Unlabeled cups of yogurt with a spoon beside fresh fruit

Activia Danone: What You Need to Know

ByCraig Brockie Last updated

The short answer

Activia is Danone’s probiotic yogurt line, sold in the U.S. by Danone US. Every product contains the same probiotic strain, Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis DN-173 010/CNCM I-2494, which Danone says has been tested in more than 18 clinical studies on digestive health. Those trials show a modest benefit for minor digestive discomfort, mostly in women who ate it every day. The trade-off is added sugar: the flavored cups we checked have 6 to 7 grams each.

Ultimate Gut is published by Ultimate Health Solutions, which sells a yogurt maker, probiotic capsules and an inulin fiber supplement. None of the products reviewed here are ours, and these brands don’t pay us.

Product facts below come from Activia’s U.S. product pages and Nutrition Facts panels (labels checked October 2026). We did not buy, taste or test any of them.

What Activia is and what is in it

The Activia product range includes probiotic yogurt cups, small “Dailies” drinks, larger yogurt drinks, Zero Added Sugar cups and Fiber cups with oats and wheat. Each label lists yogurt cultures (L. bulgaricus, L. lactis and S. thermophilus) plus the “live and active probiotic” B. lactis DN-173 010/CNCM I-2494. Activia’s FAQ says products contain “billions” of this strain but does not give a count.

Product (per serving)ServingCaloriesTotal sugarsAdded sugarsProtein
Activia Strawberry cup113 g (4 oz)809 g6 g4 g
Activia Vanilla cup113 g909 g7 g4 g
Activia Dailies Strawberry93 mL bottle7010 g6 g3 g
Activia Strawberry drink207 mL bottle16023 g14 g7 g
Activia Zero Added Sugar Strawberry113 g505 g0 g4 g
Activia Fiber Strawberry113 g908 g6 g4 g
Dannon Plain Whole Milk (for comparison)170 g (3/4 cup)1107 g0 g6 g

The sugar in plain yogurt is the milk’s own lactose, which the FDA does not count as added sugar. Scaled to a 4 oz cup, Danone’s own plain whole milk yogurt has about 5 g of total sugars and none added. The Daily Value for added sugars is 50 g, so two strawberry Activia cups a day (the amount the brand recommends) supply 12 g, about a quarter of it. The Zero Added Sugar line is sweetened with sucralose and acesulfame potassium instead; see our Activia Zero Sugar guide.

What Activia claims vs what the evidence shows

Activia’s current U.S. claim is narrow. Its FAQ says eating Activia twice a day for two weeks, as part of a balanced diet, “may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive discomfort,” defined as bloating, gas, abdominal discomfort and rumbling. It cites two double-blind randomized trials and a pooled analysis.

What the trials found

  • Transit time: in a crossover study of 36 healthy women, three 125 g cups a day for 10 days shortened colonic transit time compared with a control fermented milk (Marteau 2002).
  • IBS with constipation: in 274 primary care adults over 6 weeks, quality-of-life scores improved in both groups; the responder rate (65% vs 48%) and bloating were better with Activia at week 3, and stool frequency rose in people with fewer than 3 stools a week (Guyonnet 2007).
  • Minor digestive symptoms: a second trial in 324 women did not confirm the main result, though a pooled analysis of both trials (538 women) favored the probiotic product (Marteau 2013). A later pooled analysis reported symptom scores falling after 2 weeks (Marteau 2019).
  • Meta-analysis: three trials with 598 adults, 96.5% of them women, found a modest improvement in gut discomfort; about 10 people needed to eat the product for one to benefit (Eales 2017).
  • Children: in 159 constipated children, twice-daily servings for 3 weeks raised stool frequency no more than a control product did (Tabbers 2011).

Limits of the evidence

Most trials were funded or co-authored by Danone, and nearly all participants were adult women. Effects were modest, and one of the two main trials missed its primary goal. The studies tested minor symptoms or IBS in adults, not the treatment of any disease, and the benefit is linked to eating it every day; the FAQ notes it ends when you stop.

The 2010 FTC settlement

In December 2010, the Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with Dannon over Activia and DanActive advertising. The FTC charged that Dannon lacked support for claims that one daily serving relieves temporary irregularity and slow intestinal transit, and that its “clinically proven” claims were false. Under the order, Activia ads making irregularity or transit-time claims must convey that three servings a day are needed, unless two well-designed human studies show fewer servings work. Dannon also agreed to pay $21 million to 39 states. The settlement was not an admission that the company broke the law.

Price

Activia’s U.S. site does not list prices, so we have not calculated a price per serving. Store prices vary by pack size and retailer.

Who it may suit and who should skip it

  • May suit: people who enjoy flavored yogurt and want one whose probiotic strain has been studied for occasional bloating or discomfort, and who are willing to eat it twice a day.
  • Consider Zero Added Sugar or plain yogurt if you are limiting added sugar, especially with the larger drinks (14 g added sugar per bottle).
  • Skip it if you have a milk allergy; the Fiber cups also contain wheat.
  • Talk to a doctor about ongoing constipation, diarrhea or pain rather than relying on yogurt. Our guide to yogurt for an upset stomach covers when food helps and when it does not.

Alternatives

Glass jars of homemade plain yogurt with berries

Plain yogurt with live and active cultures gives you the yogurt cultures without added sugar, and you can sweeten it with fruit. Not every yogurt still carries live microbes, as our explainer on whether all yogurt has probiotics shows. For other options sorted by their cultures, see the best yogurt for probiotics. Kefir is another fermented dairy choice; compare the best kefir brands.

Making plain yogurt at home

Homemade yogurt lets you control the milk, the starter and the sugar. The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension method for 1 quart of milk:

  1. Heat pasteurized milk to 185 to 200°F, stirring often; hold at 185°F for 10 minutes for thinner yogurt or 20 minutes for thicker.
  2. Cool the pot in cold water to 112 to 115°F.
  3. Blend 1/4 cup of plain yogurt with live and active cultures (or a dry starter) into a cup of the warm milk, then stir it back in. The mix should be about 110°F.
  4. Incubate covered and undisturbed for 4 to 7 hours at 110°F, plus or minus 5°F.
  5. Chill right away at 40°F or lower; it keeps about 10 to 21 days.

Holding a steady temperature is the hardest part. Our guides to making yogurt at home and yogurt temperature go step by step.

Is Activia yogurt good for you?

It can fit a healthy diet: a strawberry cup has 80 calories, 4 g protein and 6 g added sugar, and its probiotic strain has modest evidence for minor digestive discomfort, mostly in women (Eales 2017).

How often do you need to eat Activia?

Activia says twice a day for two weeks, and that the benefit continues only while you keep eating it (Activia FAQ).

What probiotic is in Activia?

Every Activia product lists Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis DN-173 010/CNCM I-2494, along with standard yogurt cultures.

Is plain yogurt a good alternative to Activia?

Plain yogurt with live and active cultures has no added sugar, but it does not contain the Activia strain, which Danone says is exclusive to Activia in the U.S., so the Activia trials do not apply to it.

Sources

Craig Brockie is the founder of Ultimate Health Solutions, the company behind Ultimate Gut, and the author of Ultimate Health, The Ultimate Gut Health Guide and The Unlimited Probiotics Guide. After injuries and chronic health problems in his twenties that conventional care didn’t resolve, he began researching health on his own and has studied natural health for 30 years. He is not a medical professional, and his articles are general information, not medical advice.

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