By now we all know that Charlotte Kalla starts her day with one of these, at least we are supposed to think that.

And judging by the crowds of people around these products at ICA, people seem to agree that Actimel is something to buy. My first experience with this was on a Malmö Aviation flight where you actually get free food and then there was another free sample at ICA. In my case, my morgonvana is coffee and a bowl of cereal. So adding an Actimel to that seems like a good idea and it tastes good.

But let's look at the health info. Starting with my own poorly designed experiment on myself, I did not have any yoghurt over the weekend I because sick. But is that proof? I started drinking Actimel again during my cold and I didn't become healthy. These things are difficult.

The Actimel website has a list of quite a few scientific articles which was actually a bit surprising. Most foods or diet supplements do not list any actual evidence. When you want medical information, you search on PubMed which is essentially a collection of every proper medical article there is. If it is not here, the article is probably not very trustworthy. So, a search for Lactobacillus casei DN-114 001 (L Casei defensis) gives 27 articles. Was one of those the article saying how drinking Actimel helps athletes recover after hard exercise? Unfortunately, no.

The Merenstein et al paper is interesting because Danone has claimed in advertising that Actimel will help children stay more healthy. And this study does say that there is a small but significant improvement. However, the Meyer at al paper compares Actimel to normal yoghurt and there was absolutely no difference. Both worked just fine. And also probiotics from other companies likely have the same effect.

So if your current morgonvana includes some fil or other yoghurt, there is no need to change. But if you are like me and never had any, Actimel works just fine. Where Actimel wins is in the packaging. If you, like I, am running late in the morning, grabbing one of these is easier than most other yoghurts.

Do you agree?

And since I am looking, I think it is time I review exercise and the immune system. We need some more info on this...