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Baba Indaba
Durban, Pretoria, Cape Town, Soweto and Sandton,
2010-03-19
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Franschhoek Uncorked Festival
FRANSCHHOEK ,
2010-09-04
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Look & Feel Good Expo
CTICC,
2010-09-10
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Good Food & Wine Show, Johannesburg
Coca Cola Dome,
2010-09-23
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Soweto Food Festival
Hyundai Stadium, Old Potch Road, Pimville,
2010-10-01
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Danone Activia and WGO Drive Global Focus on Digestive Health
World Digestive Health Day took place on the 29th of May. Danone and the World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO) created a partnership to make sure the public is fully exposed to important digestive health issues.
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 |
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