Yakult Direct Message - Tomoyuki Iwama

Dear Indian Friends,

Greetings!

I am delighted to share my thoughts with you about my very exciting journey in Yakult Group for more than 30 years.

I have studied Molecular Biology in Tsukuba University till 1989 and joined Yakult. In those days, many doctors were interested in Dr. Minoru Shirota’s (the founder of Yakult) research and talking about it.
Dr. Shirota was a Medical doctor who studied in Kyoto University and realized that “Prevention is better than cure” and a “healthy intestine leads to a long life”. Our flagship product Yakult is based on his philosophy and was launched in Japan in 1935.
The concept of product “Yakult” is to become healthier by using the health benefit of probiotics - beneficial bacteria every day. I guess most of my Indian friends believe that the term bacteria sounds harmful. However, beneficial bacteria can impart health benefits like suppressing the harmful bacteria, preventing intestinal disorders and building immunity without any side effects.

For example, Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LcS) ,the unique Probiotic bacterium in Yakult has been studied in both animals and humans and there are more than 200 publications in International journals that highlight its role in ensuring a healthy digestive system and strong immunity.

One of the largest community based study on 4000 children was done at the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases in Kolkata which showed that consumption of Yakult prevented diarrhoea in children.

I am also very much keen to emphasize that many publications have indicated that Yakult’s bacteria help activate Natural Killer cells of the immune system and have the potential to reduce the risk of cancers especially bladder, colorectal and breast cancer.

Being motivated by Dr. Shirota, I have disseminated his philosophy and the product Yakult in the world. During my tenure in Yakult, I established state of the art manufacturing facilities in Netherland, Malaysia, Indonesia and now in India. India is without doubt the most interesting and challenging country.

I would like to personally invite all of you to visit our state of the art production facility in Sonepat, Haryana which is popular for its stringent manufacturing process to ensure that only the safest and the best quality product reaches you!!