Yogurts for Babies and Toddlers – Activia

Jun 18, 2009 Dairy, Dangerous Baby Items, Dangerous Food Items, Friendly Baby Food Advice, Nutrition

This post is prompted by an email we received 2 days ago from a visitor. She sent in the following:

I found your site by Googling “Can Toddlers eat Activa yogourt”, the reason being that my husband bought Activa for our 18 month old recently instead of Stonefield YoBaby. Soon afterwards he started suffering diarrhea and the only food item that was different was Activa… Thank you so much for the artical!

Activia yogurt has not been recommended for babies and children under the age of 3 years of age. While some of the Danone/Actvia sites explain why, others do not go into detail and 2 sites have taken the warning out of their product FAQs altogether.

Back in 2006 when we first wrote our Baby Yogurt/Bad Yogurt article, we quoted directly from the Activia/Danone US website:

Is Activia® suitable for children?
Yes, Activia® is suitable for the whole family, including children age three and older, who are looking to eat a healthy, balanced diet.

The Activia/Danone site in Australia states

“Is Activia® suitable for children? Yes, Activia is suitable for the whole family, including children age three and older, who are looking to eat a healthy, balanced diet. ”

The Activia/Danone UK site states the following:

“Activia® is suitable for the whole family but it is not specially formulated to meet the nutritional requirements of infants or young children so it is not recommended for those under 3 years old. If you have any concerns about the suitability of Activia for your child please discuss it with your GP or dietician.

Today, the Activia/Danone US website, like the website for Canada, mentions nothing about “including children age three and older” and instead states
“Is Activia® suitable for children? It is suitable for the whole family, including children who are looking to eat a healthy, balanced diet.”

These 2 websites for the US and Canada have removed the statement that it is suitable for children 3 and older! Perhaps this is a simple oversite on the part of the website editors. We have sent an email to Danone to ask about this.

While Activia/Danone note that the yogurt is not meant to relieve constipation or to prevent it, they also note that the yogurt will help with a “slow intestinal tract”. Translation, this yogurt may help get the bowels moving and keep them regular. This might be one reason why the yogurt is not recommended for children under the age of 3 years old (???)

The US site notes:

Does Activia® or Activia Light prevent constipation?
Activia® and Activia Light were studied in adults presenting slower but still a physiological normal intestinal transit, and not in the pathological context of constipation. Activia® and Activia Light are not medications; they are foods that, through regular consumption, help with slow intestinal transit.

Since Activia® and Activia Light help with slow intestinal transit does that mean they contain fiber?

Activia Light does contain 3 grams of dietary fiber due to the presence of inulin. However, regular or original Activia® does not contain fiber. The fact that regular Activia and Activia Light helps with slow intestinal transit is due to the specific bifidobacterium culture called Bifidus Regularis™. This culture was specifically selected because of its ability to survive passage through the digestive system and reach the large intestine, giving Activia® and Activia Light its specific beneficial properties related to your digestive health.

Could you say that Activia® and Activia Light are laxatives?
No. A laxative is a medication formulated to treat constipation. Activia® and Activia Light are not medications -they are conventional foods with a natural culture called Bifidus Regularis™.

Activia® and Activia Light are clinically proven to naturally help regulate your digestive system by helping with slow intestinal transit. They do not cure or prevent constipation, which is a medical condition.

We will also mention that due to the presence of fructose, sugar, gelatin and starches, we feel your family would be better served purchasing a more natural yogurt without these fillers and sweeteners!

As always, we recommend that you consult your pediatrician about any foods that you wish to offer your babies and toddlers. Until you have discussed Activia yogurt with your pediatrician, we recommend waiting until your kiddos are 3 years of age or older.  When we receive a reply from Danone, we will post it here as a comment.

Click to Read the Danone/Activa Reply

Tags: yogurt

Beaba Babycook & BPA – the truth will set you free.

Sep 22, 2008 Dangerous Baby Items, Friendly Baby Food Advice, Uncategorized, gadgets and gizmos

We’re happy to report that we can confidently say that the Babycook is indeed BPA free. The wonderful folks behind ZRecs have just posted on HealthyChild/HealthyWorld about the changes to the U.S. distribution of the Beaba Babycook.

Included in the post is info. about the new distributor (Svan) as well as the steps they have taken to ensure that the babycook is BPA free.

How refreshing to have a company that is willing, eager and able to provide the information that helps soothe parents minds!

Please skip on over to “The Power of Reputation (at Healthy Child/Healthy World)” to read all about it!

You can also visit our past posts concerning Beaba

Beaba Baby Cook – Homemade Baby Food in a Polycarbonate Container?

Shame on you Williams Sonoma – Changing the Beaba Babycook Baby Food Cooker Description!

Tags: BPA

Spoiled Vegetables used in commercial Organic Baby Food

Sep 13, 2008 Dangerous Baby Items, Dangerous Food Items

Spoiled vegetable claims lead to baby food probe at Central Valley plant
By Associated Press

FRESNO — State officials are investigating whether the operator of an organic baby-food plant ignored warnings that moldy vegetables were used in its product.

Health inspectors say they are looking into allegations made by two former managers at Initiative Foods in Sanger.

The managers say the company used moldy sweet potatoes containing maggots and ignored repair requests that led to pieces of glass entering baby food jars.

Company officials have denied the allegations made by the former managers, who claim they were fired for raising food-safety concerns.

Inspectors are reviewing plant records at Initiative Foods, whose products are sold at Whole Foods, Vons, Safeway and other stores.  ——— Information from: The Fresno Bee

Initiative Foods produces organic and conventional baby food for several “own brand” companies.  As the  Initiative site says

“Our mission is to make the very best baby food, and offer it at the best value of any baby food available for our ‘Own Brand’ customers.   We have over 50 recipes based on your needs and offer packaging design and marketing support to make your baby food program a success!”

Learn more about this by visiting the Google News Link to see all articles written: