Dannon, the yogurt maker, has reached a settlement in a class action suit brought against it for falsely representing the health benefits of its products. The company will pay up to $100 to individual consumers who have been misled by its “health claims”. Check if you are eligible here.

According to a report on ABC news:

Dannon must remove the words “clinically” and “scientifically proven” from product labels and advertisements of Activia yogurt in reference to claims the product helps to regulate the digestive system.

Dannon also must note that Activia and DanActive yogurts are food, not treatments or cures for any medical disorder or disease.

Also, Dannon must remove the word “immunity” from DanActive labels and ads, as well as include a qualifier to the claim the yogurt “helps strengthen your body’s defenses” or “helps support the immune system.” read more…

This is a perfect example why NOT to trust what you read on front of package labels.

What you need to know:

Yogurt is very healthy, and was even selected as food of the decade last month. All yogurts have healthy probiotics, it’s just that some get better marketed than others. Since scientists have yet to show how one strain is significantly healthier than another, there is strong reason to believe Dannon was misleading consumers into paying 30% more for its products.

According to the terms of the settlement, Dannon does not have to admit to any wrongdoing. In fact, the company

stands by its advertising and denies it did anything wrong. However, Dannon has settled to avoid the cost and distraction of litigation.

Hmmm, if Dannon truly stood behind its product, it would not have opted to pay $45,000,000 in settlement. It would have gone to court to clear its name. But the company did not want to get distracted….or get too much bad press over the lengthy duration of the trial. Faster to pay up and move on. Especially if you know there are slim chances you’ll win.

Too bad, now we won’t have the opportunity to dig down deep into the science and know once and for all what led the company to behave the way that it did.

Wait. Maybe we do know – more money.

Incidentally, the main issue with most yogurts today is not their bacteria type, but rather their high sugar count and additives that make them more appealing to sweet craving taste buds. Plain yogurt naturally contains 12 grams of sugar in the form of lactose. But on top of that you’ll find 1-4 added teaspoons of sugar depending on the brand and specific flavor. See here and here for an ingredient analysis of popular products.

What to do at the supermarket:

You can do better than buying expensive sugar filled yogurt. Buy plain yogurt, and if you can, choose a large bulk container which is much cheaper. Hardcore yogurt lovers prepare their own at home.

With minimal effort you can upgrade the plain  yogurt into a a truly healthy breakfast or snack. Choose either one or all of the ideas below:

1. toss in diced bananas, strawberries, raisins, nuts, or whatever.

2. stir in a teaspoon of honey, agave nectar, or maple syrup.

3. sprinkle flax seeds into the mix.

Enjoy!

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This week, a panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) issued an opinion on hundreds of food health claims and REJECTED about  two thirds of them. The claims requiring further scientific evidence include probiotics in yogurts, omega 3 fortification, and others.

In one opinion, the panel said the data provided weren’t compelling enough to justify the claim that the bacteria Lactobacillus casei F19 improves bowel functioning.

This is a blow to food giants such as Danone who are promoting their Actimel and Activia branded yogurts through the so called friendly bacteria. This is a double blow to Danone, whose US subsidiary agreed to pay $35M in  fines in an out of court settlement regarding dubious health claims for it Activia yogurts just last week.

What you need to know:

Health claims are used by food manufacturers to increase the attractiveness of their products. In some cases there is simply not enough scientific evidence to back up those claims. In many cases the science has been paid for by the manufacturers themselves who fund research at independent facilities and universities.

The EU, which in general tends to be more protective of consumers than the US, is now weighing several changes in food packaging information, including health claims and quick glance nutrition information such as “traffic lights” used in the UK.

What to do at the supermarket:

Unfortunately in the US, even flimsy health claims are allowed, mostly because companies threathen to sue the FDA for blocking their 1st amendment rights to free speech.

That’s why we suggest ignoring all health claims, and directly inspecting the nutrition panel and the ingredient list.

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On Friday, Dannon Company announced it had settled a class action suit to the tune of $35 Million. The lawsuit was filed in early 2008, alleging that Dannon knowingly misled consumers in its marketing activities around its Activia yogurt line. The massive false advertising campaign convinced shoppers to pay 30% more for yogurt containing “probiotic” bacteria because of the products’ supposed health benefits.

While no nutritionist doubts the health benefit of yogurt, the question asked is what’s so special about Activia’s probiotics compared to other brands, and in and of themselves. Seems like a judge was going to provide the answer, but executives at Dannon decided to fog things up by dishing out millions of dollars AND not admitting to any wrongdoing.

In case you are wondering, here’s what you’ll find inside Activia Strawberry Yogurt. Read more…

Dannon Activia

More good news for consumers. Dannon, manufacturer of 100 dairy products such as Activia, Light & Fit, DanActive and Danimals, will stop using milk from cows injected with bovine growth hormones (rBST / rGBH). The plan is to be 100% hormone free by the end of 2009.

From DairyReporter.com:

[Dannon] said the move is a result of consumer feedback. “This is a response to our market evaluation and consumer preference,” Dannon’s senior director of public relations Michael Neuwirth told DairyReporter.com.

“When General Mills make their announcement, we naturally got many questions. This is something we’ve been working on for some time but because there is no real safety issue here we’ve been quite low-key about it,” said Neuwirth.

Read the entire article…

What you need to know:

BST (bovine somatotropin) is a hormone cows naturally produce and found in their bodies. The more of this hormone a cow has, the more milk it produces. In the early 1990’s, an artificial growth hormone, rBST (a.ka. rBGH), was developed by agriculture giant Monsanto. While this seems like good news, when you mess with nature, there are always consequences.

The rBST hormone itself has no effect on humans, but the “consequences” do:
1. Cows injected with the hormone tend to be sicker due to inflammations of their much larger udders, and therefore receive more antibiotics. The antibiotics then find their way into your milk and your body.
2. rBST additionally increases the level of an insulin type growth factor in the milk (IGF-1). This, again, finds its way into the human body. Though in most cases our stomach acids digest it, sometimes IGF-1 gets into the bloodstream, and for some people this raises the risk of cancer.

Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the EU banned rBGH.

Dannon is an international dairy powerhouse, and owns about one third of the US yogurt market, tied with General Mill’s Yoplait. Having these two giants make the move will probably line up all of the smaller manufacturers as well.

What to do at the supermarket:

Until the end of 2009, buying organic is the sure way to avoid milk products from rBGH-free cows, albeit at a higher price.

On conventional products, you will not find a label mentioning the presence or absence of growth hormones or antibiotics.

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