I remember the excitement when frozen yogurt was first introduced in the 1970s — my friends and I thought we’d gotten a free pass in the healthy food lottery. Now, nearly 30 years later, yogurt is once again all the rage, but this time it’s not the frozen kind… it’s yogurt that contains probiotics, the “microorganisms” or “good bacteria” that are similar to the beneficial ones found naturally in the human gut. You may have seen news stories about a class action lawsuit accusing yogurt mogul Dannon of false advertising on behalf of its Activia and DanActive yogurt products. The charge is that Dannon has not supported its advertised claims with studies showing that these products are, in fact, “clinically” and “scientifically” proven to have health benefits that other yogurts do not. Dannon, needless to say, disagrees.
The jury is still out, literally, about Dannon product claims about the probiotic content of its yogurts… but it seems a good time to review the fine points of selecting healthy yogurt products, including those that contain live, active cultures in order to ensure we obtain beneficial microbes. According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there is some evidence that specific probiotics are helpful for diarrhea… urinary tract infections… irritable bowel syndrome… and also reduce the recurrence of bladder cancer… and prevent and manage atopic dermatitis (eczema) in children. That’s the good news. The bad news is it’s not so easy to find yogurts that deliver on their promise to dish up significant levels of probiotics.
The reason is, each person is host to a unique community of microorganisms and responds differently to different probiotic strains. “The effect of specific probiotics varies from person to person,” explains Leslie J. Bonci, MPH, RD, LDN, author of the American Dietetic Association Guide to Better Digestion. Given that each of us carries so many different kinds of bacteria, general recommendations about the value of adding a particular proprietary blend of a few probiotics to anyone’s diet are almost meaningless.
Bonci spoke in support of yogurt, both for nutritional and probiotic benefit. “Yogurt is a good source of protein, calcium, potassium and probiotics,” she said, though many people have difficulty digesting dairy products and therefore won’t absorb those nutrients well. In her view, it’s a good idea to eat six to eight ounces of yogurt daily — but it has to be the kind that has health value greater than the downside of taking in so much sugar. Yogurts like that can be hard to find.
Bonci advised looking for yogurts that feature the National Yogurt Association’s Live and Active Cultures (LAC) seal on the label and buying brands low in sugar (less than 15 grams of sugar) and fat in order to meet overall health objectives. Sugar does not affect the probiotic content, she said. (For more information on how to choose healthful brands of yogurt, see Daily Health News, December 19, 2005.)
Though probiotics are good for our digestive health, eating yogurt is only part of the equation. “Good gut health is a combination of food choices, eating habits, physical activity and stress management,” said Bonci. There’s lots of research on yogurt and digestive health, she notes, “but if you have a terrible diet and stomach problems, just adding yogurt to your diet won’t solve your digestive issues.”
