Household Ingredients Compared › Probiotic Drinks (Singapore)

Probiotic drinks: what's actually in them?

A probiotic drink is a fermented milk drink with named live cultures — Yakult's Lacticaseibacillus paracasei strain Shirota, Vitagen's Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus paracasei. The cultures are the point, but sugar is the bulk: most of these drinks are 10–15g of sugar per 100ml, and the light versions swap sugar for maltitol, stevia and polydextrose. This page keeps original and light versions as separate rows, and keeps the strain names as printed, because a drink that just says probiotic without naming a strain is making a claim you cannot check.

This page does not give a health score or a "best" pick. It shows the ingredient list as printed, with the country of manufacture as printed where a source states it.

Completeness statement — checked 12 November 2026

Stores/channels checked 12 November 2026: FairPrice (web search of its product pages), Cold Storage (availability only — Cold Storage publishes no ingredient lists), Giant, Sheng Siong, Don Don Donki, Mustafa, Meidi-Ya, Le Petit Depot, RedMart, Lazada SG, Shopee SG, Vitagen official SG site, Yakult Malaysia site, Open Food Facts (secondary). Panelled: 6 products. Seen-but-not-verified: 7 products. This is extensive at the check date only — stock and formulations change, and no page claims permanent 100% completeness. Nutri-Grade is quoted only where a source states it on the SG pack; it is never assigned here.

At a glance

Product	Pack size (as printed)	Group	First ingredient	Added sugar / sweetener?	Country of manufacture (as printed)
Yakult Original (Ace)	5 × 100ml	Probiotic drink, original	Water	Yes — sugar, glucose-fructose syrup	Singapore
Yakult Ace Light	5 × 80ml	Probiotic drink, light	Maltitol (MY list)	Yes — sugar, plus maltitol and stevia	Malaysia
Yakult Light (US)	not stated	Probiotic drink, light	Water	Yes — sugar (1g added per serving)	not stated
Yakult Gold	5 × 100ml	Probiotic drink, fortified	Sugar	Yes — sugar, glucose	Singapore
Vitagen Less Sugar — Assorted	5 × 125ml	Cultured milk drink, less sugar	Fructose	Yes — fructose, glucose	Singapore
Vitagen — Assorted (regular)	5 × 125ml	Cultured milk drink	Sucrose	Yes — sucrose, glucose	Singapore

Panelled with verbatim lists: 6 products. Seen-but-not-verified: see the list below. No prices are shown: they change weekly and would go stale.

Yakult Original (Ace)

Pack size: 5 × 100ml · Made in: Singapore (as printed)

Ingredients (Brand / Open Food Facts, UK-Japan list (secondary) — SG pack not transcribed): Water, skimmed milk (reconstituted), glucose-fructose syrup, sugar, maltodextrin, flavourings, contains L. casei Shirota.

The classic Yakult list: water first, then reconstituted skimmed milk, glucose-fructose syrup and sugar. One bottle carries 20 billion L. casei Shirota in the UK listing (30 billion per 100ml refrigerated); counts differ by market, so the SG count needs the SG pack. Strain: L. casei Shirota Added sugar: glucose-fructose syrup, sugar Allergen: milk

Yakult Ace Light

Pack size: 5 × 80ml · Made in: Malaysia (as printed)

Ingredients (Open Food Facts, MY entry (secondary) — SG pack not transcribed; Nutri-Grade B reported for SG, not verified from a pack photo): RAMUAN: Maltitol, Gula, Polidekstrosa, Susu tepung skim, Glukosa, Stevia, Kultur probiotik hidup Lacticaseibacillus paracasei Shirota strain. Mengandungi perisa yang dibenarkan. TIADA BAHAN PEWARNA. 55% kurang gula berbanding Yakult Ace. Penggunaan Maltitol berlebihan boleh menyebabkan kesan laksatif.

Maltitol is the first ingredient — the light version leads with a sugar alcohol, not milk. Yakult Malaysia states Ace Light has 5.0g sugar per bottle against Ace at 11.2g. A Singapore comparison reports both Yakult Ace Light and Vitagen Less Sugar as Nutri-Grade B; that grade is reported, not verified from a pack photo here. Strain: L. paracasei Shirota Sweeteners: maltitol, stevia MY list — SG pack not transcribed

Yakult Light (US)

Pack size: not stated · Made in: not stated (as printed)

Ingredients (Open Food Facts, US entry (secondary) — SG sale not verified): Water, skimmed milk, sweetener (maltitol syrup), glucose-fructose syrup, thickener (polydextrose), flavourings, sweetener (steviol glycosides), vitamins, vitamin E, vitamin D, contains Lactobacillus casei Shirota.

