On milk kefir and probiotics we claim nothing, and legally no food seller can. No health claim about kefir is authorised in the European Union, and the word probiotic is itself a regulated term because the claim sits inside its definition. Milk kefir is a fermented food.
The figures on this page
This page has been rewritten. The previous version answered yes and described milk kefir as rich in probiotics. Those formulations are not permitted, and we do not keep them.
With most unlawful wording the problem is the sentence. Here it is the word. Probiotic means, literally, a live microorganism that confers a health benefit when taken in sufficient amounts. The health claim is inside the definition.
That has a consequence which surprises many people. You cannot soften the word. Using it is making a claim, even without a sentence built around it. That is why its use in advertising is restricted in several member states of the European Union, and why you will not find it on our product pages.
With milk kefir and probiotics there is a second problem on top. The definition requires a sufficient amount. A sufficient amount presupposes a known amount, and a known amount presupposes an analysis. A jar on your kitchen counter is not analysed.
Many pages quote precise figures. So many billion microorganisms per millilitre, so many different species. It is worth pausing here, because it is the easiest warning sign to recognise.
A count requires a laboratory analysis of a specific batch under controlled conditions. Your jar depends on the kitchen temperature, the actual length of the cycle, the milk you used and the age of the grains. Two jars in the same house do not give the same result.
So any precise figure on a page about milk kefir and probiotics for a homemade preparation is either invented or copied from a study on an industrial product that has nothing to do with your jar. Either way it says nothing about your drink.
Everything about the product and how it is made. It is checkable, it is useful, and it commits us to no promise.
| What goes in | Water kefir, 1 litre | Milk kefir, 1 litre |
|---|---|---|
| Culture | 30 g of grains | 10 to 20 g of grains |
| Liquid | 1 litre of unchlorinated water | 1 litre of milk |
| Sugar | 4 tablespoons, about 60 g | none, the lactose is enough |
| Dried fruit | 1 fig or 2 dried apricots | none |
| Citrus | 1 lemon or 1 orange | none |
| Duration | 24 h, up to 48 h | 24 h |
| Temperature | 20 to 25 °C | 20 to 25 °C |
That a milk kefir culture consists of microorganisms is a fact, not a claim. We may say it and we want to. The grains are a community of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts held in a matrix they build themselves, and they multiply when you feed them.
What we may not say is what those microorganisms do inside a person. That is the whole difference between a description and a claim, and it is the entire content of the regulation in one sentence.
What is observable: the culture consumes lactose, produces acids, drops the pH from about 6.7 to about 4.2 to 4.6, thickens the milk and produces traces of alcohol of 0.2 to 1 per cent. After three to six weeks you have more grains than you started with. That is biology in a jar, and it is checkable.
If you need a declared composition, a sachet of freeze dried ferment is the better choice, because there is an analysis behind the figures on the packet. We say that openly even though we sell live grains.
If you want yield, live grains win and it is not close. A sachet makes a few litres and is finished. Grains double in three to six weeks and last for years. One purchase, and the culture is never bought again.
What neither of us can offer you is a claim of effect, because none is authorised. The difference between an industrial product and our grains is the composition on the label, not the permission to promise something.
One important point. If you are on a treatment, no change is decided from a web page, whichever one it is. That applies to ours as much as to the ones promising miracles.
| Per 200 ml glass | Water kefir, 24 h | Milk kefir, 24 h |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 30 to 50 kcal | 110 to 130 kcal |
| Residual sugar | about 3 to 4 g per 100 ml | little, lactose partly used |
| pH | about 3 to 3.5 | about 4.2 to 4.6 |
| Alcohol | 0.2 to 1 per cent | 0.2 to 1 per cent |
| Carbon dioxide | marked, more after bottling | little |
These values are identical on all our pages, because they come from the same recipe. What is absent is any claim about an effect. There is no authorisation for one, and for a glass made in your own kitchen there is no measurement either.
They have been the same for years, in every language, and four out of five are fixed in a single cycle.
First, cutting the sugar. By far the most common. The 4 tablespoons per litre feed the grains, not the drinker. After 24 hours a good part is gone. Halving it starves the culture, and within three cycles it stops multiplying. For a less sweet drink, extend the time.
Second, chlorinated water. Chlorine is made to kill microorganisms, and it does the same to your culture. Bottled water, filtered water, or tap water left uncovered for 12 hours all solve it.
Third, a jar that is too small. A litre of drink needs a 1.5 litre jar. The carbon dioxide has to go somewhere. A jar filled to the brim overflows and smells unpleasant within two days.
Fourth, rinsing every cycle. The grains are rinsed only when visibly coated, in cool unchlorinated water. Rinsing at every turn takes away the film that protects them.
Fifth, metal. A plain metal sieve or spoon reacts with the acidity. Plastic or stainless steel solves it, and it is the only point where equipment genuinely matters.
A culture needs a few cycles before it works consistently. Knowing that keeps people from throwing everything out after the second mediocre drink.
