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BBC Radio 4 Food Programme on legislation for health claims for foods

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 10:40:11 +0000

The Food Programme looks at new legislation controlling how food companies can make health claims for their products. There’s a segment in there about a research group who look at prebiotics and probiotics, particularly yoghurts, which is funded by the food industry. Note how, when he talks about the benefits of strains of bifidus, the researcher almost exlcusively talks about prebiotics, not probiotics.

The Food Programme – Beetroot and Health Legislation

What are prebiotics? Find out on the probiotics, prebiotics and intestinal flora page.

Food Politics blog on health claims for yoghurts

admin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:53:10 +0000

I like yogurt. But do probiotics – those “friendly” bacteria in yogurt and increasingly added to other foods – do anything for you beyond making yogurt taste good? I wrote about probiotics in What to Eat at some length. Tara Parker-Pope has a quick summary of the state of the research in today’s New York Times.

The quick answer is mixed. It includes a lot of “maybe” or “probably,” always a sign that whatever probiotics might do isn’t going to be much. The answer is probably yes for infant diarrhea and, maybe, irritable bowel syndrome, and maybe or no for just about everything else.

In the absence of FDA action to regulate misleading health claims, lawyers have jumped into the breach. They have just won a large class-action settlement – $35 million – against Dannon for claiming that Activia yogurt promotes immunity. According to one news account, Dannon spent $100 million marketing the immunity-promoting effects of Activia ignoring the results of its own company-sponsored research which inconveniently showed few benefits. (Did they not pay enough for the research?).

Read the full article : Health claims for yogurt? Really?

New York Times – certain probiotics can reduce diarrohea

admin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:48:42 +0000

Funny that this article suggests that some probiotics can prevent diarrhoea, when the advertising seems to hint much more at alleviating “bloating” – which implies constipation rather than diarrhoea…

Read the full article : Probiotics: Looking Underneath the Yogurt Label

Probiotics may be useful in some medical settings, and may be extremely harmful in others

admin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:35:50 +0000

BBC Radio 4′s Case Notes talks to Chakravarthi Rajkumar, Professor of Geriatrics and Stroke Medicine at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, who has a special interest in the use of probiotics to reduce some of the unwanted side effects of antibiotics in his elderly patients.

Marnie Chesterton reports from Utrect in the Netherlands, where trials using probiotics on patients with severe acute pancreatitis had some worrying results.

Listen to the programme here

'Healthy' yogurt advert banned

admin — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:38:57 +0000

A TV advert which asserted that Actimel yogurt supported children’s natural defences against disease has been banned by the advertising watchdog.

The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that claims that it could help protect school-age youngsters against illness were not supported by evidence.

Full story