The US light list: maltitol syrup and steviol glycosides as sweeteners, polydextrose as thickener. Panelled as a light-version comparator; the SG Ace Light list above is the closer match to the SG shelf. Strain: L. casei Shirota US list only

Yakult Gold

Pack size: 5 × 100ml · Made in: Singapore (as printed)

Ingredients (Spinneys retailer listing (secondary) — SG sale not verified): Sugar, Skimmed milk powder, Glucose, Calcium Lactate, Niacin, Vitamins (B12, B6 and D), Live Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota. Natural identical Flavor (Citrus). Fat Free. No cholesterol. No Gluten. No Preservatives.

Sugar is the first ingredient; the fortification (calcium lactate, niacin, vitamins B12, B6 and D) is the difference from the original. Panelled as a fortified comparator; SG sale not verified. Strain: L. casei Shirota Added sugar: sugar, glucose

Vitagen Less Sugar — Assorted

Pack size: 5 × 125ml · Made in: Singapore (as printed)

Ingredients (AEON MY retailer listing (secondary, MY formulation) — SG pack not transcribed): Fructose, Skimmed Milk Solids, Polydextrose, Fruit Juice (Grape & Pineapple), Glucose, Live Probiotic Cultures (Lactobacillus acidophilus, LA-5 and Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei, L.CASEI01), Stabilizer, Acid Regulator, Permitted Flavoring and Coloring.

Fructose is first, and polydextrose (a prebiotic fibre) is third — Vitagen Less Sugar is the only cultured milk drink in Singapore that contains both probiotics and prebiotics, per the brand. Vitagen states it has 8 times less white sugar than regular cultured milk drinks. Strains: L. acidophilus LA-5, L. paracasei L.CASEI01 Prebiotic: polydextrose MY list — SG pack not transcribed

Vitagen — Assorted (regular)

Pack size: 5 × 125ml · Made in: Singapore (as printed)

Ingredients (AEON MY retailer listing (secondary, MY formulation) — SG pack not transcribed): Sucrose, Skimmed milk solids, Fruit juice (Grape, Apple & Orange), Glucose, Live probiotic cultures (Lactobacillus acidophilus, LA-5 & Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei, L. CASEI 01), Contains stabilizer & acidity regulator as food conditioner, Permitted flavoring & coloring substances.

Sucrose first — the regular version leads with white sugar, where the Less Sugar version leads with fructose and polydextrose. Same two strains. Strains: L. acidophilus LA-5, L. paracasei L.CASEI01 Added sugar: sucrose, glucose MY list — SG pack not transcribed

Seen but not verified — do not panel until checked

Vitagen Collagen Less Sugar — Sold in Singapore (marine collagen peptides, vitamin C, elderflower and rose, per brand coverage); no verbatim ingredient list was retrieved in this pass.
Vitagen LB Original / LB Less Sugar (single flavour) — Single-flavour variants are sold in Singapore; only the Assorted lists were retrieved in this pass.
Yakult Ace — Peach flavour — A newer Yakult flavour reported in Singapore coverage (10 billion Shirota per bottle); no verbatim list retrieved.
Meiji Probio Yogurt LG21 Drink — Sold in Japan and in SG import channels; no SG verbatim list retrieved.
Nestlé / other probiotic drinks (e.g. Nutrigen, Solivite) — Named as Yakult competitors in older coverage; no SG verbatim list retrieved in this pass.
Kefir drinks — Covered on the separate kefir page; not repeated here.
Yakult Plus (with fibre) — Swiss list retrieved (water, skim milk, maltitol syrup, dextrin, glucose-fructose syrup…); SG sale not verified, so not panelled.

Nutrition — what the numbers say

All figures in the sortable table are as sold, per 100g or per 100ml, as printed by the source. Click a column header to sort low to high; click again for high to low. Cells marked "not stated" always sort last — a dash is missing data, not zero. Yakult Original per-100ml figures are from the US Open Food Facts entry; Yakult Gold figures are from the Spinneys retailer listing (sodium 15mg as printed, salt 0.04g); Vitagen figures are from the AEON MY listings. Sodium for Yakult Original is derived from the printed salt figure (salt 0.047g per 100ml ÷ 2.5). Nutri-Grade: a Singapore comparison reports Nutri-Grade B for both Yakult Ace Light and Vitagen Less Sugar — that grade is reported, not verified from a pack photo, and no other Nutri-Grade is quoted on this page.

