Comments on: IBS, Probiotics, and Dannon Yogurts DanActive, Activia, and Activia Lite ™

by: tummyblogger

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 05:40:26 +0000

Dear Eddie,
I gave his blog a quick scan. As far as I could see:

a) He doesn’t follow an IBS diet
b) He relies on probiotics alone
c) Align, he says, works, just doesn’t work miracles
d) The jury is still out on Activia

So, go ahead and follow his lead. Then come back to ForMyTummy if you have further problems.

Best,
Tummyblogger

by: Eddie

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:58:58 +0000

I tried Dannon Activia after seeing this guy rave about it on his blog http://www.thedeucediaries.blogspot.com . I agree with him/her that it works better than Align GI.

by: BEBE

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:17:32 +0000

Well i got a bug called C Diff Colits difficult from taking antibiotics. The Cure more Antibiotics to say the leas 5 months later my digestion is still f upped so I tried ALign i was ok for about a week. WOW think severe cramping an the big D for 3 days i stopped the ALIGN took me 4 days after i stopped to get better anyone else have this problem?
WITH ALIGN

by: tummyblogger

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:44:25 +0000

Hi, Mistur e
Thanks for your contribution. I normally turn down product suggestions for items that I haven’t (or can’t) check out myself, but I did check out the LaLoo’s web site. It seems that they only make goat’s milk ice cream and their product is carried by the Whole Foods chain. That makes it fairly accessible for many. Then, too, I just read about goat’s milk (cheeses, usually) in an IBS Diet Book that I’m about to review, so I have two sources for giving a qualified “okay, maybe” to the goat’s milk substitution ploy.
The thing is, I avoid anything cold, because it turns my tummy into knots. Now *melted* goat’s milk ice cream, that I could try ;- )

All the best,
Tummyblogger

by: mistur e

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:23:16 +0000

Hi all. Thanks for the discussion. I am lactose intolerant and I have been eating Laloo’s Goat Milk Ice Cream to get my dose of probiotics - especially their frozen yogurt flavors. The story of Laloo’s inception is inspiring. You should check it out. In a nutshell, the owner quit her high powered LA job to open a goat farm in Northern California and int he past few years her goat milk ice cream brand has taken off! The owner, Laura Howard explains her take on probiotics and the slow food movement here: http://www.goatmilkicecream.com/sharethelove.php

I love this product and will sing its praises when and where I can. It saved me from living a life void of ice cream.

by: tummyblogger

Sat, 10 May 2008 02:23:46 +0000

Dear Joan,
Thank you for your comment. I don’t have a product, and I don’t sell a product on this web site.

Yes, you are right. The Dannon company should include information on the probiotic content of its Activia line of yogurts. Dannon is skirting very close to marketing Activia as a “medical food.” Yet, as I have written, critical of Dannon, they do not have clinical studies of people with diagnosed ailments who might benefit from their products. They just make claims that lead people to believe there is some benefit.

Thanks for taking the time to write in.

All the best,
Tummyblogger

by: joan

Fri, 09 May 2008 19:57:14 +0000

shouldn’t you include in your product package the types of probiotics it contain and how much probiotics there is just like yakult drink…since some health experts recommend a required amount of probiotics for treatment of some disease process including what species for certain type of disease too.

by: Activia Ads - Critiquing a Statistic | For My Tummy

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:15:35 +0000

[…] See also the post on Dannon Activia. You’ve got to be skeptical about the benefits of Activia when the ad I saw tonight said: “Eighty-seven percent of us report some problems with regularity and can [”therefore” is implied] benefit from Dannon Activia, with bifidis regularis.” That is my paraphrase of what I heard about an hour ago. My instant reaction was that either the 87% includes people with IBS or it doesn’t […]

by: tummyblogger

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:30:48 +0000

Dear Ashley,
Thank you for your comment.
This is on a person to person basis, as I am not a doctor in the medical sense.
You say you are lactose intolerant, and did experience a bad reaction when you ate an unspecified yogurt before.
Unles you think you have only a mild degree of lactose intolerance–don’t need to take pills to drink milk, can tolerate yogurt, cheese, and cottage cheese–I think Activia will not be any different from the yogurt you had before. If your lactose intolerance *is* mild–see above–you might cautiously try it.
There are many other sources of calcium.

You ask, “Does Activia have more probiotics than the average yogurt brand?” As far as I know, even the makers of Activia don’t claim “more” probiotics, but better, better tested, better preserved, and so forth.

I don’t work for Activia, or Align, or Digestive Advantage-IBS. I’m following the story on probiotics because of the series I wrote here last summer.Acidophilus is a probiotic, though not one I’ve written about. How does it work for you?

Again, thanks for your comment. Let us know how it turns out for you.

All the best,
Tummyblogger

by: ashley

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 03:26:54 +0000

I am lactose intolerant and I have ulcerative colitis. I would like to eat yogurt as a good source of calcium/ dairy, but I’ve experienced severe cramping and bloating the last time I ate yogurt. I take Asacol for my colitis and Acidophilus daily. Does Activia have more probiotics than the average yogurt brand? Can you recommend the best yogurt brand for me? Thanks in advance!