2024-10-15 22:00:00
Home > News > Kefir doesn’t come from where you think! written on October 16, 2024 at 12:00 a.m. Kefir… from Tibet!
DNA analysis of a Chinese cheese dating back 3,600 years suggests that kefir does not come as previously thought from the Caucasus but from regions even further to the East and shows how these probiotics have evolved to adapt, in particular, to our intestines.
For the first time, scientists have succeeded in extracting and analyzing DNA from samples of ancient cheese discovered in China, dating back around 3,600 years, the oldest sample of cheese ever discovered in the world! This unprecedented study made it possible to observe the evolution of a bacteria over the last three thousand years and provided a better understanding of how probiotics contained in kefir, which we commonly use today, became widespread. and displaced.
Two major groups of bacteria, from Russia and Tibet
There are two major groups of Lactobacillus bacteria today: one originating from Russia and the other from Tibet. The Russian type is the most used around the world, especially in the United States, Japan and European countries, for making yogurt and cheese.
By comparing the Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens present in ancient kefir cheese with the currently dominant species, the team discovered that the Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens contemporary is rather linked to the Tibetan group, calling into question a long-held belief that kefir came only from the mountainous region of the North Caucasusin present-day Russia. In reality, since the Bronze Age, the culture of kefir would have been maintained in the northwest of China.
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The study reveals that Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens subsequently exchanged genetic material with related strains, improving its genetic stability and milk fermentation capabilities over time. Compared to old Lactobacillus, modern versions of these bacteria are less likely to trigger an immune response in the human gut. This suggests that genetic exchange also helped Lactobacillus become more adaptable to human hosts over thousands of years of interaction.
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