Probiotics - The Trend That's Here to Stay

19/03/07 Each March the United States of America celebrates National Nutrition Month as the perfect time to revaluate lifestyle choices and eating habits. A recent addition to the nation's dietary vocabulary is "probiotics," or the healthy bacteria, found in products like Dannon's new DanActive, a probiotic dairy drink that is clinically proven to help strengthen the body's defenses when enjoyed daily. Different probiotic strains provide unique benefits, and DanActive contains the proprietary probiotic L. casei Immunitas culture.

Lack of sleep, stress, and a hectic lifestyle can weaken the body's defense system and affect overall well-being. Because these challenges may arise in the course of everyday life, consumers can take proactive steps to help counteract some of the negative effects. By educating themselves about incorporating good bacteria into their diets, people can be better prepared to help maintain a strong defense system and good diet habits.

The body has several natural systems to defend itself, and one of the most important is in the digestive tract. It is a little known fact that about 70 percent of a person's immune system is located in the digestive tract. This is where DanActive, with its unique probiotic culture, goes to work.

Hannah Keeley -- author, mother of seven and creator of TotalMom.com -- recommends DanActive to busy families as part of their wellness routine. After getting her seven kids up, dressed, fed, and shuttled to and from activities, Hannah knows first-hand the effects a hectic lifestyle can have on her family.

"Think about your most frenetic morning, and then add seven kids to the mix," Keeley says. "Through all the challenges our family faces daily, we try to keep up our body's defenses! Out of sheer necessity, I've devised a number of coping strategies over the years, and some of the most important ones have to do with helping keep your body's natural defenses running strong."

"National Nutrition Month is a good opportunity to take stock of you family's dietary decisions, and a product like DanActive is such a simple way to help strengthen you family's natural defenses for the day ahead," she added. "It takes only a few moments for you and your kids to enjoy a bottle every morning, and, as a bonus, it's a good source of calcium. Probiotic drinks are big in Europe, and we're seeing the beginning of something big here, too."

The word probiotic literally means "for life." Probiotics are live cultures that, when consumed in sufficient quantities, give health benefits beyond basic nutrition. In a recent survey, only 15 percent of adult American women said they know what probiotics are. But an international probiotics expert and microbiologist notes that probiotics are receiving new attention.

"Recent research has uncovered a great deal about how the microbes naturally colonizing our bodies can help keep us well and how we can bolster these effects by consuming health-promoting bacteria called probiotics. A key to how microbes can help keep us healthy is their influence on the immune system in the digestive tract," said Mary Ellen Sanders, Ph.D., Executive Director of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP).

In many countries, probiotic drinks are a part of daily routines. Across Europe and Asia, DanActive has been enjoyed for years under the brand name Actimel. More than 6 million bottles are consumed daily around the world.

Clinically Proven Benefits

Each serving of DanActive contains 10 billion active cultures of Lactobacillus casei Immunitas -- a strain available only from Dannon that's proven to survive, in very high quantities, passage through the digestive tract and remain active once there. In studies performed over more than 10 years, scientists have confirmed that DanActive helps maintain three distinct lines of the body's defenses:

* DanActive has a positive effect on the balance of the intestinal microflora -- it helps to regulate the level of "friendly" bacteria when poor diet, stress, and other environmental conditions create an imbalance.
*  DanActive helps strengthen the function of the intestinal lining by favoring the integrity of the intestinal wall enhancing this barrier function.
*  DanActive helps optimize the functioning of the digestive tract's immune system by enhancing the restoration of specific immune responses.

Drinking a bottle of DanActive every day as part of a healthy diet provides a simple, effective, enjoyable way for everyone -- adults, seniors, and children -- to help strengthen their body's defenses. DanActive is great any time of the day, and drinking it at breakfast is an easy way to make it part of the whole family's wellness routine.

DanActive has the terrific taste consumers expect from Dannon and is available in four delicious flavors: Strawberry, Vanilla, Blueberry, and Cranberry Raspberry. DanActive contains no artificial flavors or preservatives.

Most Women Unaware That Digestive Tract Contains Majority of Immune System

Only 21% of women realize that about 70% of a person's immune system is in their digestive tract -- one of the body's most important natural systems to defend itself, however, many women understand what challenges the body's defenses. Most women realize that stress (91 percent), lack of sleep (90 percent) and eating poorly (87 percent) weaken the body's defenses.