Activia

One of the things that really irritates me about the food industry (or any industry for that matter) is their constant, blatant attempts to manipulate consumers. Activia has officially made my list of eye rollers starting in one of my food science classes last semester when we discussed how silly this stuff was.

We actually use Activia quite a bit in our hospital. Many physicians recommend it to our patients with digestive health issues. The idea behind Acitiva is that is contains Bifidus Regularis® (Bifidobacterium lactis DN 173 010), apparently Activia's very own probiotic bacteria. Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that live in our large intestine (LI) that are associated with gut health. PRE-biotics are basically food for probiotics and are things like fiber and are different than probiotics. Dannon (the makers of Activia) have also claimed on their website that "Activia is shown in several clinical studies to help with slow intestinal transit when eaten every day for two weeks as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle." Anyhoo, the makers of Activia were obviously very convincing in their discovery/engineering of this amazing bifidus regularis (seriously on the name???) since even Jamie Lee freakin' Curits eats this stuff! And she's famous! So this stuff must be great! Jamie Lee Curtis loves it so much she accosts people in public parks demanding they try it for the commericals. 

And now....the truth. 

Any yogurt is going to contain  probiotics but Activia yogurt charges on average 30% more for their yogurt than their competitors. Interstinlgy, in 2008 Acitiva made Dannon a boatload of cash because of it's health claims-$100 million dollars to be exact. A quick comparison of one of my Brown Cow yogurts from my fridge and Activia turns up similar sugar, calories and fat  (gram per gram the differences were pretty much a wash  as Brown Cow's serving size is 170 grams and Acitiva was 113 grams). Also, Brown Cow yogurt contains 4 probiotic bacteria: S. thermophilus, L. Bulgaricus, L. Acidphilus and Bifidus. Activia yogurt contains L. Bulgaricus, S. thermophilus and their Bifidobacterium lactis DN 173 010. One ingredient noticeabley absent from Brown cow yogurt is gelatin. Even kosher geltain (which is made from fish as opposed to cow bones) is not vegetarian and is in Yoplait and Dannon products and poses a problem for us vegetarians. All in all, nutritionally, the yogurts are almost identicall and both contain lots of probiotic bacteria, Brown Cow actually having more. The trick is Dannon gave their own engineered bacteria it's own special name, making it seem like it's somehow different or better. And those clinical studies? I couldn't find them. Also, in order to be valid, clinical studies really need to follow some basic parameters, which-as I mentioned-I couldn't find the studies so I have no way of knowing how valid they were. Lastly, the claims made by Dannon are that people felt better after eating Acitiva who were also following a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. So, um, chances are the balanced diet and healthy lifestyle part could also be responsible for the overall better feeling of the participants but again, I have no way of knowing how they tested any of this.

Apparently I'm not the only one noticing the massive, unfounded claims made by Activia. In 2008, the same year Activia raked in $100 million dollars off the health claims made by their product, a lawsuit was filed against Dannon by the LA Federal Court. They claimed Dannon's claims about their yogurt were in fact NOT founded in sound research, The same research I couldn't find.

Bottom line: yogurts in general contain probiotics NOT just Activia yogurt. If you are vegetarian or have any concerns about hormone treated cows supplying the milk for yogurt, I wouldn't recommend Acitiva. Try a more economic choice for the exact same health benefits.