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Does anyone know how the beneficial bacteria in kefir survive after being bottled up in an airtight container? I thought they were living things that needed oxygen for sustenance. I admit to having been a bit skeptical about the efficacy of the bacterial culture in yogurt and kefir, as I suspected most of them probably die off while sitting on grocery store shelves for weeks/months. However, tonight I drank some plain kefir to see if it would help with my indigestion (thank you, overly greasy calamari from Leona's ) and I feel so much better all of a sudden!

I believe the bacteria in yogurt is anaerobic, so it doesn't need oxygen to survive.

I had a bad tummy tonight, so I slugged back a few ounces of Acidophilus under the assumption it may do some good.

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

The cultures are living things, but Hammond's right, the cultures are anaerobic. It's true some do die off during their life on the store shelf, but not enough to make a significant difference, at least by the sell by date, and a few weeks afterwards. But generally there'll be enough left to repopulate your gut, if you need it. Also, kefir is better at that than yogurt, since yogurt typically contains only 2 - 4 cultures, while kefir can easily contain 12+

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And my little guys loves it in the orange monster packaging