Objective: Assessment of the hypocholesterolaemic effect of yoghurt supplemented with Lactobacillus acidophilus 145 and Bifidobacterium longum 913 in women. Design: The cross-over study consisted of three periods (7 weeks each): first period, control yoghurt for all 29 women; second period, probiotic yoghurt for 18 women, control yoghurt for 11 women; third period, the reverse of that in the second period. Setting: Department of Nutritional Physiology, Institute of Nutritional Science, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena. Subjects: Twenty-nine healthy women, aged 19 -56 y. Fifteen of these were normocholesterolaemic and 14 women were hypercholesterolaemic. Intervention: Yoghurt (300 g) daily containing 3.5% fat and starter cultures of Streptococcus thermophilus and L. lactis. Probiotic yoghurt was the control yoghurt enriched with L. acidophilus 145, B. longum 913 and 1% oligofructose (synbiotic). Results: The mean serum concentration of total cholesterol and the LDL cholesterol was not influenced by the synbiotic (P > 0.05). The HDL concentration increased significantly by 0.3 mmol=l (P ¼ 0.002). The ratio of LDL=HDL cholesterol decreased from 3.24 to 2.48 (P ¼ 0.001). Conclusions: The long-term daily consumption of 300 g yoghurt over a period of 21 weeks (control and synbiotic) increased the serum concentration of HDL cholesterol and lead to the desired improvement of the LDL=HDL cholesterol ratio.

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During the last decade the iodine supply in Germany has increased significantly, but there is still a high frequency of goitre. Therefore the question of iodine bioavailability has arisen. In a two-period study 12 women were given a mixed diet of ordinary foods with milk and milk products of different batches. None of the volunteers suffered from an iodine deficiency according to WHO-criteria. Each period ended with a 9-day balance-study protocol in which all foods were provided. Food and fluid intake were registered, and urine and faeces were quantitatively collected. The iodine content was determined by ICP-MS. The mean intake in the form of solid food amounted to 175 +/- 10 micrograms I/d and to 27 +/- 15 micrograms I/d in fluid form. Milk and dairy products represented the main source of iodine (37%). Iodine was predominantly excreted in the urine (89%, 171 +/- 45 micrograms I/d) and the faeces 11% (20 +/- 11 micrograms I/d). The resulting iodine balance was approximately . In one case an iodine-rich erythrosine preparation with a low iodine bioavailability was used. Between the two periods of consuming different batches of milk and milk products no differences were observed concerning the high bioavailability of iodine.

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