In hydrolyzed cow's milk Helicobacter pylori becomes nonculturable and the growth of Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli is inhibited.

The colony forming unit (CFU) of H. pylori is reduced rapidly in lipase hydrolyzed cow's milk and a similar reduction was found in a physiological saline solution when it was supplemented with soluble C4 to C10 fatty acids of milk fat composition. Slight CFU decreases were observed for E. coli and S. typhi in hydrolyzed milk buffered to pH 3, while the counts in milk and physiological saline solution at pH 3 stayed almost unchanged for 24 h. E. coli proliferated in glucose-peptone medium, better at pH 4.7 than at pH 3. On the other hand, supplementation of the medium with soluble fatty acids of milk composition completely inhibited growth for 32 h. Supplementation of the medium with fatty acids reduced the growth of S. typhi to approximately 1/20 at pH 4.7. Therefore, milk hydrolyzed by gastric lipase may damage H. pylori, producing a nonculturable state. With E. coli and S. typhi, hydrolyzed milk does not induce inactivation to a nonculturable state but inhibits their proliferation potently. The latter is considered to be a state prior to VBNC (viable but nonculturable). However, the antibiotic effect will disappear when the fatty acids are absorbed by the intestine.