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What you need to know about probiotic yogurt.
Not all probiotic yogurts are created equal.
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Man:
without having a bunch of laughs.
Hey, "Marketplace."
Uhhh...what's the scoop on poop?
I'm here for a friend.
And we kind of want to know what the deal
is with probiotic yogurt?
"An excellent choice for those who care about
"their health and overall wellbeing."
I have had IBS for a good twenty years.
So it's either the floodgates are open
or the dam is closed up.
It says it has BL Regularus probiotic.
Not really sure exactly what that means.
More than 10 billion.
That's a lot.
I don't know if that's too much or not enough.
What's the situation?
Signed, Stumped Stool Sample.
Well, Stumped Stool Sample, we hear ya.
We're going to try to get to the bottom of your question
because you're not the only one asking us what's up
with probiotic yogurt.
To help us, Mary Scourboutakos.
She had the same questions, too.
We get to the yogurt aisle and the panic starts to set in.
So while working on her PhD in nutrition
she started looking for answers.
I mean, we eat this stuff, right?
So if you're gonna eat it, might as well get the one
that's going to be working for you.
Charlsie:
What's the difference between active culture and probiotic?
Any yogurt is going to have active cultures.
You need bacteria to turn that milk into yogurt.
This is not just any bacteria put into this product.
This is probiotic bacteria.
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For years, ads like this have claimed probiotics can
be good for our digestive health.
So are they?
Studies have shown that to be true.
That's because probiotics can help create a healthy ecosystem
in our intestines making it less welcoming to the bad bacteria.
Evidence suggests different strains of bacteria can help
with things like irritable bowel syndrome,
constipation, and immunity.
But figuring out which yogurt might help with whatever
ails you, not easy.
Mary took a closer look at the studies behind big brands.
What we learned is that not all probiotic yogurts
are created equal.
Take Danone's Danactive and its strain, L.casei.
We have a ton of studies that have shown that eating
that product at a dose of about two little containers per day
can decrease your incidence and severity of colds and flus.
Charlsie:
It's BL Regularus strain could help decrease IBS symptoms.
Jason has no way of knowing that.
I think if you're going to state something,
you should at least explain what that means so that you can
understand as a consumer from one label to the next.
In Canada, the only thing companies need to do to label
their yogurt probiotic, add a billion bacteria.
Activia has that billion bacteria.
At that amount, you might have to eat at least 8 servings
a day to help with IBS symptoms.
But, get this, Danone claims Activia actually
has 10 billion bacteria.
So just two servings should be enough.
Doesn't say that on the label, though.
Confused yet?
We sure are.
It gets worse.
Health Canada won't allow companies to tie
a health claim to the strain.
If it did, we might have a better sense
of which brand to buy.
Where strong evidence exists, it's something
the World Health Organization suggests.
What's the shit-uation?
Charlsie:
research to be done.
Until then...
So for a consumer like your viewer, I would say the best
approach is actually to try different products.
Okay.
Because it's hard to say which one is going to help them.
Everyone has a different starting point based on
the bacteria they have living inside of them.
It can be affecting every part of your life.
That has been something that has made me want to look
towards finding something that's going to help
deal with that in a positive way.
In a world where it's getting tougher to tell the difference
between a real deal and a real scam..
These companies are scammers.
Where it feels like big business is against us.
[ Crowd Noise ]
A world full of terms and conditions.
The debt just keeps on piling on and it's very dangerous.
We got you.
We're going to pay them a visit.
Ask in person.
Are you ripping people off?
Don't you think you're breaking the trust
of your clients?
And we're digging deep, getting you results.
Some of these dealers can be real sharks.
Information from that, I walked in there.
Boom, boom, boom, resolved.
As a kid I grew up watching
Saw your episode on Fast Fashion.
And as an adult, I never miss an episode.
I just wanna thank you for the work that you do.
Thanks very much "Marketplace."
Thank you so much "Marketplace."
You like us.
But what do you think we should investigate next?
The price of cellphones.
More on the insurance.
Insurance.
The scams at the mechanics.
Send us your emails, your tweets,
find us on
We want to hear from you.
This is my "Marketplace."
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