Overview

• Kyushu University randomized 47 healthy adults for four weeks to control, daily yogurt, or yogurt plus chloride onsen bathing in Beppu, Japan.
• Participants in the yogurt group consumed 180 g of low-sugar yogurt containing Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus after dinner each day.
• The combined group also bathed in a chloride hot spring for more than 15 minutes at least once every two days, following a defined protocol.
• Yogurt alone significantly increased gut microbiota diversity and shifted taxa, changes not seen in the control or the yogurt-plus-onsen group.
• Both intervention groups reported improved defecation status, with the yogurt-plus-onsen group showing the largest symptomatic gains, according to results published in Frontiers in Nutrition.