Does Activia Yogurt Offer Any Health Benefits?
Yogurt has long been promoted for its health benefits due to its live bacteria cultures, cited to strengthen your immune system and promote digestive health. Dannon's Activia brand capitalizes on this last bit, pushing Activia as the female-friendly staple to cure tummy woes.
The campaign, however, is vaguely worded on what Activia does, saying simply that it "helps to naturally regulate your slow intestinal transit." Ambiguous much? Slate even wonders if there are any health benefits at all in eating Activia yogurt considering how vague their health claims are.
Any product claiming to treat a disease must have an FDA-approved health claim (yes, constipation is classified as a disease by the FDA), which Activia doesn't have. Instead, the studies on their website conveniently point back to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), the gigantic umbrella under which all digestion-related problems fall under, making it even more ambiguous on how eating Activia helps. Add the fact that medical researchers are still debating the effects of probiotics, and you're looking at pretty wobbly legs for Activia's purported health claim (something that Dannon was sued for earlier this year).
On the other hand, yogurt marketing seems increasingly less to do with promoting digestive regularity than getting ready for bikini season (case in point). Jean Kilbourne, author of Killing Us Softly: Advertising's Image of Women, told Slate that even though the image of a yellow arrow pointing down a perfectly flat, bronzed belly featured in Activia's commercial refers to "occasional irregularity," she see the image as "a weight loss implication." She continues,
It's meant to evoke the idea, 'This is the kind of tummy you can end up with.' The arrow is code for 'This will go right through you.' It's a dieting subtheme that plays on the whole idea of women being much more focused to do whatever it takes to make our bodies feel thin.
Sigh. Whatever happened to eating yogurt for the sake of...oh, I don't know, enjoying yogurt?
Previously
In Videos: 'Target: Women,' Yogurt Edition
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13 Comments:
I remember not long ago seeing a piece on the news about this yogurt. There are some questions about the validity (or even the existence) of the "clinical studies."
I've eaten Activia in the hopes of having it... work its magic. It really didn't make much difference from a digestive standpoint. After I read the label and discovered the enormous amount of sugar in each container, I bailed on it.
Eventually I began buying Fage Total 0% Greek yogurt and I've never looked back.
therealchiffonade at 8:29PM on 07/07/08
Not to mention that the taste kinda sucks.
veggiegirl at 8:30PM on 07/07/08
This is a very interesting observation. I will mention, however, that although just anecdotal, I have seen a lot of different doctors recommend activia to patients with digestive irregularity and many patients report that it really helps them. I guess it depends on the person.
ReneeRobinson at 9:43PM on 07/07/08
@ReneeRobinson, I'm shocked that doctors would recommend the stuff based on the highly hazy logic of their ad campaigns. I could understand a doctor responding, "it's worth a try" to a patient who enquired. Recommending it? No. Especially a specific brand. Ick.
I've never purchased Activia because I think it's advertising purported benefits of yogurt as specific to their specific yogurt. I have had YoPlus, the Yoplait version, because it has added fiber. Adding fiber to improve digestive effects makes sense to me. Still, as previously noted, most of the time I buy yogurt, it's the tastier kinds without all of the added sugar.
I tend to think that probiotics are good for some things. I'm sure to eat yogurt every day when I'm on antibiotics. For the digestive stuff, I think we're all better off to eat more fiber and if that doesn't work, take a fiber supplement. I'm not a big believer in miracle foods. Eating the same yogurt everyday sounds unappealing.
blackolive at 10:53PM on 07/07/08
I think I've seen yogurt commercials selling yogurt with some sort of fiber added--that stuff might be better for your digestive tract!
OneWallKitchen at 12:49AM on 07/08/08
ummm, let's see: Displace junk food in your diet with Yogurt>Poop more - what a concept!
there's nothing special about Activia, it's the whole change in eating habits. I think all the nutracuetical/functional food media sham is a bunch of hoowey...
GingerSnap at 12:32PM on 07/08/08
I eat Kefir regulary before I hit the road and go to the third world.
