2018

• Confirmation of the retention of the probiotic function of encapsulated freeze-dried L. casei strain Shirota on the International Space Station for approximately one month at levels comparable with that of terrestrial controls.
• Confirmation of the effects of continual ingestion of a fermented milk drink containing B. bifidum YIT 10347 in relieving digestive tract symptoms in healthy adults, including post-prandial discomfort and stomach aches.
• Confirmation of the beneficial effects of the administration of synbiotics (L. casei strain Shirota and B. breve strain Yakult + galactooligosaccharides) on improving the balance of the gut microbiota and the intestinal environment of sepsis patients under ventilatory management in the intensive care unit, as well as improving their prognosis.
• Demonstration of the existence of bifidobacteria strains established in early infancy remaining established long-term until childhood, as well as the co-existence of these strains with other species of bifidobacteria.
• Identification of intestinal bacteria involved in the production of putrefactive substances, such as phenols and, from genetic information, the prediction of the phenolic metabolic pathway that some bacteria have.

2017

• Demonstration of the effect of the continuous ingestion of a fermented milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota on the reduction of bacterial translocation into the blood, which causes chronic inflammation, in patients with type 2 diabetes.
• Demonstration of the usefulness of the administration of synbiotics (L. casei strain Shirota and B. breve strain Yakult + galactooligosaccharides) during preoperative chemotherapy for improving the intestinal environment and reducing serious adverse events caused by chemotherapy in thoracic esophageal cancer patients.
• Confirmation of the possibility that the continuous ingestion of a fermented soy milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota may improve both skin conditions and the intestinal microbiota in healthy premenopausal women.
• Confirmation of the possibility that the continuous ingestion of galactooligosaccharides may restore a decline in the proportion of bifidobacteria and be useful for improving type 2 diabetes.
• Demonstration of the influence of yogurt consumption frequency on the balance of the intestinal microbiota and that the influence differs by gender in healthy young adults with similar lifestyles.
• Confirmation that the continuous ingestion of a fermented milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota can reduce incidences and duration of upper respiratory tract infections and their symptoms, as well as suppress both a decrease of NK activity as an immune indicator, and an increase of salivary cortisol as a stress indicator in healthy male office workers.
• Demonstration that the continuous ingestion of a fermented milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota can help to reduce stress-induced deterioration in sleep quality among healthy medical students.

2016

• Clarification of the utilization of oligosaccharides in breast milk and the symbiotic mechanism of bifidobacteria involved in Bifidobacteriaceae-dominant gut microbiota development in infants at the molecular level.
• Demonstration of the possibility that the habitual intake of fermented milk products containing L. casei strain Shirota may lead to a reduction in the risk of developing hypertension in older people.
• Confirmation of the effect of the continuous ingestion of B. breve strain Yakult on suppressing perioperative infection onset accompanying pediatric surgery, improving gut microbiota and intestinal environment imbalances, and reducing the incidence of bacteremia.
• Confirmation of the effect of the continuous ingestion of galactooligosaccharides on increasing the bifidobacteria in the feces of infants fed infant formula and inducing microbiota more similar to that of breast-fed infants.
• Confirmation of the usefulness of the intake of citrus juice fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum YIT 0132 on alleviating allergy symptoms and improving the quality of life in patients with perennial allergic rhinitis.
• Demonstration of the possibility of an increased risk of depression when there is a lower beneficial bacteria count in the gut microbiota in a comparison of patients with major depressive disorder and healthy volunteers.

2015

• Confirmation of the usefulness of the intake of citrus juice fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum YIT 0132 on alleviating symptoms in patients with atopic dermatitis and improving their quality of life as well as improving the immune index involved in allergic diseases.
• Confirmation of the possibility that the continuous intake of a fermented milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota may be useful in maintaining and promoting the health of healthy children by improving their intestinal environment and reducing harmful bacteria and opportunistic bacteria.

2014

• Confirmation of dysbiosis in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes, and verification of the possibility that improvement of the intestinal environment may be useful in the treatment of the disease.
• Demonstration that the intestinal environments of Yakult Ladies, who regularly consume Yakult's probiotics, are healthy using YIF-SCAN^®.
• Demonstration of the effect of the intake of a fermented milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota on relieving constipation-related symptoms and haemorrhoids in women during puerperium.
• Confirmation of the effects of the intake of a fermented milk drink containing B. bifidum YIT 10347 on the improvement of gastrointestinal and psychological symptoms in patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders, and improvement of stomach discomfort in adults.

2013

• Demonstration of the effect of habitual intake of L. casei strain Shirota on reducing the risk of breast cancer in an epidemiological study.
• Demonstration of the usefulness of a fermented milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota intake for improving abnormal bowel movements, a post-gastrectomy sequela.
• Demonstration of the effect of a fermented milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota intake on improving liver function in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis.
• Clarification of the influence of mode of delivery on the colonization of bifidobacteria in the intestines of neonates.
• Clarification of the influence of short-chain fatty acids, metabolites of L. casei strain Shirota and B. breve strain Yakult, on the growth of intestinal epithelial cells.