Salt and sodium: salt = sodium × 2.5. The table shows sodium as printed (in mg) with the salt equivalent in brackets. Sodium is not presented as salt, and salt is not presented as sodium.

Total vs added sugars: most Singapore packs list total sugars, not added sugars. A total-sugars figure is never labelled here as "added sugar". Where a source states an added-sugars figure separately, it is noted. The ingredient list remains the evidence for added sugar (sucrose, sugar, glucose syrup, maltitol) versus naturally occurring sugars (lactose in milk, fructose in fruit).

Open Food Facts is a community database and is flagged as secondary where used: the pack and the retailer nutrition section take precedence if they disagree. Figures marked "not stated" were not in the source retrieved; they are not estimated, borrowed from another variant, or copied across flavours.

Product	Basis	Energy	Protein	Total fat	Saturated fat	Carbohydrate	Sugars	Sodium (salt equiv.)
Yakult Original (Ace)	Per 100ml, as sold	62 kcal	1.25 g	0 g	not stated	15 g	12.5 g	19 mg (salt 0.05 g)
Yakult Ace Light	Per 100ml, as sold	not stated	not stated	not stated	not stated	not stated	not stated	not stated
Yakult Light (US)	Per 100ml, as sold	41 kcal	1.3 g	0 g	not stated	not stated	4.4 g	not stated
Yakult Gold	Per 100ml, as sold	62 kcal	1 g	not stated	not stated	14.6 g	14.6 g	15 mg (salt 0.04 g)
Vitagen Less Sugar — Assorted	Per 100ml, as sold	49 kcal	1.1 g	0 g	not stated	10.4 g	7.2 g	not stated
Vitagen — Assorted (regular, Grape)	Per 100ml, as sold	55 kcal	1.2 g	0 g	not stated	12.6 g	10.2 g	not stated

Per-serving-only figures (separate table — never sorted against per-100g/ml figures)

Product	Serving as printed	Energy	Protein	Total fat	Carbohydrate	Sugars	Sodium (salt equiv.)
Yakult Ace	1 bottle (80ml)	63 kcal (per MY source)	not stated	not stated	not stated	11.2 g	not stated
Yakult Ace Light	1 bottle (80ml)	46 kcal (per MY source)	not stated	not stated	not stated	5.0 g	not stated
Vitagen Assorted — Grape	1 serving (125ml)	69 kcal	1.5 g	0 g	15.8 g	12.2 g	not stated

Per-serving figures are quoted exactly as printed, with the serving size. They are not converted to per 100g/ml.

Seen but not verified (nutrition): Yakult Ace Light — no per-100ml panel verified (per-bottle sugar only, in the per-serving table). Yakult Light (US) — carbohydrate and sodium not stated.

How to read a label — the jargon, in plain English

Probiotic / live cultures: Live microorganisms added to the drink; the strain name (genus, species, strain ID) is what makes the claim checkable.
L. casei Shirota / L. paracasei Shirota: The Yakult strain, renamed in current taxonomy; the same strain under an older and a newer name.
Maltitol: A sugar alcohol used as a sweetener in light versions; excessive use can have a laxative effect, as the Ace Light pack itself states.
Polydextrose: A soluble fibre used as a thickener and as a prebiotic — food for the probiotic cultures.
Nutri-Grade: Singapore's mandatory grading for packaged drinks (A to D), based on sugar and saturated fat. It is quoted here only where a source states it on the SG pack; it is never assigned by this page.
Prebiotic: A fibre (here, polydextrose / inulin) that feeds probiotic bacteria; different from a probiotic, which is the live bacteria themselves.

What this page is not

Not a health score, and not a "best" pick. This page does not rank products.
Not a taste test, and not a price comparison. Prices change weekly; ingredients change less often, but still change.
Not complete. The products in seen-but-not-verified are not yet panelled, for the verification reasons given, not hidden.

Sources and method

Checked 12 November 2026 from: Open Food Facts US entries for Yakult Original and Yakult Light; Open Food Facts MY entry for Yakult Ace Light; Spinneys retailer listing for Yakult Gold; AEON MY listings for Vitagen Less Sugar Assorted and Vitagen Assorted (MY formulations, flagged); Yakult Malaysia for Ace vs Ace Light per-bottle sugar (11.2g vs 5.0g); Vitagen official SG site for strains and the less-sugar claim; a Singapore comparison for the reported Nutri-Grade B. Cold Storage publishes no ingredient lists. No SG pack was transcribed in this pass.