At the end of the nineteenth century a distinguished Russian biologist by the name of Professor Mechnikov was doing research at the Pasteur Institute of Research in France.  One day he learned that people in Bulgaria, who were especially noted for their vigorous health and long life, daily consumed large amounts of certain dairy products.  Investigation revealed that one of the dairy products so favored by these people, yogurt, contained a certain type of bacteria.

Isolating and further examining these bacteria, or "lactobacilli," Professor Mechnikov found that they possessed an amazingly powerful germ killing action, while at the same time causing no harm whatsoever to the human body.  This led him to hypothesize, "The bacteria found in yogurt (Lactobacillus) suppresses the action of harmful bacteria in the intestines and prevents them from releasing toxins.”  He went on to conclude that, "Eating this will produce a constitution more resistant to disease.  This is the secret of youthfulness and longevity."

Senility and infirmity in old age and hardening of the arteries were two important medical topics in Europe at that time.  Hardening of the arteries in particular was seen as the probable result of too much alcohol, or perhaps some poisonous effect.  Mechnikov's ideas, focusing attention on the intestinal bacteria, proved not only to be correct, but were definitely a major medical breakthrough.  Mechnikov’s discovery formed the basis for his Lactobacillus treatment.  For this discovery and his continuing research, Professor Mechnikov was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908.

Although a stirring new theoretical breakthrough, Mechnikov's Lactobacillus treatment was shown in later years to have two serious methodological defects.

The first defect had to do with the use of one single type of bacteria in isolation.  Normally several kinds of bacteria live together and increase the effectiveness of each other.  When isolated into a single bacteria species, however, activity weakens and the reproduction rate falls off sharply, even though the bacteria itself might reach the intestines.  

 The second defect has to do with the effective use of living bacteria.  Nearly all ingested bacteria are destroyed by the stomach acid, and very few actually reach the intestines.
Himself unfortunately never aware of these shortcomings, Professor Mechnikov continued to eat yogurt, and in a short time yogurt as a food spread throughout Europe.  Professor Mechnikov died in 1916 at the age of seventy one.  He died of uremia and hardening of the arteries.

Super Supplement mentioned in Buddhist Sutra

The origin of Lactobacillus Fermented Extracts can be traced back to Buddhist scriptures written approximately 2,500 years ago.  Nearly a century ago Kozui Otani, the twenty-second abbot of Nishi-honganji Temple, came across the following passage in the Maha-parinirvana Sutra:  "Daigo is supreme. To partake of it is to eliminate all afflictions.  All other medicines are included therein."

In Japan they have the expression, "To savor the flavor of Daigo," which means to experience the ultimate thrill, the ultimate joy, the ultimate pleasure.  This expression stems from the above mentioned passage which, translated into modern language, would be, "Daigo is the very best, the ultimate, and anyone taking Daigo will be free from every sort of illness, and will have absolutely no need of any other medicine."

In the same text is also described the process for preparing this wonderful substance "Daigo:"
(1) Obtain milk as source of nutrients
(2) Removal of the fat rich solids or curd
(3) Fermentation by bacterial action, i.e. Lactobacillus
(4) Aging or ripening
(5) Obtaining the "Daigo"

In 1932 Kozui Otani met Kazuyoshi Masagaki, who went on to become the world authority on effective bacteria culturing techniques.  Later he established the Kozui Otani Agricultural Technology and Chemistry Research Center in Dalian, China and began his research on bacteria in earnest.

Work at the research center led to the discovery and patenting of a symbiotic culturing method for microorganisms in 1939, which in one blow overcame the two defects inherent in Mechnikov's Lactobacillus treatment, namely:

(1) organisms cultured in isolation lose their potency,
(2) swallowing living bacteria has almost no effect because most of it dies before it reaches the stomach.

The symbiotic culture method involves raising sixteen different bacteria and yeasts together.  The major benefit of this is that: "When one organism becomes stronger, an antibiotic action comes into play and other organisms begin to produce antibodies against it, while at the same time becoming stronger themselves.  In this manner all organisms in the culture mutually strengthen one another."

The productive substance created by these mutually strengthened bacteria contains over twenty different amino acids, a variety of vitamins and minerals, as well as the nucleic acids DNA and RNA which, although small in amount, are very potent.  Moreover this secreted productive substance has been found to display tremendous activity.  Truly then, the symbiotic culture method is the proper form for the Lactobacillus treatment proclaimed by Mechnikov, and its theory and techniques are highly esteemed among representative microbiologists in Japan.

In more concrete terms the method and procedure for symbiotic culturing is as follows.

(1) First the sixteen different bacteria and yeasts are each cultured individually.   
(2) Next they are divided into four groups of four and cultured symbiotically.
(3) Culturing is continued several times longer than the ordinary incubation period.  During this time the incubation temperature is varied to increase the amount of secretions produced.
(4) Finally, secreted substances are collected in an unaltered state and highly concentrated.

This final refined product is called Lactobacillus Fermented Extracts.  The great discovery of Professor Mechnikov finally bore fruit through research carried out at the Kozui Otani Agricultural Technology and Chemistry Research Center.

It was Kazuyoshi Masagaki, working at the Otani Research Center, who built his work the discovery of Professor Mechnikov and the extensive research of Kozui Otani, and finally perfected the symbiotic culturing method.