmeric extract,” comments the first author.

“It maintained the recommended levels of the ‘good’ lactic acid bacteria that are contained in fermented, live yogurts.”

According to the author, yogurt containing the common turmeric extract performed marginally better at maintaining homogeneity without a watery layer forming on top. The tasting panel, however, did not like it since it had a harsh flavor and the taste had declined after the first week of storage in the fridge. Moreover, the greenish-yellow hue was less attractive than the red-shifted color achieved with NOMICU. NOMICU gave the yoghurt a sweet, rich, and creamy taste that didn’t change over the course of 28 days in the fridge.

Leading the research were Maciej Banach, a Professor of Cardiology at the Medical University of Lodz, Poland and an Adjunct Professor at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Dr. Jakub Urbanski, the CEO of Dairy Biotechnologies Ltd.

According to Banach, NOMICU is the first curcumin product on the market that is highly purified and does not contain any artificial additives. It has excellent bioavailability as it dissolves well in water. In addition to the typical health benefits associated with probiotic dairy foods, such as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, NOMICU may offer additional advantages for managing blood fats and sugars.

In a previous meta-analysis, the researchers found that fermented yogurt consumption was associated with a significantly reduced risk of deaths from various causes, including cardiovascular diseases such as stroke and coronary heart disease.

As a cardiologist, Banach sees potential in enriching yogurt with nutraceuticals such as NOMICU to create a healthy product that combines elements that may be beneficial to human health.

According to the expert, this would potentially encourage adherence to a healthy diet, leading to better health outcomes, particularly in post-pandemic times, when a significant proportion of the population is at high risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, which account for over 30 million deaths worldwide annually.

The scientists intend to investigate the impact of curcumin on various dairy items, particularly those in which its antimicrobial qualities could prolong the products’ shelf life or significantly decrease the chance of unregulated yeast and mold growth.

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