Dahi (an immunonutrient) in India Culture

Indian dahi, its history of origin, uses and benefits are reviewed. Studies were undertaken to observe effects of fermented milk in control of diarrhoea in children. India with high prevalence and severity of malnutrition, overpopulation and mainly vegetarian society are in need to develop protein sources with richness of minerals and vitamins; thus dahi (made with- lactobacillus bulgaricus and streptococcus thermophilus) and other vegetable source Berseem leaves (Trifolium Alexandrium) were studied in children patients suffering from protein energy malnutrition needing hospitalization, for acceptability and improvement in health i.e. appetite, weight gain, increase in haemoglobin. Study patients had clinical or laboratory evidence of infection, but only 32% patients were CRP positive (blunted response). The T cell lymphocytes CD3, CD4 and CD8 were in normal range and supplementation did not alter the counts. The baseline cytokine levels (TNFα, IFNγ, IL-10 and IL-4) were high in malnourished children. On feeding dahi and LPC diets the serum proinflammatory (TNFα, IFNγ), and anti-inflammatory (IL-10) cytokine levels, increased. The increase in IL-10 was higher in children receiving dahi diet. On comparing dahi diet against milk diet IL-1, IL-6 levels increased significantly on day 15th and at 6 weeks (p<0.001), in both the groups. However, IL-10 showed rise on day 15th and 6 weeks on dahi diet, in contrast milk diet patients showed fall on 15th day with subsequent rise at 6 weeks. The mean initial absolute lymphocyte counts were 3707±1551 and 4553±1776/ µl on dahi and milk diets, after 6weeks of treatment the corresponding values increased to 6312±1937 and 3493±1418 µl, respectively, (p=0.004). Similar, trend was observed for CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD19+ and CD56+ cells in two treatment groups. These observations demonstrate that dahi has immunonutrient properties.