Lactobacillus bulgaricus  There is hardly a person in the world
who does not know that Bulgaria is the homeland of the yogurt.
For Bulgarians, consuming yogurt has been known to be beneficial
for many centuries, but the unique qualities of the Bulgarian
yogurt garnered a worldwide attention in the end of 19th and the
beginning of the 20th century.  lactobacillus bacteria
Lactobacillus Bulgaricus (shown here in brown) Credit: Utah
State University  The well-known Russian scientist Ilya
Metchnikoff - one of the founders of modern immunology - linked
the longevity of the Bulgarian people to the consumption of
yoghurt. Metchnikoff, at that time a professor at the Pasteur
Institute in Paris, produced the notion that the aging process
results from the activity of putrefactive (proteolytic) microbes
producing toxic substances in the bowels. Proteolytic bacteria
such as clostridia, which are part of the normal gut flora,
produce toxic substances including phenols, indols and ammonia
from the digestion of proteins. A