Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Not to mention that the taste kinda sucks.

@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.

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...

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.

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!

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!! :)

I am a 43 year old male. i am overweight and i eat what i want when i want it. i know it is bad...I was asked by my wife to try this each morning. I have had numerous issues with not being regular and so forth. I am beginning the second week and i have to say this stuff has worked VERY well for me. I have not changed my diet in any way other than to eat one of these per day in the morning. Pain gone, constipation gone, hemmoroidal bleeding gone. I hope it continues. i will let you know if things change. i wish everyone success in feeling better.