YakultUSAProbiotics.com targets U.S. healthcare professionals

TORRANCE, Calif. Healthcare professionals in search of accurate and reliable probiotics data can now access clinical studies, free educational tools and the latest probiotics news and events on Yakult U.S.A.'s new Web site, www.yakultusaprobiotics.com.

Yakult created the online resource to help address the scientific community's surging interest in substantiated evidence for the efficacy of probiotics and to educate about its own proprietary strain, Lactobacillus casei Shirota. Yakult has been in the probiotics business since 1930, after it cultured its exclusive strain and producing the probiotic dairy drink "Yakult" in 1935.

"Healthcare professionals often ask us 'how is it that your probiotic strain is so powerful?'" Yakult U.S.A. senior science manager Hideyuki Shibata said. "Our founder Dr. Minoru Shirota studied thousands of bacteria, selected one amongst the strongest, and used 8 billion of them to make the Yakult drink. Today that probiotic, Lactobacillus casei Shirota, has more than 100 clinical studies demonstrating various potential benefits. The new website is a tool for healthcare professionals to access some of these studies."

The password-protected Web site requires free registration so that only serious probiotic researchers may gain access to the clinical data.

"While we are confident in our research findings, we do not want the general population misinterpreting the data. That is why we are encouraging consumers interested in our product to continue to visit our corporate Web site www.yakultusa.com," said Shibata.

Yakult U.S.A. is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Yakult Honsha Co., is headquartered in Torrance, Calif.