Then once in country I eat lots of locally produced yogurt and find while everyone else is dropping like flies because of GI related problems from water etc, I'm the one hading out the Cipro not the one taking it.
I'm pretty careful and vigilent about what I eat in those scenarios bit I DO swear by the "Pro-biotic" benefit in those situations. It's just better to have more friendly gut bugs down there then malevolent ones IMO
Stiv61 at 1:27PM on 07/08/08
I guess I'm one of those folks who doesn't see 110 calories in a serving as being a whopping amount of extra sugar in my diet. I bought a carton of 24 at Sam's Club and ate them over the course of a few weeks as a daily snack at work. I really didn't look at the label and was unaware that it was being marketed or touted as having beneficial effects - I don't watch broadcast TV and tend to tune out print ads and was truly unaware. Oddly enough I did notice that my overly frequent multiple times per day (6x to 8x) trips to the bathroom - whcih are due to Crohn's Disease - diminished to about normal levels (2x to 3x). I never made the connection between that and Activia consumption until one of my female colleagues raved about how it had dramatically helped her problem with constipation.
It seems almost contradictory that it could have opposite effects in two different people and the selection for statistical sampling purposes is too small to be valid. But I can personally couch for the fact that it seems to make a difference for some people. I'm sure I can get the same effect with many other yogurts but for my work schedule, lifestyle and eating habits the Activia seems to be a good fit.
phaelon56 at 2:04PM on 07/08/08
i'm no doctor, nor can i speak for everyone, but this stuff does keep "things" flowing a little more smoothly for me. i also think it tastes better than some yogurts, and reminds me of yogurt i ate in France. but i do have quite a sweet tooth. i've never checked out the sugar content but will now... other than the sugar issue, i've always recommended it to people. not so much for health benefits but for the whole regularity issue...
sophdee at 6:48PM on 07/08/08
After a highly traumatic event in my life I developed allergies to nearly everything I ate; except for a few bland foods I would react with anything from massive intestinal pain, cramps, sweating, and hot flashes to anaphylactic shock. I lived through two years of pain and fear before I found a nutritionist who discovered that there was no beneficial bacteria left in my system. Although impossible to prove, the theory goes that my "fight" response to the trauma had kicked my immune system into overdrive and it killed everything in sight, bad and good. The nutritionist prescribed probiotics and after a month my system had improved noticeably, and after a year my issues were gone. I transitioned to a daily regime of yogurt with live cultures and swear by it. Yogurt -- along with a healthy diet and exercise -- can assist with resolution of "female" symptoms, intestinal cramping, irregular BMs, and even heartburn.
That said, I don't eat activia. It's got sucralose in it and I think that tastes yucky, plus I'm a little suspicious of it. I eat plain Mountain High yogurt or whatever organic/live active culture variation I can find that's just as simple. A little fresh fruit and drizzle of honey sometimes for flavor.
I notice that if I stop eating yogurt for four or five days in a row, things start to get a little whacked out again -- intestinal cramping and associated maladies. I stick to the yogurt!
roxygirl at 10:57AM on 07/12/08
I tried Activia and it made me sick--an upset stomach. I object to its health claims and would not touch it again.
bbahnsen at 5:26PM on 07/12/08
For some reason I don't know ...I don't trust Activia. I bought it twice for my 10 year old son ...and he started having very painful cramps. Now he eats Silk soy yogurt and he's OK. But I am aware of the health benefits of probiotics and I also buy Kombucha Synergy tea for those matters ...and for the great taste ...try the mango flavor. Great after a meal!! YES!! :)
cocobypr at 8:57PM on 07/12/08
For years I have suffered from IBS symptoms...cramping, painful diarrhea and constipation. I have been eating Activa everyday for a month now, and it has made all the difference. For the first time in my whole life, I am very regular. I doubt Activa is special, you can probably have the same results with any yogurt. All I know is, I have become a daily yogurt devotee!
amymarieb at 4:48PM on 07/14/08