Dannon sued over "probiotic" bacteria claims

[kurth]

Dannon sued over "probiotic" bacteria claims

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A proposed class action filed on Wednesday in California accuses The Dannon Co Inc of mounting a massive false advertising campaign to convince consumers to pay more for yogurt containing "probiotic" bacteria because of the products' health benefits.

The lawsuit, filed in a Los Angeles federal court, said Dannon's own studies failed to support its advertised claims that its Activia, Activia Lite and DanActive were "clinically" and "scientifically" "proven" to have health benefits that other yogurts did not.

It seeks reimbursement for all U.S. purchasers of Activia, Activia Lite and DanActive, and demands that Dannon engage in "a corrective advertising campaign." The lawsuit claims Dannon has spent "far more than $100 million" to convey deceptive messages to U.S. consumers while charging 30 percent more that other yogurt products.

The lawsuit also cited scientific reports showing, counter to Dannon's advertising, that there was no conclusive evidence that the bacteria prevented illness or was beneficial to healthy adults -- and that Dannon knew this. The ads helped Dannon sell hundreds of millions of dollars of ordinary yogurt at inflated prices, plaintiffs' attorney Timothy Blood of Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN237176420080124

[BadgerKid]

1. Yay, marketing

I kind of figured this was a marketing ploy from the beginning, considering the other yogurts with "active cultures" are around.

From Wikipedia:

Several companies have attempted to trademark specific subspecies and as a marketing technique, renaming the subspecies with scientific sounding names. Danone (Dannon) have claimed trademark status on the subspecies strain DN 173 010 and markets the organism as Bifidus Digestivum (UK), Bifidus Regularis (US and Mexico), Bifidobacterium Lactis or B.L. Regularis (Canada) and Bifidus Actiregularis (Argentina, Austria, Chile, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Romania and Russia). Scientifically, the correct strain is identified as Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. animalis, strain DN-173 010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bifidobacterium_animalis

[Warpy]

2. Right, the claims were way out of line

with the benefits, which are felt mostly when normal flora have been killed off by a course of antibiotics. Live yogurt cultures can curb diarrhea in that case, although they'll be killed pretty quickly by the same anitbiotics.

People aren't on antibiotics all the time, though, so they thought they'd try a new angle to get people bowel obsessed and prone to the placebo effect to boost their sales.

Personally, I'd have recommended whole grains over yogurt for the chronically constipated.

[grasswire]

3. a lot of people think Activia really helped them

There was a thread on DU just yesterday with many people offering their good experiences with it.

I really really like the blueberry Activia. It's yummy.