Study Type
Double-blind, placebo-controlled study
Does Activia® reduce colonic transit time in healthy people?
Bouvier et al., 2001[1]
Study end points
Radio-opaque marker to measure colonic (including sigmoid) transit times
Population
72 healthy young people (21-24 y/o)
Intervention
Daily consumption of either 3 x125g servings of Activia® or a control group with heat-treated milk fermented by B lactis CNCM I-2494 (no viable strains)
Control
Daily consumption of heat treated milk fermented by B lactis CNCM I-2494
Length
11 days
Key results
- Reduction of total colonic transit time significantly greater with Activia® compared with the control
- Significant reduction in sigmoid transit times with Activia® after consumption period vs baseline
Conclusion
Daily consumption of 3 x 125g servings of Activia® may significantly reduce total colonic transit time in young, healthy people
Does Activia® reduce colonic transit time in healthy women?
Marteau et al., 2002[2]
Study Type
Randomised, controlled, double-blind, multicentre, cross-over study
Study end points
Radio-opaque marker to measure colonic transit times; evaluation to measure faecal bile salts, pH, microbial mass and weight.
Length
20 days with a 10 day interval period
Intervention
1st group (n=17) consumed 3x 125g servings of Activia daily for 10 days, followed by 3 x 125g servings of yogurt without bifidobacteria daily for 10 days. 2nd group (n=15) consumed 3 x 125g servings of yogurt without bifidobacteria daily for 10 days ....
Population
32 healthy young women (18-45 y/o)
Key results
- Significantly shorter colonic and sigmoid transit times in the Activia® group compared with the control group, but no difference observed vs baseline
- Fecal mass, pH, bacterial mass and bile acids were not significantly modified
Conclusion
Daily consumption of 3 x 125g servings of Activia® may reduce colonic transit time in healthy young women.
Does Activia® improve constipation in healthy women?
Yang et al., 2008[3]
Study Type
Randomised, double-blind, placebo controlled, parallel group study
Study end points
Stool consistency evaluated with Bristol Stool Scale and self-evaluation to measure defecation condition
Population
135 healthy Chinese women (25-65 y/o) with constipation
Intervention
Daily consumption of 100g Activia (n=67)
Control
Daily consumption of 100g acidified milk containing non-living bacteria (n=68)
Length
2 weeks
Key results
- Significant increase in stool frequency after 1 and 2 weeks of Activia® consumption
- Significantly improved defecation conditions and stool consistency in Activia® compared to the control
Conclusion
Daily consumption of 100g servings of Activia® over 2 weeks may improve stool frequency and consistency as well as defecation conditions in constipated women.
Does Activia® modulate brain activity in healthy women?
Tillisch et al., 2013[4]
Study Type
Randomised, double-blind, controlled study
Study end points
Functional magnetic resonance imaging and standardised emotional faces attention task to measure brain activity
Population
38 healthy women (18-50 y/o)
Intervention
Daily consumption of 2x125g servings of Activia (n=14)
Control
Daily consumption of 2x 125g of non-fermented milk product with low lactose content (n=11) or no product at all (n=13)
Length
4 weeks
Key results
- Significant reduction in reactivity of a network of brain regions after a negative emotional attention task in Activia® group
- Changes in brain activity were significantly and positively correlated to the emotional faces attention task in Activia® group
- 4 weeks of Activia® consumption were significantly associated with modifications in a resting state network compared to control and no intake groups
Conclusion
Daily consumption of 2 x125g servings of Activia® may modulate activity of specific brain regions in healthy women
Mechanism of Action Studies on the Gut Microbiota
Can B. lactis CNCM I-2494 survive passage through the gastrointestinal tract and what is the impact on the gut microbiota?
McNulty et al., 2011[5]
Study Type
Controlled human study and “humanised” animal model
Study end points
Human Study: QPCR to measure B. lactis in faeces; sequencing technologies to profile bacteria. Animal Study: Metagenomics to measure dominant bacteria; metatranscriptomics to measure gene expression.
Population
7 pairs of healthy female adult monozygotic twins and 10 germ-free mice
Intervention
Human group: Two daily 113 g servings of Activia®. Mouse model: Germ free mice colonised with 15 microbes; after 2 weeks, fermented milk with 5 species via oral gavage (single/repeat doses at weeks 1 & 3); samples analysed for microbes, genes, metabolites
Length
Human Study: Sampling 4 weeks prior to assessment, 7 weeks during assessment and 4 weeks after intervention. Animal Study: Single treatment mice: 3 weeks in total. Multiple treatment mice: 5 weeks in total.
Key results
- All women experienced high level of B. lactis CNCM I-2494 in their faeces, indicating it survived passage through the gastrointestinal tract
- 4 weeks after stopping Activia®, B. lactis CNCM I-2494 levels in faeces decreased to below the limits of detection
- Gene expression of some gut microbes was modulated
- Activia (product and strains) could enhance the production of short chain fatty acids by the gut microbiota
- Activia® consumption had no significant impact on the women’s global dominant gut microbiota, with minor modification in mice
- Activia (product and strains) may enhance the gut microbiota’s ability to utilise plant-derived polysaccharides
Conclusion
Activia® can survive passage through the gastrointestinal tract and can modulate the gene expression of some gut microbes.
Does Activia® modulate the human gut microbiome?
Veiga et al., 2014[6]
Study Type
Randomised, controlled, double-blind, parallel-group clinical trial
Study end points
Various sequencing techniques to measure and identify bacteria and in vitro colonic fermentation model to measure short chain fatty acids production
Population
28 people with irritable bowel syndrome with predominant constipation (IBS-C)
Intervention
Daily consumption of 2 x125g servings of Activia® (n=13)
Control
A non fermented dairy product with low lactose content (n=15)
Length
4 weeks
Key results
- Consumption of Activia® for 4 weeks stimulated 5 resident gut species, including B. dentium and 4 unknown species (the MetaGenomic Species (MGS))
- Genes involved in butyrate production were detected in 2 MGS stimulated by Activia®
Conclusion
Daily consumption of Activia® may modulate some bacterial species but no global shift in the gut microbiota was observed. Activia® may stimulate butyrate production.
[1] Bouvier M et al. Effect of consumption of a milk fermented by the probiotic strain Bifidobacterium animalis DN-173 010 on colonic transit time in healthy humans. Bioscience Microflora. 2001; 20(2):43-48.
[2] Marteau P et al. Bifidobacterium animalis strain DN-173 010 shortens the colonic transit time in healthy women: a double-blind, randomized, controlled study. Alimentary Pharmacol & Therap, 2002;16:587-93.
[3] Yang Y et al. Effect of a fermented milk containing Bifidobacterium lactis DN-173 010 on Chinese constipated women. World Journal of Gastroenterology, 2008; 14(40): 6237-6243.
[4] Tillisch K et al. Consumption of Fermented Milk Product with Probiotic Modulates Brain Activity. Gastroenterology, 2013 Jun; 144(7):1394-1401
[5] McNulty NP et al. The impact of a consortium of fermented milk strains on the gut microbiome of gnotobiotic mice and monozygotic twins. Science Translation Medicine, 2011; 3(106):106ra106.
[6] Veiga P et al. Changes of the human gut microbiome induced by a fermented milk product. Scientific Reports. 2014 Sep 11;4:6328
This information is intended to provide health professionals with scientific and educational content on gut health and nutrition.