Money Bacteria Guarantee

[Guest guest]

The following article is from the October 2005 issue of " Nutrition

Action Healthletter " (published by Center for Science in the Public

Interest).

Best regards,

Celeste

The hook: Take the DanActive challenge, says Dannon, referring to its

dairy drink that's fortified with three kinds of " friendly bacteria. "

" Simply give our product a try by consuming one bottle per day, for up

to one month, and you will see that DANACTIVE works! " If it doesn't,

Dannon says that it will refund your money.

The truth: Works how? " DanActive has been clinically proven in multiple

studies to help naturally strengthen your body's defense system, " says

the company. And what, exactly, does that mean? " Something unique to

everyone " is all the company can offer.

Multiple studies? In the one small, preliminary study that looked at

DanActive's impact on illness in people, older volunteers who drank

DanActive for three weeks during the winter didn't suffer any fewer

infections than those who drank plain milk. But when the volunteers did

get colds or GI infections, they lasted an average of 8.7 days in the

milk drinkers and 7 days in the DanActive drinkers. Interesting, but

it's far too early to conclude that DanActive is an effective infection

buster (the results " warrant further investigation on a larger scale, "

say the researchers).

L. Casei defensis, one of the three bacteria in DanActive, has been

used successfully to treat diarrhea in children in the Third World. But

it didn't prevent or alleviate diarrhea in a large study of Israeli

soldiers?

Dannon says that " new scientific studies currently underway are

designed to provide additional information " about the effects of

DanActive. Sounds like the money side at Dannon got out in front of the

science side.