2012

• Demonstration of the effectiveness of synbiotic therapy (L. casei strain Shirota and B. breve strain Yakult + galactooligosaccharides) for reducing Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which causes nosocomial infections, including pneumonia, in patients on long-term ventilation.
• Development of a highly sensitive and accurate method of quantifying Clostridium difficile, a type of bacterium that causes antibiotic-associated diarrhea, using YIF-SCAN^®, and verification of Clostridium difficile residence in the intestines of healthy adults.
• Clarification that gut-residing bifidobacteria and lactobacilli in infants are from the maternal intestine and birth canal, and not from breast milk.
• Demonstration that the L. casei strain Shirota contained in a fermented milk drink reaches the intestines alive in healthy Thai adults who have different lifestyles from the Japanese.
• Verification of the influence that mode of delivery, nutrition, and other factors have on bifidobacteria-dominant microbiota formation in infants.

2011

• Demonstration of the effect of a fermented milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota on the improvement of stool condition in healthy adults in Belgium.
• Finding of an equol-producing intestinal bacterium that is expected to have a prostatic cancer prevention effect; determination of the bacterial detection rate in Japanese adults; and clarification of enzymes involved in equol production.
• The world's first demonstration that bifidobacteria in neonates are transmitted from bifidobacteria found in the intestine of the mother during pregnancy.
• Demonstration of the efficacy of synbiotics (L. casei strain Shirota and B. breve strain Yakult + galactooligosaccharides) to ameliorate a reduction in intestinal function and to suppress the development of infectious complications in patients who underwent cirrhotic liver resection.

2010

• Demonstration of the preventative effect of the intake of a fermented milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota on acute diarrhea in children, in Kolkata, India.
• Demonstration of the effect of the continuous intake of a fermented milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota on the reduction of the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections in athletes in Loughborough, UK.
• Demonstration of the effect of the continuous intake of a fermented milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota on relieving fever associated with infectious gastroenteritis caused by norovirus in elderly people living in nursing homes.
• Demonstration of the effect of the continuous intake of B. breve strain Yakult fermented milk containing galactooligosaccharides on preventing seasonal skin dryness through normalizing the corneocytes in healthy women.
• Demonstration of the effect of administering B. breve strain Yakult to immunocompromised children undergoing chemotherapy for treatment of malignant tumors on improving the intestinal environment and reducing the frequency of fever associated with infections.

2009

• Demonstration of the effect the intake of B. breve strain Yakult has on improving symptoms in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
• Formal adoption of Yakult's TOS propionate agar medium supplemented with the antibiotic mupirocin as a medium for enumerating bifidobacteria.
• Demonstration of the ability to use YIF-SCAN^® to perform high-speed, high-sensitivity measurements of bacteria in the blood for clinical diagnoses.

2008

• Verification of the possibility that the intake of a fermented milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota may improve symptoms of ulcerative colitis in a pilot study.
• Clarification of the process of bifidobacterial microbiota formation in infants using YIF-SCAN^®.
• Successful culturing of 4 new species of human intestinal bacteria including a succinic acid-assimilating bacterium and their registration with an international organization.

2007

• Completion of the state-of-the-art intestinal microflora analysis system, "YIF-SCAN^®: Yakult Intestinal Flora SCAN," capable of determining the quantity of intestinal bacteria with dramatically higher detection sensitivity through the addition of the RNA as well as the DNA of intestinal bacteria in the analysis.
• Demonstration of an improvement effect in the intestinal environment and a preventive effect against infectious complications through administration of synbiotic therapy (L. casei strain Shirota and B. breve strain Yakult + galactooligosaccharides) to patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS).

2006

• Decoding of the entire base sequence of the B. bifidum strain Yakult genome.
• Demonstration of the beneficial effect on liver function of 100% Ayamurasaki sweet potato juice in healthy persons with an exacerbated liver function marker.
• Demonstration of the effects the intake of a fermented milk drink containing B. bifidum YIT 10347 has on suppressing Helicobacter pylori activity and gastric mucosal inflammation, and improving indefinite stomach complaints in healthy people.

2005

• Demonstration of the effect that the preoperative consumption of a fermented milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota, a bifidobacterium-fermented milk containing galactooligosaccharides, and galactooligosaccharides has in enhancing the immune function before and after surgery for biliary cancer and in further enhancing the enteral environment and preventing infectious complications through postoperative synbiotic therapy.
• Verification of the therapeutic effect of bifidobacterium-fermented milk in patients in the active phase of ulcerative colitis.
• Development of the immunolatex Supirakun kit for detecting nitrifying bacteria.

