Dannon Activa for gas and bloating?
#298938 - 02/05/07 08:42 AM
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didi
Reged: 03/21/06
Posts: 13
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Has anyone here tried the Dannon activa (that supposedly helps to promote regularity after 2 weeks) for other IBS symptoms, such as gas and bloating? Please share your stories! Thank you!
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This board is dedicated to the EFI diet. The EFI diet tells you to avoid all dairy. I doubt many people eat dairy here...
Personally, I don't avoid dairy, but don't like activia (too sweet) so I can't say.
--J
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This has come up before -- you might try a board search. But as Jeio said, most of the people here avoid dairy, as the diet instructs.
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IBS-C, D and nausea with acute attacks, stable on EFI for 3 years
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im lactose intollerant as well as IBS, so I did try the Activa with lactaid pills and digestive enzymes, and I liked it. I only tried it for a day though, because I was nervous about the dairy, so I didn't notice any changes. Sorry.
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Adrianna, IBS-D, stable since May 2007, living life to the fullest because of it! 
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My doctor recommended it and it is the only dairy I eat. They have just come out with a fat-free version, which is easier for me and is less sweet. I usually have the vanilla with a few squished blueberries for extra flavor. As long as I start my day with activa yogurt, I am stable. If I skip it one day, then I go back in the cycle of D then C. It takes about a week for you to really see results.
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i used activia for a while until i decided to drastically limit my dairy. activia didn't stop gas or bloating for me, sometimes i wasnt sure if it aggravated me even more. i stopped activia though to follow the EFI diet.
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All it is, is a marketing scheme. It just contains extra bacteria and organisms that is exactly the same as taking a probiotic but with all dairy. Taking a good pro-botic is all you need.
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I eat Silk Live Soy yogurt. It has some of the same benefits WITHOUT the dairy.
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Flipada - IBS-C "It's a gas, gas, gas"
**Lauren**
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I have been making my own soy yogurt for years, using plain Sojasun live soy yogurt and an ordinary electric yogurt maker. That way I have a constant supply of live yogurt and it works out much cheaper than using the shop bought all the time. I also take a probiotic in capsule form.
I wouldn't touch dairy in any form, as I know that it upsets me.
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Yogurt will only give you a rude case of GAS and BLOATING, at the very least. The whole Dannon Yogurt claim to helping IBS is a scam. Probiotics can be very helpful, but dairy yogurt can only make IBS worse.
Kate, IBS-D.
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Well... I think that's highly individual. I don't get those kinds of reactions to yoghurt (not that I like Dannon activia yoghurt, don't get me wrong) and to dairy in general.
There seems to be something in some milk products that bothers me (e.g. in processed cheeses), but I do great with dairy in general (as long as it's fat free... maybe that's the problem with cheese, I don't know).
I don't think you can claim that it WILL give you gas, though. It MAY do so... it's safer to avoid dairy when you don't know how you would react to it (and that's what I did when I first started EFI), but if you're stable and don't react to dairy, I don't see why the probiotic in activia won't be good for you. Maybe I should try it and report how I do... the only thing is it's way too sweet and tastes like plastic, LOL. I have to mix it in *real* yoghurt.
Just so you know, I am back to stable and back to eating lots of real yoghurt (not plastic style like stonifield farm and dannon, LOL)... it still does nothing to me in terms of gas/bloating, and it gives me lots of protein...
Some people react to dairy that is true. Some do not, however. It's individual. And it's better to play safe initially, when you don't know what you will react to. Heather put it very well -- start on the Break the cycle diet and add things one by one so you will know for sure what bothers you and what doesn't. Dairy is last on the list for things to add (at least it was for me) since you don't NEED it as much as you need vegies and other things.
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I still maintain my position that dairy yogurt has nasty effects on IBS. Milk proteins and lactose cause problems in IBS'ers. I do not recommend using yogurt from an animal for it's probiotic claims. Bottled probiotics are much more effective and less problematic. I doubt that Heather would advise ingesting Activa yogurt. Yogurt may not give you gas, but it could interfere with your stability, i.e. causing cramps, D or C attacks, or bloating.
If you're craving yogurt, try a soy-based variety.
Kate, IBS-D.
