Wikipedia
Actimel (also known as DanActive in the United States and Canada) is a ' probiotic' yogurt-type drink produced by the French company Danone. It is sold in 100ml bottles, typically as an 8, 6 or 4 pack, but more recently as a 12 or 16 pack. The main claimed benefit of Actimel is the strengthening of the body's natural defences through the use of patented bacterial culture called Lactobacillus casei DN-114001, marketed as Lactobacillus casei Defensis or Immunitas(s) and more recently as L. casei Danone. Each bottle is claimed to contain 10 billion of these bacteria. In addition Actimel contains the traditional yogurt cultures Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus.
After the introduction of Yakult in Europe in 1993 several other companies including Danone responded releasing their own L. casei based products. Since 1994, L. casei based yogurts have become a common product in West European supermarkets.
Actimel earned over €1400 million (US$1.8 billion) in retail sales in 2006 and can be found in more than 20 European countries as well as in South America and the Middle East. Actimel was released as DanActive in the United States on a limited regional basis in 2004 (flavours Strawberry, Vanilla, and Blueberry) then was given a nationwide launch in 2007 (adding the flavour Cranberry/Raspberry).