Ideal time for probiotics? Nutritionist reveals when you should have curd or yoghurt

Probiotics benefit gut health. If one consumes it at the right time, the benefits can be maximised.

Gut health is important as it is connected to other parts like mental health and the immune system, indicating that maintaining good gut health is one holistic way to keep the entire wellbeing healthy. This necessitates probiotic intake, which is good for your gut microbiome. It's essential to understand when it's the best time to have probiotics and which foods contain the most probiotic bacteria for the best gut health results.

Nutritionist shared the major probiotic sources' differences too. (Instagram)

Nutritionist Shalini Sudhakar took to Instagram to share the best time to have probiotics for optimal health benefits and differentiated some popular foods that contain probiotics.

What is the best time to have probiotics?

Probiotics may feel like all the buzz now, but they’re not something new. The understanding of their benefits goes back generations, our grandmothers knew just how important they were for gut health. In fact, they had advice about probiotics, especially when it came to the right time to consume them. This age-old advice actually maximises the benefits of probiotics.

She said,"Your grandmother knew about gut health better. Do you remember she is saying, always finish a meal with curd or yoghurt? There are a hundred trillion bacteria in your gut, both friendly and unfriendly. Unfriendly bacteria damage your gut but without friendly bacteria, you can't digest the food you eat or absorb the nutrients from it. So it is really important to feed your healthy bacteria to your gut everyday. And these friendly bacteria are found only in probiotics and nature's best and the most effective probiotics is curd or yoghurt. Like your grandmother say, always finish your meal with curd or yoghurt because this probiotic is really important for better digestion, better absorption of nutrients and ensure that there's no bloating."

Which is better- curd or yoghurt?

Curd and yoghurt are popular sources of probiotics. (Shutterstock)

Curd and yoghurt are among the most popular natural sources of protein. In fact, some may use them interchangeably, confusing them as well as their nutrient profiles. But they aren’t quite the same. Even though they contain the same beneficial bacteria, there are significant differences in their preparation and the quantity of good bacteria. Take note if you still get confused between curd and yoghurt.

Shalini explained and added, “While both curd and yoghurt contain probiotic bacteria, the quantity of bacteria in yoghurt is higher as compared to curd. This is majorly because of the way of preparation, which includes fermentation over a period of time. On the other hand, curd has a comparatively lesser amount of bacteria, which is not majorly of the same type of biological family. Since, yoghurt is prepared by ingesting a specific type of bacteria, the end result has a specific type of bacteria, which belongs to the similar family.”

Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.