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Reference
#299416 - 02/09/07 11:12 AM
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Syl
Reged: 03/13/05
Posts: 5499
Loc: SK, CANADA
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Can you provide some research evidence to support your position regarding yogurt and other milk products?
Quote:
I do not recommend using yogurt from an animal for it's probiotic claims
I believe that only the milk in the yogurt comes from an animal but not the probiotic.
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
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yogurt is still dairy. Most dairy is high fat, and even skim dairy has casein and whey. There are studies in the research library board showing dairy is one of the most troublesome foods for many with IBS. And the anecdotal evidence from IBS folks who know from first-hand experience that dairy bothers them is even greater.
You can get soy yogurt with live cultures, or just take a probiotic. Why chance the dairy? To me it's not worth the risk.
- H
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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Yes - I can see how the high fat content and lactose can be problematic for IBSers. I have yet to find anything in the research literature that shows that whey and casein are a problem for IBS. Can you point me to some research literature or the library that shows otherwise? Thanks
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
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it just shows dairy, as a whole, is problematic.
- H
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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There is indeed support for the idea that milk can be very problematic for IBSers. I don't think whey and casein have yet been pin-pointed as triggers.
There is a nicely written paper in the January 2007 issue of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (reference and abstract below) that outlines a food and beverage avoidance diet that is similar to your EFI. It was designed for use with outpatients at the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Center in the Albany Medical College
About diary the author says
Quote:
Milk products including milk, ice cream, chocolate, cheese, yogurt, salad dressings, and mayonnaise are well known to cause diarrhea and abdominal cramping (Table 1). The effects of milk products are often felt to be caused by lactase deficiency. Indeed, some patients are truly lactose deficient. However, when tested, many of our IBD patients who have intolerances to milk products are not lactase deficient. Milk contains many other substances in addition to lactose, including fats, proteins, sugars, and Igs, which may stimulate the GI tract. Patients often fail to recognize that cheese, chocolate, and ice cream are concentrated forms of milk. Although skim milk and lactose free products will help some patients tolerate milk, for many patients, switching to soy milk and soy products or rice milk and rice products provides the only complete relief. Another problem for patients is that milk products are used as additives in many different snacks and foods.
Reference
MacDermott, R. P., 2007: Treatment of irritable bowel syndrome in outpatients with inflammatory bowel disease using a food and beverage intolerance, food and beverage avoidance diet. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, 13, 91-96.
Abstract
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in the outpatient with chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a difficult but important challenge to recognize and treat. It is very helpful to have effective treatment approaches for IBS that are practical and use minimal medications. Because of the underlying chronic inflammation in IBD, IBS symptoms occur with increased frequency and severity, secondary to increased hypersensitivity to foods and beverages that stimulate the gastrointestinal tract. This paper discusses how to treat IBS in the IBD outpatient, with emphasis on using a food and beverage intolerance, avoidance diet. The adverse effects of many foods and beverages are amount dependent and can be delayed, additive, and cumulative. The specific types of foods and beverages that can induce IBS symptoms include milk and milk containing products; caffeine containing products; alcoholic beverages; fruits; fruit juices; spices; seasonings; diet beverages; diet foods; diet candies; diet gum; fast foods; condiments; fried foods; fatty foods; multigrain breads; sourdough breads; bagels; salads; salad dressings; vegetables; beans; red meats; gravies; spaghetti sauce; stews; nuts; popcorn; high fiber; and cookies, crackers, pretzels, cakes, and pies. The types of foods and beverages that are better tolerated include water; rice; plain pasta or noodles; baked or broiled potatoes; white breads; plain fish, chicken, turkey, or ham; eggs; dry cereals; soy or rice based products; peas; applesauce; cantaloupe; watermelon; fruit cocktail; margarine; jams; jellies; and peanut butter. Handouts that were developed based upon what worsens or helps IBS symptoms in patients are included to help patients learn which foods and beverages to avoid and which are better tolerated.
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
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--------------------
Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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Heather, I agree that not fat free (what a phrase, LOL) dairy is a problem. There seems to be something in the milk fat that is expecially problematic... to me at least. Smaller amounts of butter (dairy butter) cause more problems to me than larger amounts of oil or almond butter (measuring by fat content, of course).
