What 's the real deal with probiotic drinks?
The BBC news reported on 15th April 2010 a significant shift from the manufacturer of two of the UK's leading probiotic yoghurt products, Danone. The news report read:
'The dairy company Danone has withdrawn requests to approve claims about the health benefits of two of its brands.
Danone has promoted that yoghurt drink Actimel strengthens the body's natural defences, while Activia aids digestion.The company says it is waiting for the European Food Safety Authority to clarify how the approval process works.However, Danone is already voluntarily withdrawing the claims from products sold in France. A UK regulator banned an Actimel advert last year.
European regulation of such health claims is in transition. Until now, such claims have been decided by the individual national regulator in each European country.In October last year, the UK's Advertising Standards Authority decided to ban an Actimel TV advert in the UK, after it ruled that claims it helped protect school-age youngsters against illness were not supported by evidence.'
You have to wonder why a huge company like Danone who turnover in excess of 15 billion Euros per year would voluntarily withdraw their health claim requests for approval? Danone claim that there are 10 billion probiotic bacteria found in every bottle of Actimel of their own specific strain called L. casei immunitas (L stands for lactobacillus) that can bolster the good bacteria found within the digestive system (particularly the large intestine where the bulk of gut bacteria live) and therefore strengthen the immune system to keep harmful things being absorbed into our blood. This is the basic theory behind how and why probiotics work. Danone's own website indicates that 24 scientific studies have been performed and published in peer reviewed journals proving the benefits of fermented yoghurt drinks enriched with their own bacterial strain. So again the question why would they step back from having their health claims approved? One can't help but ask whether the validity of such claims failed to stand up to proper scrutiny once investigated. Most of the research performed on these sugary probiotic drinks are to do with effects on children with diarrhea, immune markers and gut health. Interestingly one study tested the ability of the bacteria in Actimel to make it through the digestive system. They found that only 51% were still living in the small intestine and only 28% found in the faeces. This would indicate that if there are actually 10 billion bacteria per pot that only 2.5 billion actually make it to the large intestine. Is this a large enough amount that we can benefit from? The numbers do sound impressive. Lets investigate.
Digestive expert Dr. Elizabeth Lipski suggests that every day we should get at least a billion of each type of probiotic bacteria. Well Danone certainly provide enough of one type of bacteria L. casei imunitass, their own exclusive type of bacteria. How on earth do you own the rights to a type of bacteria? The only logical explanation is that Danone must have engineered their own species of bacteria, perhaps through genetic modification, therefore as their own creation they can patent it for only their use and so no other company can use their 'formula.' Their other probiotic yoghurt product, Activia, contains another Danone exclusive bacteria called Bifidus Acti-Regularis. Its seems Danone have been fortunate enough to discover 2 strains of bacteria that no other person in the globe has the rights to use...impressive! Well getting back to Dr. Lipski's advice we have to ask how many types of beneficial bacteria there actually are. Well here are a few of the well known ones:
- Lactobacillus acidophilus
- Lactobacillus bulgaricus
- Lactobacillus casei
- Lactobacillus kefir
- Lactobacillus lactis
- Lactobacillus reuteri
- Bifidobacterium infantis
- Bifidobacterium bifidum
- Bifidobacterium adolecentis
- Bifidobacterium gasseri
- Bifidobacterium brevis
- Streptococcus thermophilus
- Saccharomyces boulardii
- Lactococcus cremoris
Dr. Lipski identifies up to 27 strains of beneficial bacteria that have a positive effect on the gut. Interestingly of the 'good' bacteria that make up a healthy intestinal flora the largest category, approximately 11% of all gut bacteria, are of the bifidobacterium species. Lactobacilli make up only 2-2.5% of our gut flora, yet they seem to have received the greatest attention and coverage as a result of food marketing within this new area of probiotic yoghurts and yoghurt drinks. This is due to the fact that there is little bifidobacteria in milk as lactobacilli are the dominant culture. Anyway if we consider the advice to have a daily intake of 1 billion of each strain of beneficial bacteria then our daily intake should be closer to 27 billion rather than the feeble 2.5 billion, possibly genetically modified, bacteria that make it to the large intestine as a result of drinking an 1-2 bottles of Actimel everyday as suggested. Danone advise that 2 pots of Activia should be eaten every day to reduce feelings of bloatedness and sluggishness. Yet unlike the Actimel website which has evidence of the scientific research and even links to the journals that published the studies, the Activia site makes no such attempt to inform the consumer, bar a sparse reference that makes some vague reference to a single survey of 292 women who consumed 8176 pots of Activia between them across a 14 day period finally reporting they 'felt better'. Not exactly groundbreaking research on this particular product.
Despite the poor evidence that does exist for Actimel, the distinct lack of evidence for Activia, the outright rejection of Danone's previous claim that their baby formula enriched with Immunofortis can strengthen a babies immune system and now their step away from applying for approval of their health claims by the European Food Safety Authority, Actimel and Activia still bring in an annual turnover of 3.7 billion Euros between them. Even if they never have their health claims approved perhaps the last few years of constant advertising and riding the huge growth of the probotic drinks market has created such a wave of belief and public approval of the products that they will continue to make huge profits despite the lack of official approval of their supposed health claims. Perhaps they taste nice, but there is little convincing evidence they are effective and improving health. In fact Actimel also contains 2 sources of sugar and the infamous artificial sweeteners aspartame and acesulfame K, while Activia contains over 10g of sugar per pot and also has the same two artificial sweeteners. These simple sugars, interestingly, serve as excellent food to help the harmful gut bacteria flourish and so perhaps work against the very purpose of supporting the 'good' bacteria in the first place.
If you really want to benefit your gut health then a suitable therapeutic strength probiotic supplement should be sought out that has several strains of probiotic bacteria and is taken in a sufficient dose to really contribute positively to gut flora balance. Bio-kult is one such probiotic manufactured and available here in the UK. It has 14 strains of beneficial bacteria, 8 lactobacillus strains, 4 bifidobacteruim strains, a bacillus strain and the main strain of beneficial streptococcus. This is more than almost any other brand of probiotic. They guarantee and are certified to contain 10 billion bacteria per gram, the 200ug capsules taken at two different times per day. Biokult has been shown to be effective for general gut health but also in the management of several gut related health conditions. Biokult is available online from a variety of suppliers, but is also sold competively by Natural Food Finder. Certain foods also have a known probiotic effect such as quality sauerkraut, kimchi, cheese, natural yogurt, kefir and home brewed lacto fermented soft drinks. On that note here's a toast to healthy guts and the bacteria that help to create this optimal digestive environment for us!
Update: 3rd June 2010 on www.just-food.com
Danone has yet to decide whether to file a new application to the European Food Safety Agency on the claims it makes of the scientific health benefits of Activia yogurt and Actimel milk drinks.
Activia is marketed as helping digestion while Actimel is said to strengthen the body’s immunary defences.
In April, Danone withdrew the claims for the two products after decided to discuss the situation at an EFSA technical meeting on 1 June.
Danone was among 400 participants at the meeting on Thursday organised by EFSA, in Parma, Italy, at which experts from the agency’s panel on dietetic products, nutrition and allergies (NDA), provided an update on their work on health claims.
Contacted by just-food today, Danone would only that it was “too early to say if we are going to make re-submissions (on the claims for the products)”.
