Kefir revisited: Insights from the North Caucasus

Table 1 Biological effects of milk kefir

Biological activity	Ref.
Antagonistic activity against pathogenic microorganisms	[35-41]
Reducing the inflammatory process in colitis	[42-44]
Improvement in the GMWI	[45]
Reducing symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and chronic constipation	[46,47]
Anticancer effect	[49-59]
Immunomodulatory and anti-allergic effect	[62-72,74]
Hypocholesterolemic effect	[75-79]
Glucose-lowering effect	[81,82]
Improving outcomes in NAFLD	[84]
Antioxidant activity	[85-87]
Antihypertensive effect	[88-90]
Healing effect on skin lesions and chemical esophagitis	[91,92]
Anti-aging effect	[93]

NAFLD: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; GMWI: Gut microbiome wellness index.

Table 2 Differences in the composition of traditional and industrial kefir

Parameters	Traditional (home-made) kefir	Industrial kefir	Method of analysis	Ref.
Mesophilic LAB	(6.50-9.60) log CFU mL-1	(6.38-9.15) log CFU mL-1	Microbiological analysis	[109]
Thermophilic LAB	(6.60-9.20) log CFU mL-1	(5.32-8.60) log CFU mL-1	Microbiological analysis	[109]
NSLAB	(6.11-8.56) log CFU mL-1	(6.41-8.33) log CFU mL-1	Microbiological analysis	[109]
Enterococci	(3.48-5.60) log CFU mL-1	(2.48-0.81) log CFU mL-1	Microbiological analysis	[109]
Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens	1.Е + 08	-	qPCR	[112]
Lactobacillus kefiri	1.Е + 0.8	-	qPCR	[112]
Shannon’s alpha diversity index	1.25-2.1	0.8-1.25	Metagenomics analysis	[109]
Inverse Simpson index	2.3-4.9	1.7-2.2	Metagenomics analysis	[109]
Yeasts	Found in 100% of samples	Found in 50% of samples	Microbiological analysis	[109]

LAB: Lactic acid bacteria, NSLAB: Non-Starter lactic acid bacteria; qPCR: Quantitative polymerase chain reaction.