Fine-print to keep it real: This post and monthly activity has been sponsored by Golden Circle and Nuffnang, all comments are my own.
I’m very excited to share this week’s Food Flash post with you. Firstly we have a really innovative new product. And secondly, we welcome Golden Circle as a Scoop Supporter for the coming weeks. Yippee! Golden Circle’s support will help our Sub of the Month mentoring program and a few tweaks we want to do to the site. Isn’t that great? They’ve even included a fab giveaway, plus a super duper prize to the value of $1000, so make sure you check out the details at the end.
Milk it?
I’m sure most of you (savvy readers) have heard about probiotics? Perhaps you regularly seek them out? But until now, you’ve only been able to get to the guts of good health with a dairy based product or by popping a pill. Enter, Golden Circle Healthy Life™ Juice, the first dairy-free drink with probiotic cultures in Australia.
Cultured society
There’s plenty of talk about probiotic cultures and health – in medical circles but also on many food products – beating the bloat, boosting immunity and more. And it can get a little confusing. When assessing a product, dietitians look for things like the research behind the type of strain(s) used; whether there are enough numbers of good bacteria and do they survive or are they viable in the product? That’s once we’ve already checked that the product tastes divine, of course. Did you really think I’d forget that one? Puh-leze.
So to answer some of my questions I caught up with Megan Alsford APD from Golden Circle to grill her (just a little).
Tell me about the strains?
Probiotics are well recognised as having the ability to beneficially modulate immune defences, although the mechanisms of action are not fully understood. The juice contains Probi Defendum™ – two probiotic cultures (Lactobacillus paracasei 8700:2 and Lactobacillus plantarum HEAL 9) specifically selected to work in combination to support the body’s natural immune defences. Clinical trials with Probi Defendum™ have shown effectiveness, with the number of episodes, severity of symptoms and duration of the common cold being significantly reduced. Health professionals can read the full backgrounder on the research and trials here: A scientific update on probiotics and immunity.
Of particular interest is the data when people suffered a second cold. That is, when subjects in one of the major trials suffered their second cold (poor things), those consuming Probi Defendum™ had a significant reduction in the severity of symptoms. The study indicates the intervention of Probi Defendum™ helps support natural defences through building immune competence, resulting in less severe symptoms in subsequent common cold episodes.
What about the counts?
Every 200mL serve has been designed to provide at least 1 billion beneficial cultures (1billion cfu), as this level has been shown to be effective.
And to find out about the taste?
I just served up a small glass, at Sunday breakfast (nonchalantly) to Master 7 (fusspot) and Miss 10? Two words. “Yum, mum”.
For anyone seeking a dairy free probiotic it definitely gets the thumbs up. Remember that just like any juice, liquid kilojoules add up so stick to one serve a day. Check out the nutrition information panels here. Golden Circle Healthy Life™ Juice has no added sugar, no artificial colours or flavours and is available in Apple Mango and Breakfast flavours in both 1lt and 300ml bottles in the chiller aisle at all major supermarkets in Victoria, NSW and QLD states.
So what do you think? Is that hot or what? Drop us a comment below for your chance to win a giveaway of a GCHL Cooler bag, $50 Woolworth’s gift card and 1 month Fernwood Fitness membership. We will be picking the most creative comment. Entries, open to Australian residents, until 5pm EST on 17 August. Read the full terms and conditions here. All comments will also go into the bigger prize draw, across three blogs, for the chance to win a $1000 lastminute.com.au voucher. Read the full terms and conditions here. So do drop us a clever line below. Go on don’t be shy. Wouldn’t it be fab if a lovely Scoop reader won a foodie escape or a night on the town?