Digest This: Digestive Health Harder to Maintain Than Financial Health

GLENVIEW, Ill. (Map) - GLENVIEW, Ill., March 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64 percent) find maintaining good digestive health to be a greater challenge than maintaining a good credit score, according to a recent survey(1) commissioned by LiveActive from Kraft Foods. With the expansion of the LiveActive line, it is now easier to help promote digestive health throughout the day by eating foods from well-known and trusted brands.

The Kraft LiveActive line now offers many delicious items Americans can eat or drink that help promote digestive health. Kraft has added LiveActive Cereal from Post and LiveActive On The Go Drink Mix from Crystal Light to the line. Both new products contain a prebiotic fiber called inulin. Research suggests eating as little as 8 grams of this prebiotic fiber per day can help promote the growth of good bacteria already in the body. These new products are in addition to LiveActive Natural Cheese Snacks from Kraft and LiveActive Cottage Cheese from Breakstone's/Knudsen that were introduced in 2007.

Between 60 and 70 million Americans experience some sort of digestive health problem(2). The issue may be that Americans haven't "digested" the ways in which prebiotics and probiotics could benefit them. By definition, prebiotics are often dietary fibers and act as fuel for probiotics. More than 70 percent of Americans claim they are not at all familiar with prebiotics. Of those who were familiar with prebiotics, less than 4 percent were able to define them correctly. Probiotics are live cultures that can be eaten to help promote digestive health. Nearly two-thirds of Americans (63 percent) polled claim they are not at all familiar with probiotics and only 13 percent of those who were familiar with them could define them accurately.

"It's time for Americans to get proactive about incorporating prebiotics and probiotics into their diet," said Leslie Bonci, MPH, RD of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "Nearly 75 percent of consumers prefer to get their prebiotics and probiotics from foods in their everyday diet than take a dietary supplement. The LiveActive line from Kraft offers great-tasting alternatives to help promote digestive health."

LiveActive Cereal is a breakfast option that is big on taste, with crispy flakes, crunchy clusters, and delicious fruits/nuts. It is available in Mixed Berry Crunch and Nut Harvest Crunch. LiveActive Drink Mix is a tasty beverage option with added prebiotic fiber, available in Natural Mixed Berry and Natural Raspberry Peach flavors. It is a 10-calorie beverage with 100 percent daily value of vitamin C in each serving. Along with LiveActive Cottage Cheese, both products provide 3 grams of a prebiotic fiber called inulin per serving. LiveActive Natural Cheese provides an efficacious dose of probiotic culture in each serving.

"With the LiveActive line, we're excited to give people food and beverage options, both inside and outside of the dairy case, that can help promote digestive health throughout the day," said Amy Wagner, Senior Director of Marketing for LiveActive.

Visit LiveActiveFoods.com for more information about the line and to learn simple ways to help promote digestive health with prebiotics and probiotics.

About Kraft Foods

Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) is one of the world's largest food and beverage companies, with 2007 revenues of more than $37 billion. For more than 100 years, Kraft has offered consumers delicious and wholesome foods that fit the way they live. Kraft markets a broad portfolio of iconic brands in more than 150 countries, including nine brands with revenues exceeding $1 billion: Kraft cheeses, dinners and dressings; Oscar Mayer meats; Philadelphia cream cheese; Maxwell House coffee; Nabisco cookies and crackers and its Oreo brand; Jacobs coffees, Milka chocolates and LU biscuits. Kraft is listed in the Standard & Poor's 100 and 500 indexes. The company is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the Ethibel Sustainability Index. For more information, visit the company's web site at http://www.kraft.com.

    (1) Kelton Research, a leading national polling firm, polled 1,000 people
        nationwide using an email invitation and an online survey. Results
        were collected from a random sample of 1,000 men and women ages 18 and
        over. Quotas are set to ensure reliable and accurate representation of
        the total United States population. The online survey was conducted
        between February 28, 2008 and March 3, 2008.  Kelton Research is
        headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
    (2) Adams PF, Hendershot GE, Marano MA. Current estimates from the
        National Health Interview Survey, 1996. National Center for Health
        Statistics. Vital Health Stat. 1999; 10(200).