Danone Activia and WGO drive global focus on digestive health

Every year the World Gastroenterology Organisation and its 103 national member societies celebrate the 29th May as World Digestive Health Day (WDHD). On this day the WGO, along with its partners, launches a year long campaign to promote public awareness and programs throughout the world around a particular digestive health topic or discipline. The South African Gastroenterology Society (SAGES) as a member of WGO supports this initiative and recognises the importance for South Africans to be made aware of the need to take care of their digestive health.

In 2008 the WDHD/Y is focussing on “Optimal Nutrition in Digestive Health and Disease.” Globally, Danone's collaboration with WGO has included research into digestive health and digestive disorder topics. The results of this research will be shared with local thought leaders and will include guidelines and recommendations for Health Care Professionals (HCP). These same results will be shared globally. This opens up the potential for local collaboration with local HCPs to potentially undertake further research in digestive health issues in the South Africa context. It is hoped that this will add value and relevance specific to South African digestive health needs.

Digestive health disorders can and do have a negative impact on people's health and one of the key aims of the campaign is to emphasise the importance of digestive health to the public. “Although there are no figures for South Africa, it would seem that many people, especially women suffer from mild digestive disorders,” says Jane Badham, one of South Africa's well known dieticians. “Sadly, however, these are often not considered important and so are neglected - yet they can generally be easily and effectively treated with dietary interventions.”

In this context, the WGO believes nutrition is integral to digestive health and that the daily use of proven probiotics can impact digestive health in a positive manner. A probiotic is a microbial food ingredient that, when consumed in sufficient quantities, exerts health benefits on the host beyond basic nutrition.

South African research has revealed that after eating the Activia yoghurt (which has a unique probiotic called ActiRegularis which is patented by the Danone group and is the only yoghurt scientifically proven to help keep you regular) for 15 days, 86% of people experienced digestive disorders less frequently, while 95% experienced lowered levels of pain and discomfort1.

Days such as WDHD are key to general health and wellness. “Today people are striving not only to prevent the development of disease but also to enjoy a feeling of overall well being, and it seems that digestive health disorders are often overlooked and people forget the importance of maintaining a healthy gut,” Jane Badham adds.

Dr Gill Watermeyer, a gastroenterologist also says that “we must not neglect our digestive health when we consider overall health and so it is important to create awareness amongst South Africans about the factors that impact on digestive health and the importance of good nutrition.”

“At Danone Clover we're proud to be a partner in this event and help to raise awareness of digestive health issues,” says Preethi Mistri, registered dietician at Danone Clover. “It may not be a commonly discussed subject, but digestive health is extremely important. The maintenance of a good digestion can impact on broader health issues in the body, including the absorption of nutrients from food and impact on immunity, just to mention a few. Good nutrition is fundamental to digestive health and comfort. By creating this awareness, we hope to not only impact on the prevention of digestive disorders, but also on the promotion of long term health and well being. At Danone, we offer consumers a proactive delicious choice in Activia, to improve their digestive health and their lives in general, “Mistri adds.

For more information on WDHD visit http://omge.org / www.activia.co.za