2004

• Demonstration of the blood pressure-improving effect of a fermented milk drink containing γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA).
• Demonstration using the newly established bifidobacteria analysis method (multiple staining FISH method) of the effect of using galactooligosaccharides to increase the amount of human intestinal bifidobacteria.
• Demonstration of the improvement of the enteral environment and the preventive effect of postoperative septic complications through administration of synbiotics (L. casei strain Shirota and B. breve strain Yakult + galactooligosaccharides) to postoperative patients with biliary cancer.

2003

• Demonstration of the effect of tea containing fucoidan on the improvement of non-ulcer dyspepsia and the reduction of Helicobacter pylori.
• Demonstration of the effects the intake of a fermented milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota has on maintaining immune function (NK cell activity) in smokers with reduced NK cell activity.
• Demonstration of the serum cholesterol-lowering effect of Kluyveromyces yeast cells in healthy adults.

2002

• Clarification by clinical trials of the effect of the continuous intake of L. casei strain Shirota on the reduction of colon cancer risk.
• Decoding of the entire base sequence of the L. casei strain Shirota and B. breve strain Yakult genomes.

2001

• Development of an automatic intestinal microflora analysis system without the need for culture using DNA primer.

2000

• Demonstration of the effect of the intake of bifidobacterium-fermented milk on the prevention of the recurrence of ulcerative colitis.
• Demonstration of the effect of the intake of a fermented milk drink containing L. casei strain Shirota on maintaining immune function (NK cell activity).
• Demonstration of the effect of the combined administration of L. casei strain Shirota, B. breve strain Yakult and galactooligosaccharides on the improvement of intestinal microbiota and intestinal functions in seriously ill child patients.

1999

• Verification of the contribution of the habitual intake of "Yakult" to the reduced risk of urinary bladder cancer.
• Development of an analysis method for intestinal microflora without cultivation using PCR.
• Demonstration of the effect of the intake of bifidobacteria-fermented milk on the reduction of mutagen activity after eating grilled meat.

1996

• Campto Injection, an anticancer agent, is approved in the United States for manufacture as a medicine for treating progressive and recurrent colon cancers that have been diagnosed as intractable. The drug is introduced commercially.

1995

• Discovery of intestinal bacteria involved in the induction of intestinal gimmunity.
• Campto Injection, an anticancer agent, is approved in France for manufacture as a medicine for treating progressive and recurrent colon cancers that have been diagnosed as intractable. The drug is introduced commercially in France. In Japan, Campto's additional efficacy is approved for five cancer regions, including colon and rectal cancer.
• Development of the immunolatex Kenshutsukun kit for detecting nitrifying bacteria in active sludge.

1994

• Demonstration of the growth promoting effect of the administration of bifidobacteria on low birth weight infants.
• Campto Injection, an anticancer agent, is approved in Japan for manufacture as a medicine for treating four cancer regions, including non-small-cell lung cancer. The drug is introduced commercially.

1993

• Successful conversion of function of protease through protein engineering.

1992

• Development of a simple method for identifying bifidobacteria using a probe method.
• Demonstration of a recurrence prevention effect in urinary bladder cancer patients through the long-term administration of L. casei strain Shirota.

1991

• Application for manufacturing approval of antitumor chemotherapeutic agent Campto Injection.
• Development of LS-1 a lamellar structure moisture retaining ingredient for cosmetics.

1990

• Application for manufacturing approval of immunotherapeutic agent Lemonal Injection.
• Discovery of preventive and therapeutic substances for gastric ulcers in the cellular constituents of bifidobacteria.

1989

• Successful cloning of β-galactosidase gene of bifidobacteria.
• Establishment of production method for galactooligosaccharides product Oligomate.

1988

• Development of shuttle vector capable of replication in lactobacilli, Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis.

1986

• Development of techniques for microbial production of hyaluronic acid.
• Discovery of vasodepressive substances in cellular constituents of lactobacilli.

1984

• First discovery of transposable DNA elements in lactobacilli.

1983

• Development of shuttle vector capable of replication in both Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis.
• Demonstration of therapeutic effects of bifidobacteria in intractable diarrhea.

1981

• Successful production of thrombolytic agent staphylokinase using genetic manipulation techniques.
• Production of FSW phage removal strain for L. casei strain Shirota.

1980

• Identification of the skin moisture retaining and antioxidant components in SE, a culture filtrate of lactic acid bacteria.

1979

• Successful in the reduction of toxicity of the antitumor agent Camptothecin by chemical modification.
• Development of galactooligosaccharides which promote bifidobacteria growth.

1978

• Development of Mil-Mil, a drink-type yogurt containing bifidobacteria.
• Discovery of the antitumor effects of L. casei strain Shirota.

1970

• Development of Joie, a drink-type yogurt.