Advert claiming yoghurt benefits is banned

BRITAIN’S advertising watchdog yesterday banned an Actimel TV advert that claimed its yoghurt supported children’s natural defences.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) decided the advert was in breach of the rules because evidence provided by Danone did not uphold claims the yoghurt could help normal, healthy school-aged youngsters protect against common childhood illnesses.

The ad featured the sound of children cheering and the voiceover went on to state: “Actimel. Scientifically proven to help support your kids’ defences.”

Danone said 23 people in a study group of 6,000 across different age ranges had shown health benefits after drinking Actimel

The company submitted evidence from some of the studies to the ASA, two of which were carried out on hospitalised children in India who were suffering from acute diarrhoea or receiving medication for gastritis-related illnesses. The ASA decided these could not be applied to healthy children.

Two other trials examined the effect of Actimel on children aged between 10 and 18 months. The ASA found the improvement of diarrhoea in the children was not significant enough to support the claims and that the mean age of the children was too young to apply to school-age children.

A spokesman for Danone said the company was “very disappointed” at the ASA’s ruling.

He added: “Our scientific claims are sound and based on a large body of evidence.

“These studies are designed and approved by a board of internationally recognised experts with extensive, directly relevant experience in human clinical trials, effects of probiotics in the gut, paediatrics and immunology,” he said.