“Health is wealth.”

“Prevention is better than cure.”

Are these wise sayings that should guide everyone’s lifestyle or are they now regarded as old wives’ tales?

These two universal wise sayings may now seem to be taken for granted but it cannot be denied that both of these saying continue to hold much more than a mere grain of salt. These sayings are replete of golden wisdom.

According to German Medical Doctor and Professor of Medicine Dr. Stephan Bischoff, an authority in, among others, gastroenterology and allergology, gut health can offer a new approach to preventive medicine if we learn more about how to achieve and maintain it. 

Bischoff explains, “Current medical research is much more focused on the treatment of defined GI diseases rather than on the secondary or even primary prevention of disease. However, preventive medicine is increasingly perceived as being important in medical and economic terms, particularly in the field of gastroenterology.” 

He adds, “Scientifically justified approaches to maintaining gut health and to preventing GI diseases are welcome” and “although this is an area with many open questions, we have started to learn that lifestyle characteristics, such as balanced diet, moderate but regular exercise and avoidance of chronic stress, but also defined products such as select pre- and probiotics, can support gut health.”

Given the now widely available studies not only of Dr. Bischoff but also of Dr. Shawn Manske and a lot of other authorities from America and Europe on the role of gut health in one’s overall health and the role of probiotics in the promotion of gut health, the golden wisdom embodied in the sayings “Health is wealth” and “Prevention is better than cure” cannot be overstated.

It’s good to start off one’s family in the healthy habits of eating a balanced diet or the proper mix of nutritious foods with adequate exercise, along with cleanliness, enough water intake and good sleeping habits, as taught in the early grades in most, if not in all, schools. 

The inclusion of probiotics intake as part of preventive action where health maintenance is concerned has been gaining a wide patronage in many countries.  Research and development on probiotics had flourished over time (on prebiotics too).  In Japan, for example, since the period immediately preceding the 1930s, Dr Minoru Shirota of the Kyoto Imperial University School of Medicine University (now Kyoto University) started working on lactic acid bacteria culture, which he strengthened, and once ready, was tagged as Yakult and introduced as a probiotic health drink. Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd. introduced Yakult in Japan and Taiwan in the first half of the 1930s, and by now, it has become a popular Probiotic  drink in as many as 40 countries and regions.  

Yakult, a probiotic for the promotion of gut health, has by now become a daily  drink among many Filipinos. 

“Gut health,” as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), “is a state of physical and mental well-being in the absence of gastrointestinal complaints that require the consultation of a doctor, in the absence of indications or risks of bowel disease, and in the absence of confirmed bowel disease.” (Constitution of the World Health Organization, New York 1946) 

Dr. Bischoff says in his report, “Gut health can offer a new approach to preventive medicine if we learn more about how to achieve and maintain it. Current medical research is much more focused on the treatment of defined GI diseases rather than on the secondary or even primary prevention of disease.”

These are among his conclusive statements: “Preventive medicine is increasingly perceived as being important in medical and economic terms, particularly in the field of gastroenterology. Therefore, scientifically justified approaches to maintaining gut health and to preventing GI diseases are welcome.”

Dr. Minoru Shirota devoted his life to research and development of the gut-health enhancing strain of beneficial bacteria: Lacticaseibacillus paracasei strain Shirota (LcS). The resulting product, Yakult Probiotic drink, has gained international patronage. This product was formally introduced here in the Philippines in the year 1978. A Yakult plant was built in Calamba, Laguna and has for almost five decades now been serving the daily probiotic requirements of Filipino households. 

Yakult has gained popularity not just in Luzon where the country’s capital is located but also in Visayas and Mindanao, and so, to better serve Filipino families—wherever they are—Yakult Philippines decided to put up another plant in Misamis Oriental. 

According to Yakult Philippines, Inc. President, Mr. Alberto R. Dy Sun, the recently inaugurated second Yakult plant is located in El Salvador, Misamis Oriental. It is aptly called Yakult El Salvador Manufacturing Company Plant or YESMC Plant, for short, and Mr. Dy Sun is its Chairman. 

“The plant occupies a total floor area of 25,583 sq meters, its construction area around 18,709 sq meters,” he disclosed during the interview on the occasion of the new    plant’s inauguration last June 5. He also talked about Yakult’s army of beneficial bacteria—8 billion live Lacticaseibacillus paracasei strain Shirota (LcS) in every bottle which protect the gut of every consumer. 

The trustworthiness of Yakult’s efficacy as a gut health-enhancing health drink has withstood the TEST OF TIME. It has been a favorite health drink of many consumers in different parts of the world for 90 long years. Since it has been established that gut health affects a person’s overall health, then it follows, that to have good health—it’s best to start with the gut. It’s best to prevent any ailment of the body (the brain included, as some other studies have advanced) for indeed, prevention is better than cure.