Activia vs Natural (Live) Yoghurt
The ingredients in Activia ‘natural’ yoghurt are low fat yoghurt with Bifidus ActiRegularis (Registered Trademark) (skimmed milk, skimmed milk powder, cream, milk proteins, yoghurt cultures).
The ingredients in the fat free range of Activia (taking the top entry on the web site – blueberry – as an example) are: fat free yoghurt with Bifidus ActiRegularis (Registered Trademark) (this time only “skimmed milk, skimmed milk powder, yoghurt cultures” are declared); blueberry (5.4%); blackcurrant; fibre (oligofructose); stabilisers (modified maize starch, guar gum, xanthan gum); acidity regulators (sodium citrate, calcium citrate, citric acid); flavouring; colour (grape juice concentrate); sweeteners (aspartame, acesulfame K). The other varieties all look pretty similar in terms of ingredients.
The ingredients in Natural (Live) Yoghurt are: yoghurt!
Ideally have just plain NLY from a supermarket own brand or from a health food shop. If you must have Activia, go for the ‘natural’ option – which has more processing than is necessary, but could be worse. Don’t go near the fat free/fruit options, if you are trying to follow The Harcombe Diet.
p.s. Bifidus ActiRegularis – puh-lease?! Did some marketing people sit down and try to make a manufactured ingredient, to stick in yoghurt, sound like Latin for something that will imply active regular bowel movements?!
Actimel vs Natural (Live) Yoghurt
Another Danone product:
The ingredients in Actimel Original are: Yogurt (Skimmed milk, Skimmed milk concentrate, Yogurt cultures), Water, Skimmed milk, Dextrose, Stabiliser (pectin), L.casei imunitass® cultures, Flavouring, Sweeteners (aspartame, acesulfame K).
The ingredients in Forest Fruits Actimel are: Yogurt (Skimmed milk, cream, skimmed milk powder, yogurt cultures), Skimmed milk, Liquid sugar (sucrose 8.4%), Fruits of the forest 2.1% (strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry), Dextrose, Stabiliser (modified tapioca starch), Flavouring, L.casei imunitass® cultures.
The ingredients in Natural (Live) Yoghurt are: yoghurt!
Bottom line: Don’t have the original or flavoured versions of Actimel, if you are trying to follow The Harcombe Diet.
p.s. Danone have another registered trademark ® (there is one in Activia also). What is L.casei imunitass?! Do we need it in our bodies?!
p.p.s check out those sugars (dextrose) and sweeteners – even in the original version.
Walk the dog or go to the gym?! (part 2)
Another article appeared on this topic in November 2009. This one was commissioned by Bob Martin (the company that does worm tablets etc). The dog product companies have obviously realised this story is a good way to get into the national press…
This study was a larger study – 5,000 people, including 3,000 dog owners. The Butchers study (see the Butchers Study here) gave statistics on how far dog owners walked vs gym goes. This study was more about the time spent doing exercise. The findings were:
- the average dog owner exercises their animal twice a day for 24 minutes each time – a total of 5 hours and 38 minutes per week. On top of that, the average dog owner takes their dog out for 3 long walks each week – adding a further 2 hours, 33 minutes to the total.
- those without a dog spend an average of just 1hour and 20 minutes a week exercising. The bigger issue is that 47% of non dog owners do no exercise at all.
We have a rescue dog and we walk her 3 times a day (Andy and I share the walks) for 20-30 mins each time and we also do longer walks a couple of times a week. We haven’t been to the gym since we got her (not that we went that much before)!
Walk the dog or go to the gym?!
The following research was commissioned by Butcher’s Dog Food food:
A study of more than 1,500 dog owners and gym goers found that the average gym goer covers 468 miles per year and the average dog walker does 676 miles per year. That’s 208 more for the dog walkers! Dog owners apparently walk the equivalent distance of Bangkok to London over their pet’s lifetime.
Dog owners are also more likely to stick to their routine, as the dog doesn’t let up until you take it out!
If you can offer a good home to a dog and commit to walking him or her regularly, this could be the biggest win win ever – for your stress levels and overall health and for that of your new best friend!
Third of heart deaths blamed on overweight
In a 10 year study of 20,000 men and women aged 20 to 65, Dutch scientists have found that being overweight accounted for half of fatal heart disease cases. The people in the study were more overweight than the average, so they allowed for this in their prediction that this meant 1 in 3 fatalities were due to being overweight/obese. The study was published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (saying that is enough to cause stress!)
They also found that 1 in 7 non-fatal heart disease cases could be attributed to being overweight of obese. Other risk factors were noted smoking, high blood pressure and raised cholesterol levels (put cholesterol in on the search box on this page and you will see my view on this one!)
The study found that patients who were obese on the BMI scale (over 30) were 4 times more likely to die of heart disease than those of normal weight. The researchers also looked at waist measurement (this is a good idea to use alongside BMI, as many professional athletes can be deemed at least overweight on a BMI scale, but their waist measurement will confirm that they are solid muscle).
Where men had a waist measurement of 94-102 cm, they were classed as overweight and more than 102cm was deemed obese. For women, the waist guidelines they used were 80-88cm as overweight and over 88cm as obese.
Heart and circulatory disease is the biggest killer in the USA, claiming more than a third of all deaths.
As I often caution, we need to be careful about association and causation. This study is strong evidence that people who are overweight or obese are more likely to be those suffering and dying from heart disease. It is likely that there is a causal relationship, but we cannot conclude this. It may well be the case that both obesity and heart disease are caused by something else and are therefore observed together/associated with each other, but that weight does not cause heart disease.
My personal view is that it is both likely that there is a causal relationship between weight and heart disease (not least for the pure physical strain that extra weight puts on the whole body and internal organs) but I also think that we may come to realise that another substance may have played a part in both obesity and heart disease – sugar, for example.
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