I suspect that is the reason I have trouble with dairy processed cheeses like american, mozzarella, chedar, monterey jack, not to mention cream cheese, but it is hard to confirm given that even if those have ff versions, they taste terrible. Maybe that is part of the reason lots of other folks have trouble with dairy products (folks who are not lactose intolerant). It is difficult to avoid milk fat and not avoid dairy, because very little dairy products contain little milk fat.
Of course, my evidence is in no way statistically signifficant. My GI doctor, however, who I asked about dairy, said FF dairy should be OK (I told her what I usually eat and I didn't eat processed cheeses even before I got IBS) in the form of FF milk and FF yoghurt (things I eat all the time). My GI doctor also has IBS and she had no problem with FF dairy.
That being said, I agree one should start of by avoiding dairy, and treating it like all other potential triggers and IF. Once one stabilizes, though, I don't see why you should not try FF dairy. It's healthy, it gives you lots of protein and it tastes good. Why not treat it like IF -- try and if not a problem, enjoy?
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The problem with IBS is that since it is very individualized, some people are extremely sensitive and others may notbe. To advocate having milk products goes against the principals of the diet, and can cause those who are very sensitive a lot of pain, and to destablize very quickly.
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True
#299456 - 02/09/07 08:04 PM
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Jeio
Reged: 09/28/06
Posts: 482
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You are right, but that same thing goes for all IF. We can't say that we MUST endlessly avoid things for fear they might possibly hurt us.
Everyone should be able to decide for themselves whether they are up for the risk. And most people are up for the risk for things like peas and green beans, although they have been known to cause gas, and cramps in many IBSers. If you are a D, then you don't even need the IF they contain. Thus they are on the same grounds as dairy -- you don't actually need them (you will do fine without them), but they are nutricious... so a moment when you try them usually comes.
We should not forget that dairy avoidance puts a pretty large strain on budgets, and not everyone can afford to do what I did, that is following EFI to the T and trying all kinds of things (dairy substitutes, butter substitutes, wheat substitutes, organic food, cooking everything from scratch (that's time expenditure), and so on). My food/health bill rose 3-4 times when I started EFI.
It is not a minor issue, that's what I am saying. Avoiding dairy has a price and if done without a reason "just because someone said so", one pays. I don't want to see people suffer and be unable to buy important medicine because they are avoiding dairy and trying to get their protein and whatnot from other sources (not to mention some people are used to having their cereal with milk rather than water, that is preferences). I don't want, and I believe noone wants, to hear stories about someone who would not be bothered by dairy, but avoids it religeously, and because it's so expensive to do so, can't afford to buy their AD medicine, or laxatives or something like that.
In addition, some of these dairy alternatives have gotten pretty bad reviews. Take soy milk for example. All the controvercy about soy, well... who knows if it's healthy? To me it seems like it's not. Why jeopardize your health when you might not need to (why drink soy milk when you might be able to drink milk?)
I am all for guidelines and I believe Heather is right that you should avoid dairy, but I think you should only do that initially. If you KNOW you are lactose intolerant, of course you're not going to try dairy. If, however, you are not, then ONCE you stabilize, try it. That's what I did with corn. I stabilized and tried it. It was terrible. I hardly eat corn now (super small quantities, super well boiled, etc)... if that happens to you with dairy -- at least you know you are not wasting your money on dairy subs. If not, well, you can get back to spending less money on food. And you can stop drinking substances with extremely negative reviews. When I stopped avoiding dairy, my food bill went back to 1.5 times what it was before IBS (still higher, because of the other things I have to avoid). I never drank soy milk (it tastes awful to me) but I tried rice milk and it constipated me even more. No good for an IBS-C...
Just saying. Avoiding dairy has a cost. Educating people so that they can take an informed decision concerning what to do with their diets is what Heather does. I just wish that same principle be applied to all foods indiscriminately (rather than as now -- if it's dairy or MSG or maybe HFCS, don't even mention them)
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Re: True
#299462 - 02/10/07 05:44 AM
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Syl
Reged: 03/13/05
Posts: 5499
Loc: SK, CANADA
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Jeio - the research literatures supports your point of view that is to say not every IBSer has problems with diary but many do. Similarly not every IBSer has problems with fructose. And not evey IBSer can tolerate soy products. You are right. We have to remeber that the EFI is a set of guidelines not a set of unbreakable rules
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
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My doctor also said that FF dairy is more tolerated by IBS patients. He highly recommends Activia. They (or maybe just my grocery store) has recently come out with a FF Activia. I have been eating with for 3weeks. I find that I am much more stable with the Activia. In the end, my doctor said that IBS is individualized and that some may tolerate it and some may not.
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I've tried these and they didn't really work for me. I don't recommend it, not because it's yogurt, but because it has High Fructose Corn Syrup: A BIG no-no! I can tolerate yogurt and other dairy, so I eat regular, cultured, plain yogurt for probiotics (from Stonyfield and Trader Joe's). Most people on these boards can't tolerate dairy, so be careful!
--------------------
Tierney
IBS-C
www.StandardProcess.com[/url] = the home of REAL supplements
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Re: True
#299470 - 02/10/07 10:56 AM
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Jeio
Reged: 09/28/06
Posts: 482
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Thank you. I have not checked all the research about that, that's why, thank you for that comment.
However, I tend to trust mu doctor, since she has IBS (she has it much worse than me, btw, I'm just a "mild case" compared to her) and is up to speed with the clinical literature. If she sais that FF dairy should be OK (and she did all my bloodwork, I am not lactose intollerant, no protein/enzyme imbalances and so on), I believe her.
I am just trying to raise some awareness that the EFI guidelines are not guidelines only concerning everything but dairy, but apply as GUIDELINES (not rigid rules) to dairy as well.
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HFCS is a no-no only if you have fructose sensitivity.
Would you say honey is a no-no for IBS? Because honey is as troublesome as HFCS (it's another high fructose thing, potentially worse than HFCS in that regard)... the fact it's "natural" and has a "from the countryside" appeal does not make it OK.
Most people are not fructose intolerant/sensitive, thus most people should do fine with HFCS in moderate quantities (also with honey, fruit, etc in moderate quantities, LOL). Of course HFCS often comes with things like carbonated soda (bad because of the carbonation) or fatty items (bad because of their fat content), or items with high IF content. The HFCS, however, is usually not the problem in those items. Unless you are fructose sensitive, of course.
Again, HFCS avoidance has a price. You have to think about it and weigh whether it's worth avoiding it if you are not sensitive to it.
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Wow! I am so glad for you!
Could you please post the ingredients of the activia you are eating? If it's not too much trouble of course.
Thanks a lot!
Jerry
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HFCS also causes obesity.
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cultured grade A non-fat milk, inulin, water, fructose, corn starch, modified corn starch, kosher gelatin, natural vanilla flavor, sodium citrate, malic acid sucrose.
I have one regular fat prune flavored left, so here are the ingredients to compare regular with FF.
cultured grade A reduced fat milk, fructose, plum, sugar, modified corn starch, prune puree, whey protien concentrate, kosher gelatin, natural flavor, carmine (for color) sodium citrate
So, the regular is higher in fat, but the light has Splenda. For me, the Splenda isn't a big deal. It's listed last in the ingredient label and I only have one serving of this per day.
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I bought it, ate one and died..gassie.
--------------------
I sell artist dolls
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Thank you very much for the ingredients!
Btw, I don't think "malic acid sucrose" is Splenda. Splenda is sucralose. Sucrose is table sugar. Does it say it contains splenda (they have a little Splenda sign when they contain it)
The only thing that I'd think is bad in the FF one is the inulin... but hey, if you can tollerate it, then go for it!
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YOu could be lactose intolerant, or you could just be bothered by dairy, or you could be bothered by the fructose level or something else in the Danone yoghurt. If you are sure that's the reason for you getting gas, just avoid it like a trigger food.
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The last ingredient in the FF is "sucralose".
What is inulin?
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Inulin
#299612 - 02/12/07 10:01 AM
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Jeio
Reged: 09/28/06
Posts: 482
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Oh, I see about the sucralose. I'm glad you can tolerate it 
Inulin is a SFS. Heather sais
Quote:
If you're at all prone to bloating or gas (and many folks with IBS are), please avoid both psyllium and inulin (the main ingredients in Metamucil, Konsyl, Fybogel, Fibersure, and FiberChoice), which can seriously worsen these problems in some people with IBS.
Taken from here: http://www.helpforibs.com/supplements/sol_fiber1.asp
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