Activation. On the day it arrives, 30 cl of water with 40 g of sugar, 24 hours, nothing added. That liquid is not drunk.
First cycles. For a week, strain daily and start again, always with 30 g of grains, 4 tablespoons of sugar and a litre of unchlorinated water. Swings in taste at this stage are normal.
Steady running. From the second week one jar resembles the next. The fig rises around the twelfth hour, and at 24 hours the drink is tart and lightly sparkling.
Multiplication. After three to six weeks you have more grains than you started with. That is the real difference from a sachet of freeze dried ferment, which is finished after a few litres.
Search for milk kefir and probiotics and you will find lists of Latin names with figures beside them. It is worth knowing how those lists are made, because they look far more precise than they are.
They come from studies on specific cultures. A research group obtains a kefir culture from somewhere, sequences it, and publishes what it found. That result is true of that culture at that moment.
Then the list travels. A blog quotes it, a shop page quotes the blog, and after four steps it is presented as the composition of milk kefir in general. Nobody lied; each step just dropped a qualifier.
Why it matters for your jar. Kefir cultures differ from one lineage to another, and the balance within a single culture shifts with temperature, milk and cycle length. A list from a study is not an inventory of your grains.
That is why we publish no list. It would be easy to copy one, it would make the page look more scientific, and it would tell you nothing about what is in your kitchen.
| We know it | We do not know it |
|---|---|
| The quantities that make a jar work | what happens after you drink it |
| That the pH drops to 4.2 to 4.6 in 24 hours | the count in your jar |
| That traces of alcohol appear, 0.2 to 1 per cent | which species are present |
| How to tell a healthy culture from a spoiled one | how any one person reacts |
| That grains double in 3 to 6 weeks | anything belonging to medicine |
The left column is the trade of a culture seller. The right belongs to others, mainly to your doctor. On milk kefir and probiotics we are firmly in the right column, and so is every shop that claims otherwise.
Apply these four tests to this page and it passes. Apply them to the version that used to sit here and it failed the first two. That is why it was rewritten.
| Previous wording | Why it is a problem |
|---|---|
| «is milk kefir probiotic, yes» | the question answered with an unauthorised claim, in the title and the URL |
| «rich in live probiotics» | claim with no authorisation and no proven amount |
| «billions of beneficial bacteria» | a count that does not exist for a home ferment |
| «supports your gut flora» | physiological effect asserted |
| «strengthens your defences» | claim about immune function, not authorised |
None of those sentences was written in bad faith. They came from copied articles. That is exactly what makes milk kefir and probiotics a difficult subject, and why this page now explains the framework instead of promising a result.
The health claims authorised in the European Union are listed in the register of the European Food Safety Authority. Guidance on home food hygiene is published by the Food Standards Agency.
Live cultures, water and milk
Shipped hydrated and active, ready for the first cycle on the day they arrive.
See the culturesIf you came here for confirmation that milk kefir is a probiotic, we are sorry not to have it. It would be easy to write, and it would be unlawful.
And if this page is useful for one thing, let it be this. The word probiotic on a sales page says more about the seller’s diligence than about the product. On milk kefir and probiotics that single observation tells you in two seconds whether a page has done its homework. The register is public and free.
We cannot answer that, and it is not excessive caution. In the European Union the word probiotic is treated as a health claim in several member states, and its use in advertising is restricted. Milk kefir is a fermented food. That is the description we are allowed to use.
Because it means a health benefit. The definition is a live microorganism that confers a benefit when taken in sufficient amounts, so the claim sits inside the word. A claim needs authorisation under EU regulation 1924/2006, and for kefir there is none.
Many pages do, some in good faith because they copy other pages. A widespread wording does not become lawful. We have chosen not to use it, even where that costs us visibility.
Yes, and that is a fact rather than a claim. The grains are a community of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts held in a matrix they build themselves. What we may not say is what those microorganisms do inside a person.
No, and nobody honestly can for a homemade preparation. A figure per millilitre needs a laboratory analysis of a specific batch. Kitchen temperature, actual duration, the milk and the age of the grains change the result enough that two jars in the same house differ.
It answered the question with yes and described milk kefir as rich in probiotics. That is not permitted, and we do not keep it. The previous wordings are listed in a table below.
For a declared composition, yes, because an analysis sits behind the figures on the packet. For yield, no: a sachet makes a few litres and is finished, while live grains double in three to six weeks and last for years. Two honest answers to two different questions.
Everything about the product and how it is made. Milk kefir: 10 to 20 g of grains per litre of milk, no added sugar, 24 hours at 20 to 25 °C. Water kefir: 30 g of grains, 4 tablespoons of sugar and a litre of unchlorinated water, 24 hours.
From your doctor for your own case, and from the register of the European Food Safety Authority to see what is authorised. A systematic review is stronger than a single study, and an online shop has a commercial interest, including us.
No, under no circumstances. No food replaces a prescribed treatment. If you are on one, any change is discussed with the doctor who prescribed it.
