Have you been watching TV lately? Or maybe reading magazines and the proliferation of print ads? If you have been paying any attention, you probably would have noticed the prevalence of ads relating to yoghurt and its health benefits. Yet is yoghurt all that they claim it to be?
Perhaps the most popular brand that sells yoghurt these days is Dannon. Their main product is Activia, which is part of the DanActive line of yoghurt products. The selling point is the fact that these products contain probiotics. This highfaluting term simply means that the product contains active microorganisms that are supposed to help boost one’s digestive system. With all the digestive problems that people are experiencing today, it is not a surprise that these products are selling like hotcakes.
Recently, though, some lawyers filed a suit against Dannon in Los Angeles. They claim that the purported health benefits of these probiotic products are bogus and merely dupe customers into buying them. Of course, Dannon maintains its stand that they have clinical studies that support their claims.
So what is the truth? Well, there are a lot of studies that somehow support Dannon’s stance. They show that probiotics in yoghurt indeed help with digestive problems. However, more research could be done to support the effects in the real world. As for me, I like yoghurt and I do know for a fact that regularly eating these products helps alleviate my digestive problems. I suppose it all boils down to how they can help each individual – I would leave it to the discretion of the customers to determine whether or not the probiotics are helpful.
Originally posted on January 26, 2008 @ 3:38 pm