BLT - Blis Technologies

[Oman]

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Extension...owViewpoints=1

I just ran across the above URL on Amazon. First thing I noticed was that 2 BLIS products are on 50% discount, then I read the not so good comments from customers. If people read this they are likely to remember the bad press more than the positive one. The Amazon chewing gum price looks as if it's holding up but the LEF product is getting poor comments. I wonder if it's old stock and near B.B.Date ?

[fungus pudding]

I'm quite unaware of any such probiotic ice cream? Do you just mean frozen yoghurt? Yoghurt is not having an easy time in Europe so far as they cannot prove it has any beneficial effect, or that was where it was last time I looked. Also, probiotics have become a much more common consumer product now, with ads popping up all over the place now.

There's a few available I think. I googled around a while ago and found three from memory.

http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/...otential-Study

Mentions a USA one and an Indian one that I was awre of. there's more if you search.

[simla]

Yes, I saw that article a few months ago. May not have disappeared without trace though! Here's a probiotic ice cream for sale in India http://www.amulicecream.in/about_pro...sugarfree.html and the company's facebook page carries 170,000 likes (it sells many ice cream products). Here's a frozen probiotic yoghurt in Canada. http://www.lebelfoods.com/probiotic-...t/vanilla.html

[simla]

Nobody here is ever trying to talk anyone into investing in Blis. We discuss things here because we already own Blis shares ourselves on the whole.

And I don't know what the company could tell you, but there are plenty of articles on the net about bacteria not dying when they freeze, such as this from the US Dept of Agriculture http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/...ng/index.asp#3 You may be thinking of salmonella which mostly dies if frozen wet, and then the rest should die when you cook chicken properly. We freeze food to stop more things growing on it, but we always cook it afterwards too.

[fungus pudding]

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Extension...owViewpoints=1

I just ran across the above URL on Amazon. First thing I noticed was that 2 BLIS products are on 50% discount, then I read the not so good comments from customers. If people read this they are likely to remember the bad press more than the positive one. The Amazon chewing gum price looks as if it's holding up but the LEF product is getting poor comments. I wonder if it's old stock and near B.B.Date ?

I just read that. My own experience of Blis k12 was similar to the first bad comment. My throat was sore beyond belief. Severe, not just like a cold or flu throat. I posted my comments here at the time. Until that I had some shares, that I had bought dead cheap, but bailed out of them after that experience; although I continue to follow the fascinating comments on this site. The only other blis product I have tried is the ice-cream. As I have expressed, i can't imagine in my wildest dreams that it will make any impact at all in the market. I don't like to be negative, especially as Blis is a local industry that I would love to see succeed, but I don't think they're anywhere near success.

[simla]

Have now picked up and tried two flavours, pineapple and chocolate with nuts.

But hang on. Those ice creams contain K12.

[fungus pudding]

But hang on. Those ice creams contain K12.

True, but it didn't rip my throat to bits like the tablets.

[simla]

Then joy shall be yours! A local Dunedin company can do well after all! And further, you fed it to your guests without doubting it too. Glad you had no trouble.

[simla]

There is a lot the company can and should be telling me as a consumer

You may have a point and you could email the company. They do have several websites with quite a bit of info, but I don't personally recall seeing anything about the ice cream temperature thing. They certainly spend a lot on research and the last AGM presentation said they have a lot of information on the efficacy of their products. It would be pretty hard to talk other companies into taking up K12 into ice cream if they couldn't show them the science however.

[Nigel]

But that doesn't answer my question. There is a lot the company can and should be telling me as a consumer who is buying their product based solely on the benefits that the company claims I will get from buying their product. First and foremost among those is that K12 bacteria when frozen and packaged into ice cream doesn't die. (I'm not interested in all bacteria. I want to know what happens to K12 when it's frozen and put into ice cream). And secondly, proof from the company that the efficacy of K12 remains when its processed and consumed in this way. Without that information, I can have no confidence that this product will do for me what the manufacturer claims. So why should I pay a premium to buy their ice cream?

Hi David,

I just called the company to ask the question around freezing bacteria.

Here's what I noted down during our conversation.... (apologies for any inaccuracies, this is a lay-person trying to comment on science... not always a perfect mix)...

They did extensive colonization trials to test the effectiveness of the ice-cream product, and make sure that K12 was still detectable and effective in the mouth in sufficient quantities after eating the ice-cream. Turns out the ice-cream is probably a better vehicle for getting K12 into the oral cavity than lozenges, since the -20 degree temperatures used in the ice-cream manufacture/storage enables better shelf life stability of the bacteria (compared to lozenges). Some bacteria are lost in the freezing process, however they throw enough K12 in during the manufacturing process that each serving of the end product has the same number of effective bacteria as a lozenge. When frozen, the bacteria aren't killed, they simply sit in a form of stasis until thawed in the mouth, at which time they start to colonise the oral cavity. Interestingly, the K12 used in lozenges undergoes the same 'freeze-dry' process as the K12 in the ice-cream, in order to prolong shelf-life/usability etc.

I'm assuming that since the K12 in both lozenges and ice-cream undergo the same freeze-dry process, then the effectiveness of the bacteria in both formats would be the same. The ice-cream just see less stressors on the bacteria and provides improved shelf-life stability.

So, long story short, the effectiveness of the K12 in ice-cream is the same, if not better, as K12 in lozenge format.