Abstract
This paper aims to analyze the process of the introduction of discourses on lactic acid bacteria therapy in Japan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This period is considered to be “the era of the predisposition” (Taishitsu no jidai), through which health maintenance became a daily cultural activity in Japanese cities. It is one of the conditions that promoted the development of research and the consumption of lactic acid bacteria products.
Medical theory on lactic acid bacteria originated at the Pasteur Institute of France. In the second half of the 19thcentury, developing research on lactic acid fermentation by Louis Pasteur and Émile Duclaux, Élie Metchnikoff proposed the use of lactic acid bacteria and soured milk in the treatment of intestinal disorders. He found a cause of these disorders in the toxicity derived from the physiological complexity of the human body. As his theory aims at the prolongation of life through immunological and zoological knowledge, he considers this theory to be an advancement of civilized culture.
Japanese politicians applied this advancement to their country by importing the works of Metchnikoff, because they considered that the development of the dairy industry was essential for modernization. At the same time, Japanese pharmacies imported and developed lactic acid bacteria drugs. This allowed for daily medicinal consumption of these bacteria in Japan.
