Hi Christopher,
I came to fermenting via numerous medical research articles relating to the brain-gut connection. I am on the Autism Spectrum - Asperger's, and the probiotics content plays a big part in much of what is being spoken about. I started with Kefir and then added Sauerkraut.
There is much on the Net written on the subject. This is as good a source as any, agreeing with much of what I have read elsewhere:
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/kefir-healthier-than-yogurt/
Quoting extensively from the above:
A traditional yogurt starter contains the following strains of probiotics: Bifidobacterium lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, and Streptococcus thermophilus.
Here is a list of the typical strains of probiotics and beneficial yeasts in properly fermented Kefir, according to the Journal Food Microbiology:
Lactobacillus acidophilus
Lactobacillus brevis
Lactobacillus casei
Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus
Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. delbrueckii
Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis
Lactobacillus helveticus
Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens subsp. kefiranofaciens
Lactobacillus kefiri
Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus rhamnosus
Lactobacillus sake
Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris
Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis
Lactococcus lactis
Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris
Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. dextranicum
Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides
Pseudomonas
Pseudomonas fluorescens
Pseudomonas putida
Streptococcus thermophilus
Candida humilis (yeast)
Kazachstania unispora (yeast)
Kazachstania exigua (yeast)
Kluyveromyces siamensis (yeast)
Kluyveromyces lactis (yeast)
Kluyveromyces marxianus (yeast)
Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast)
Saccharomyces martiniae (yeast)
Saccharomyces unisporus (yeast)
The probiotic strains in yogurt, however, do not colonize the gut themselves, and just pass through which requires a constant infusion to maintain the same health benefit.
Whereas Milk Kefir is quite different from yogurt in that the strains contained colonize the intestinal tract and don’t just pass through with temporary benefit.
If you are trying your hand at home fermentation of milk in order to improve your digestive health and rebalance the gut environment with beneficial microbes dominating instead of pathogenic strains, Kefir is going to be a far more potent choice.
Alison